[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 66 (Thursday, May 21, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H3733-H3736]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            HONORING FORMER SOUTH VIETNAMESE ARMY COMMANDOS

  (Ms. SANCHEZ asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. SANCHEZ. Mr. Speaker, 2 weeks ago the House Committee on National 
Security unanimously approved my amendment to honor and recognize the 
former South Vietnamese army commandos who were employees of the United 
States Government during the Vietnam War.
  Today, the Members of this House had the opportunity to properly 
honor those brave men by supporting the Department of Defense 
authorization bill for fiscal year 1999.
  Last year, the President signed into law legislation that I advocated 
to ensure that the United States Government honor a 30-year-old bad 
debt and pay these men who worked for the United States Government the 
wages they earned but were denied during the Vietnam War.
  These individuals were trained by the Pentagon to infiltrate and 
destabilize communist North Vietnam.
  Many of these commandos were captured and tortured while in prison 
for 15 to 20 years, and many never made it out.
  Declassified DOD documents showed that U.S. officials wrote off the 
commandos as dead even though they knew from various sources that many 
were alive in Vietnamese prisons.
  The documents also show that U.S. officials lied to the soldiers' 
wives, paid them tiny ``Death Gratuities'' and washed their hands of 
the matter.
  For example, Mr. Ha Va Son was listed as dead by our Government in 
1967, although he was known to be in a communist prison in North 
Vietnam. Today he is very much alive and well and living in Chamblee, 
GA. In my hand I hold the United States Government's official 
declaration of his death.
  Because it was a secret covert operation, the U.S. Government thought 
they could easily ignore the commandos, their families, friends, and 
their previous contacts without anyone noticing.
  As the Senior Senator from Pennsylvania said in a recent hearing, 
``This is a genuinely incredible story of callous, inhumane, and really 
barbaric treatment by the United States.''
  In the 104th Congress, this House approved legislation that required 
the Department of Defense to pay reparations to the commandos.

[[Page H3734]]

  This bill would have provided $20 million to the commandos and their 
survivors, an average grant of about $40,000 per commando. It called 
them to be paid $2,000 a year for every year they were in prison, less 
than the wages they were due.
  President Clinton signed this legislation into law (Public Law 104-
201).
  However, in April of 1997, the Department of Defense said that the 
statute was legislatively flawed and the Secretary could not legally 
make payments.
  I then contacted Secretary Cohen requesting the administration's help 
to correct this error.
  The administration responded by supporting inclusion of the funding 
in the Supplemental Appropriations Bill for fiscal year 1997 (Public 
Law 105-18)
  Last year, I met at a public forum with 40 commandos from my 
district.
  One individual shared with me his story of how he parachuted into 
enemy territory, was captured, convicted of treason, beaten, thrown 
into solitary confinement for 11 months, then moved among hard--labor 
camps for the next seven years.
  His story is not unlike countless others. I request unanimous consent 
to insert into the record one story of this abuse headlined ``Uncommon 
Betrayal'' as reported by an Atlantia newspaper recently.
  Today, however, I am pleased to provide this Body with this update.
  To date, the Commando Compensation Board has been established at the 
Pentagon; 266 claims have been processed; 142 Commandos have been paid.
  All this was made possible because of the commitment of this House.
  After years of torture by the North Vietnamese, the callousness of 
being declared dead by the United States Government, and years of 
anguish over not receiving their rightful compensation--these brave men 
now deserve recognition.
  The South Vietnamese Lost Army Commandos are finally a step closer to 
having the United States Government honor their contracts for their 
years of service to the United States Army.
  I am proud that the members of the House had an opportunity to 
properly honor these brave men.
  We can not bring those who perished back, but we can give these 
individuals the dignity and respect that's been so long overdue.
  Who supports this resolution?
  The State of California American Legion strongly endorses this 
amendment and I would like to submit the letter from the Department 
Commander Frank Larson into the Record.
  In Commander Larson's letter dated May 1, 1998, he states, ``Ms. 
Sanchez: I'm sure if history were unfolded for all to see it would show 
that the South Vietnamese commandos, who aided the United States 
Government in covert actions against the North Vietnamese, were 
responsible for saving many American lives.''
  It goes on to say: ``To that end, the same recognition due our 
soldiers, sailors, marines and airman involved in the Vietnamese 
Conflict should be afforded to the former South Vietnamese commandos, 
who so gallantly served and endured.''
  It is also supported by: The Air Commando Organization; The Special 
Forces Organization.
  American veterans who fought side by side with the Commandos, come to 
their defense in letters of support.
  I would like to share with you what our soldiers have to say about 
the commandos.
  This letter comes from a special forces NCO:
  ``Dear Sir: I had the opportunity to work with these men in which 
they not only risked their lives, but continually put themselves in 
harms way. * * * We are aware of terrible trials and conditions these 
men endured for so long and we would like to help * * *''
  I would also like to take this opportunity to mention that last year, 
during POW/MIA recognition day, I had the opportunity to meet with 
several members of my veteran community.
  I had the opportunity to speak with former POWs and family members 
whose loved ones were taken as prisoners or declared missing in action. 
Several of the veterans mentioned their support for the Commandos and 
urged that the Government honor its word.
  Today, we gave these commandos what they really wanted, the 
distinction of honoring their service in the Vietnam War. And on behalf 
of the 40 commandos residing in the 46th Congressional District of 
California, I would like to thank the Members of this body for their 
commitment to honor and to recognize the former South Vietnamese army 
commandos.
  Mr. Speaker, I submit for the Record a series of documents relating 
to these former South Vietnamese commandos.

                           Uncommon Betrayal


Abandoned by the United States, former South Vietnamese commandos rise 
                             from the dead

       On a moonlit night in May 1965, a large transport plane was 
     flying low through the skies of northwestern North Vietnam on 
     its way toward the town of Son La. Sitting nervously in the 
     back of the plane was Team Horse, a group of five South 
     Vietnamese commandos who were part of a covert CIA/Department 
     of Defense (DOD) plan known as Operation Plan 34-Alpha 
     (Oplan-34A). Team Horse was being parachuted in to reinforce 
     the eight members of Team Easy, who had been deployed there 
     in August 1963.
       After making a first pass by the drop zone to release 
     crates of supplies and a homing beacon, the plane circled 
     around again and Team Horse parachuted out the back. Soon 
     after hitting the ground the commandos knew their mission was 
     a total bust. Soldiers from North Vietnam's Ministry of 
     Public Security were waiting for them with rifles in hand. 
     Even worse, Team Easy had been captured long ago, and the 
     North Vietnamese had used that team's radio equipment to lure 
     in Team Horse
       The five commandos were tried and convicted of treason, and 
     sent to prison. Only one, team leader Quach Nhung, would 
     survive incarceration. After more than 20 years of hard labor 
     in a Vietnamese prison, Nhung was released and immigrated to 
     the United States in 1994. He is one of about 30 former South 
     Vietnamese commandos involved in Oplan-34A who now live in 
     the Atlanta metro area.
       Recently declassified documents have revealed Oplan-34A to 
     be one of the most tragic and disturbing aspects of the 
     Vietnam War. ``When you read those documents, you want to 
     cry,'' says Sedgwick Tourison, who used many of the papers to 
     write Secret Army, Secret War--Washington's Tragic Spy 
     Operation in North Vietnam. ``It's disgusting. We sold [those 
     commandos] down the river and walked away, and we did it with 
     such clean hands. And as I put in the book, nobody thought 
     this would ever surface.''
       Even Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), chairman of the Senate 
     Select Committee on Intelligence, was shocked by the abuses. 
     In a recent hearing on Capitol Hill, Specter said, ``This is 
     a genuinely incredible story of callous, inhumane, and really 
     barbaric treatment by the United States.''


                           a doomed operation

       From 1961 through the end of the decade, approximately 500 
     commandos separated into 52 small teams were sent into North 
     Vietnam. Trained and funded first by the CIA, the operation 
     was taken over by the DOD in 1964. At first, the teams were 
     designed to gather intelligence, but their duties were later 
     augmented to include psychological warfare and sabotage. 
     Nearly of the commandos were either killed or captured almost 
     immediately by the North Vietnamese, who had heavily 
     infiltrated the operation with moles on the South Vietnamese 
     side.
       The entire operation was a failure, and documents now show 
     that the CIA and the DOD knew that it was. Still, they 
     continued to send commandos to their almost certain doom.
       The United States' betrayal of the South Vietnamese 
     commandos did not end there.
       Once they had been captured, their families were notified 
     not that they were prisoners of war or missing in action, but 
     that they were dead. ``The Defense Department compounded that 
     tragedy by simply writing off the lost commandos,'' Sen. John 
     Kerry (D-Mass.) said during the recent Senate hearing. 
     ``Drawing a line through their names as dead apparently in 
     order to avoid paying monthly salaries [to the families].''
       Says Tourison, who is the former Chief of Analysis in the 
     Defense Intelligence Agency's office of POW/MIA affairs. ``It 
     was money more than anything else. The bottom line was that 
     we did not want to pay them any more. We were recruiting new 
     guys and telling them that if anything happens we'll take 
     care of you, and we never had any intention of doing that. 
     And because of the moles the North Vietnamese had on the 
     inside, they knew what we had done. And once they found out, 
     that sent a message to Hanoi that we viewed the lives of 
     those who serve for us as of no consequence.''
       But the betrayal of the South Vietnamese commandos still 
     did not end there.
       Even though the United States knew many of them were in 
     prison, nothing was ever done to get them out. As Kerry, 
     himself a Vietnam War veteran, said at the hearing, ``After 
     sending these brave men, on what by anyone's judgment were 
     next to suicide missions, and after cutting off their pay, we 
     then committed the most egregious error of all: We made no 
     effort to obtain their release along with American POWs 
     during the peace negotiations in Paris [in 1973]. As a 
     result, many of these brave men who fought alongside us for 
     the same cause spent years in prison, more than 20 years in 
     some cases.''
       The U.S. government is now trying to make up for its 
     treatment of the commandos. On June 19, the Senate 
     unanimously passed a bill that will pay the former commandos 
     or their survivors $40,000 each, which basically amounts to 
     an average of $2,000 back pay per year for an average of 20 
     years spent in prison.
       Even though the commandos need the money and say they are 
     looking forward to it, money cannot erase the past. ``Forty 
     thousand dollars is nothing,'' says Nhung. ``No money can pay 
     for my life.''

[[Page H3735]]

                           coming to america

       Recently, three of the former South Vietnamese Oplan-34A 
     commandos now living in the Atlanta area sit down to talk 
     about their life during wartime and what moving to America 
     has meant for them.
       The site is the living room of a cramped apartment in an 
     ersatz Colonial complex on a predominantly Asian stretch of 
     Buford Highway just across the street from the Little Saigon 
     strip mall. A group of happy, boisterous kids play on the 
     landing. A strong odor of simmering soup rolls in from the 
     kitchen.
       Sitting around the table are Nhung, 52; Team Greco deputy 
     commander Quash Rang, 58; and Team Pegasus leader Than Van 
     Kinh, 67. Acting as interpreter is Ha Van Son, who had been 
     part of a similar operation, Oplan-35. Son was imprisoned for 
     19 years and was also declared dead to his family by the 
     United States. Members of his operation are also being 
     considered for compensation in the Senate bill.
       The men smoke almost constantly and emit a feeling of 
     haggard world--weariness. They are all dressed similarly, in 
     Oxford shirts and polyester slacks, and each has salt-and-
     pepper hair slicked down and parted to the side. When asked 
     why they joined on with Oplan-34A, the answer comes quickly 
     and not without some measure of incredulity.
       ``Because everybody wanted to fight against the 
     communists,'' says Son, speaking for the group ``Nobody fight 
     with any other reason.
       Tourison's book is filled with wrenching stories of 
     commandos being starved and tortured while in prison, and the 
     experiences of these men were equally brutal. ``All of us 
     were treated very, very badly,'' says Son. ``All of us were 
     shackled and put in a small cell for a long time. After that 
     they take us to a big room where we concentrate with 
     everybody. But they give us only a little of rice a day. 
     Sometime no rice, but yellow corn. But the corn that's used 
     for animals, not for man.''
       Even today, many of the commandos still suffer physically 
     from their time spent in North Vietnamese prisons. ``When we 
     got tortured, everybody has a problem in their body,'' 
     comments Son. ``Like Than Van Kinh, all his teeth was broken 
     out.'' With that cue, Kinh opens his mouth wide and taps his 
     dentures with a finger. ``And my leg sometimes is paralyzed. 
     Everybody is like that in the winter. Sometimes we get pain 
     and hurt in the knee and in the body. You see the outside is 
     good [i.e., they look fine from the outside], but inside 
     sometimes from the fall to winter, if the weather changes, 
     everybody gets pain.''
       When they were released from prison, their lives improved 
     little. Because they were branded as traitors in Vietnam, it 
     was hard to get work. ``It was very, very difficult because 
     when we go to apply for a job in Vietnam, the Vietnamese 
     communists check and they know that this was a spy 
     commando,'' says Son. ``So that everybody has to go to work 
     as a farmer, and some drive a three-wheeled motorcycle in 
     Saigon.''
       Tourison maintains that U.S. policy toward the commandos 
     has ruined more than just their own lives. ``In Vietnam, they 
     are largely excluded from all legal forms of employment,'' he 
     explains. ``Because of that, the children normally have to 
     cut their education short to engage in child labor to support 
     their parents. We have visited the sins on three generations. 
     The older couples, their children, and their grandchildren.''
       In Atlanta, some of the commandos are retired, but most are 
     employed in various jobs. For example, Nhung works in a 
     factory that manufacturers containers, Son is a sales and 
     leasing consultant at an auto dealership, and Rang and his 
     wife own a beauty salon in Duluth--aptly named American 
     Nails.
       Remarkably, the commandos harbor less anger toward the 
     United States than one might expect. ``My friend Quach Nhung 
     say, everybody still have a little anger with the leaders who 
     betrayed us, but we know that they are not the 
     representatives of U.S. government right now, they are not 
     the American people,'' says Son, speaking for his comrade. 
     ``Of course, everybody get angry, but we have to talk with 
     the American people and the American government to [let them] 
     know about the facts of history. We think we have to fight 
     for justice.''
       Son has been informed that the commandos should receive 
     their back pay from the United States in about 18 months. 
     When they receive those funds, the commandos plan to pool 
     their resources. ``In Atlanta, we have about 30 commandos,'' 
     explains Son. ``[We] will establish a joint venture 
     corporation and maybe we will do a business like a Vietnamese 
     market and everybody will work for our company, every 
     commando and their family. And we think that corporation may 
     develop for the commandos' children's future and take care of 
     the old.''
       By combining the money they will get from the U.S. 
     government, the commandos will have a substantial amount to 
     work with. However, Son admits that when Americans learn what 
     happened to them and how much the government is planning on 
     compensating the commandos, many of them are appalled. 
     ``American people, they say, you are worth $4 million, not 
     $40,000,'' says Son. ``That's very cheap. It's a little 
     bit.''


                         let's screw them again

       Even though life seems to be on the upswing for the 
     commandos, there are still a few snags. Some of the 
     commandos, including Than Van Kinh, have had problems 
     bringing their families to this country. His wife and son 
     have been denied entrance.
       ``His wife was denied with no reason,'' says Son, 
     translating Kinh's words. ``We were very surprised because 
     his wife was waiting for him from the time he was captured in 
     North Vietnam.''
       Tourison also expresses exasperation that Kinh's wife was 
     denied immigration. ``Over the last 35 years, Than Van Kinh 
     has spent maybe five or six years with his wife out of all of 
     his adult life,'' he says. ``This is a woman who worships the 
     ground this guy walks on. They've been married since the 
     1950s, and these sons of bitches [in the Immigration and 
     Naturalization Service], with a stroke of the pen say, `Well 
     we just don't believe she's your wife.' What are you going to 
     do at that point? That's just so damn cruel.''
       There are also some 70 former still in Vietnam, some of 
     whom have found getting less than easy.
       ``This is a relatively small community of people who paid a 
     higher price than anyone who served us during the war,'' says 
     Tourison. ``Unfortunately, the State Department and the INS 
     give them absolutely no priority. What that means is that 
     when they submit papers to the embassy in Bangkok applying to 
     depart Vietnam or they get a request for more documents, it 
     can take six months to a year until someone acts on it. And 
     you know what happens?
       ``They die. I have gotten letters from commandos, and then 
     six months later while they are waiting for an answer from 
     the embassy in Bangkok, they die. It tears me apart every 
     damn time that happens because it is so fundamentally wrong 
     and so fundamentally counter to our own values. They were 
     first in prison, last out, and let's screw them again.''
       As the former commandos wait for their payment from the 
     United States, as they wait for other comrades and stranded 
     family members to join them, they say they are enjoying their 
     lives in America but have not forgotten their homeland. ``Of 
     course we miss Vietnam,'' says Son. ``And everybody, except 
     Mr. Kinh, who is too old, every commando thinks if we get a 
     start on an organization, if we have weapons and we have 
     [money], we want to go back to Vietnam to fight with the 
     communists again.
       ``My friend Quach Nhung, he say, of course now I like it in 
     America, it is better than in Vietnam, but because we have 
     sacrificed for our country and for freedom, we did not like 
     to see the Vietnamese communists take over. We want Vietnam 
     to be a country with freedom, human rights, and democracy.''
                                  ____

                                              The American Legion,


                                     Department of California,

                                   San Francisco, CA, May 1, 1998.
     Hon. Loretta Sanchez,
     House of Representatives,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Representative Sanchez: Be it war, police action or a 
     conflict, everyone who participates puts certain things at 
     risk. Mainly, their freedom, fortune and happiness--but for a 
     cause. It is unfortunate that the turn of events which led to 
     the culmination of the Vietnam Conflict are recorded as they 
     are in history. But the cost of war does not necessarily stop 
     with the signing of a peace agreement.
       There are other residual costs that should be attended to. 
     These costs are defined as recognition of those who served as 
     our allies--those who believed in our causes, crossed the 
     line and committed to the United States government. I'm sure 
     if history were unfolded for all to see it would show that 
     the South Vietnamese commandoes, who aided the United States 
     government in covert actions against the North Vietnamese, 
     were responsible for saving many American lives.
       To that end, the same recognition due our soldiers, 
     sailors, marines and airmen involved in the Vietnamese 
     Conflict should be afforded to the former South Vietnam 
     commandoes, who so gallantly served and endured.
           Sincerely,
                                                  Frank C. Larson,
     Department Commander.
                                  ____


                             Death Gratuity

                                                    15 Sept, 1967.
       I, Ha Van Cau TD# 06935, received from Liaison Bureau the 
     amount of 61,200 $VN for the death of Ha Van Son, son who was 
     killed while on duty with FOB#1 Phu Bai. The above amount is 
     paid as survivors death benefits.
       This payment reflects full settlement of death gratuity and 
     the United States Government is hereby released from any 
     future claims arising from this incident.
       Pay computation: 5,100 Monthly Pay12 Months = 61,200.
                                                    15 Sept, 1967.
        (Name of Employee) Ha Van Son.
       (Pay Level and Step) EF-1.
       (Number of Dependents) NONE.
       (Date Employed) 30 May 1967.
       (Date Separated) 2 Sept. 1967.
       Reason for Separation: Deceased.
       Period for which pay is computed: From 1 August to 2 
     September 1967.
       Base pay: 169 (Daily) 33 (Days Worked) = Base pay due: 
     5,677$.
       Other: Operational mission pay. 150 3 Days = 450 $VN
       Total pay due on separation: 6,027$.

[[Page H3736]]

       I have received the amount of 6,027$ which represents the 
     total of all pay and allowances due me upon the termination 
     of my employment.
                                                    Ha Van Cau (F)
     (Signature of Employee)

                          ____________________