The Vietnam War was one of the bloodiest and longest wars that the US government has ever experienced. The signing of the Paris Peace Accord meant the end of the Vietnam War. Although the signing of the Paris Peace Accord meant very little to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, also known as North Vietnam and the Viet Congs. The Peace Accord was only meant for the US government to pull out of Vietnam. That made the Republic of Vietnam, also known as South Vietnam exposed to the DRV and Viet Cong. Over a two year period, the People’s Army of Vietnam marched toward the capital of the South Vietnam, Saigon the  filling the streets with chaos. The fall of Saigon was the end of the Vietnam War and lead to the reunification of Vietnam. With the Reunification of Vietnam, some of the Vietnamese from South Vietnam had to be reeducated. The Vietnamese government established prison camps that were officially known as re-education camps. With the Fall of Saigon, the Southern Vietnamese were told lies about their future from US and amongst the new government.

    The war was coming to an end with the signing of the Paris Peace Accord. This meant that American troops had to leave Vietnam. Many Vietnamese felt that the Americans were abandoning them. This lead to chaos within South Vietnamese government and military. As an Army convoy evacuates the Phu Bon Province, they encountered South Vietnamese soldiers pillaging villages.

… this reporter went to the city to evaluate the situation. I observed members of the ARVN [Army of the Republic of Vietnam] Rangers looting local stores. After looting, they would fire burst of automatic fire with their AR-16 rifles or throw grenades into the store. I also observed Rangers who while looting stores, shoot two children who appeared to be 2 or 3 years old… At no time did any of the civilians abuse me, or did I observe them looting and killing.(Sprague)

 

Even though the Vietnam war was over for the American, the South Vietnamese had to fight a war with themselves. Many of those from South Vietnam that had military power defected to North Vietnam and used the current state of chaos to gain more wealth. The people of South Vietnam were left alone to face the North Vietnamese and Viet Congs.

The US government promised to support the South Vietnamese government even after leaving Vietnam. This promised was broken. Before the Fall Of Saigon, US government carried out Operation Frequent Wind. Operation Frequent Wind was designed to pull out Americans and “at-risk” Vietnamese. These Vietnamese were ones who had military and/or government positions. During the evacuation, the South Vietnamese government did not allow some Vietnamese to leave the country. “The South Vietnamese government was adamant that no draft-age male leave the country…” (Mondt) The US and South Vietnamese government were using the people of South Vietnam to cover their tracks as they leave the country. That left many South Vietnamese to the North Vietnam’s wrath.

    With the Fall of Saigon, many Vietnamese that supported South Vietnam were left behind. This created a problem for the North Vietnamese government. There were many that didn’t believe in the communist dogma. To solve this issue, the North Vietnamese government created prison camps, officially called re-education camps. The North Vietnamese government created lies to lure the supporters of South Vietnam to go into the camp.

...every South Vietnamese man, from former officers in the armed forces, to religious leaders, to employees of the Americans or the old government, were told to report to a re-education camp to “learn about the ways of the new government.”...others had established lives and loved ones in Vietnam, so they willingly entered these camps in hopes of quickly reconciling with the new government and continuing their lives peacefully. According to my father, the government said re-education would only last for ten days, and at most two weeks. (Truong)

 

The supporters of South Vietnam never except the camps to lasted longer than two weeks. Since they wanted trust and be a part of the new government. That was not the case. Some prisoners were detained for up to 17 years. They were promised that they would be treated nicely but these camps were built to be more like prisons rather than camps. Prisoners were forced to do hard labor without proper equipment or training. “People who didn't know how to cut bamboos properly died when branches they chopped fell on top of them.”(Truong) The communist government provided very little medical aid. The only medical aid that they received was from fellow prisoners that were doctors or soldiers that received medical training. There were those who did not believe in new Vietnamese government and decided to escape the country.

    During the Fall of Saigon, many that had influence had the opportunity to leave Vietnam with the US government. There were those that didn’t have that same opportunity. “Desperate residents were paying massive sums of money to be smuggled out to sea. Often, they left in the middle of the night without a chance to say goodbye to loved ones who stayed behind.”(Baker) Most of the boat people spent all of their money just to leave their home country. Though the journey wasn’t that easy. Those that were fleeing the country had to hide from the government that were hunting them down. Once they left the country, the struggle didn’t end there. “It was a chronicle of repeated attacks, robbery, torture, rape and murder at the hands of Thai pirates.” (Crossette)  Those who traveled by boat were not only attacked by pirates but also suffered from starvation and dehydration. Most of the supplies that were on prepare were made for a small amount of people. Due to the panic, a vast majority of Vietnamese fled on boats. These boats were usually over packed with people ranging from babies to elders. The lucky ones that survive the journey spread throughout the world for a better life.

    The Vietnam War caused a lot of suffering not only for the US but also for all of the Vietnamese people. The war ended with Vietnamese just killing Vietnamese. Even though the war ended, the suffering didn’t for the South Vietnamese. They faced reeducation camps and pirates in the ocean as they escaping the wrath of the new Vietnamese government. The Southern Vietnamese people went through so much suffering just to find a place where they can be “free”.

 

Work Cited

Truong, Quyen. "Vietnamese Re-Education Camps: A Brief History."Vietnamese Re-Education Camps: A Brief History. The Choices Program, n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2015. <http://www.choices.edu/resources/supplemental_vietnam_camps.php>.

 

Sprague, Edmund W. "Report on Phu Bon Province and Convoy from 15-18 March 1975." Letter to Monerieff J. Spear, Consul General. 24 Mar. 1975. MS. Phu Bon, n.p. Edmund writes about an Army convoy passing through Phu Bon as they retreat to Saigon. As the convoy passes through, civilians hoard the convoy to escape the Communist. ARVN troops and police began to loot and raid. Many South Vietnamese soldiers throw their weapons away and blended in with the civilians as they made their way to Saigon.

 

Baker, Katie. "Remembering the Fall of Saigon and Vietnam’s Mass ‘Boat People’ Exodus." The Daily Beast. Newsweek/Daily Beast, 30 Apr. 2014. Web. 30 Jan. 2015.

This article focuses on the escape of Carina Hoang from Vietnam. The Communist regime doesn’t let her family leave Vietnam. Her Father was imprisoned due to his connections with the Southern Vietnamese government. The only way for her to leave to country was to be smuggled out by chinese boat. She was luckily awarded refugee status by the UN.

 

Crossette, Barbara. "THAI PIRATES CONTINUING BRUTAL ATTACKS ON VIETNAMESE BOAT PEOPLE." The New York Times. The New York Times, 10 Jan. 1982. Web. 30 Jan. 2015. Tien Hoa Nguyen tells his story about his journey to America in a boat. His boat was attacked multiple times by Thai pirates. The pirates pillaged, raped/kidnapped women and children. Leaving the men, sometimes dead bodies, on the boats. The United Nations put together patrols and refugee camps in Thailand to prevent piracy and also to support the Vietnamese refugees.

Mondt, Amy K. "April 30, 1975: The Fall of Saigon - Evacuation." The Vietnam Center and Archive: Exhibits. Texas Tech University, n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2015. <http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/exhibits/saigon/evacuation.php>.