First is "The Village of Ben Suc", by Jonathon Schell, 1968. It first appeared in the New Yorker in 1967. Jonathon Schell was about 24 at the time. He was one of many journalists reporting on Operation Cedar Falls, an attempt by the US Military to disrupt the base of support for the National Liberation Front (called the "Vietcong" by Americans) in a portion of Binh Duong Provence. From the book, it seems he was able to travel freely and talk with whom he wanted, accompanied only by an interpreter. The account focuses on the systematic evacuation and destruction of a prosperous village in the region, Ben Suc, aboout 30 miles from the city of Saigon. Its population had swollen to 3500 the previous year due to the bombing of smaller neighboring villages.
Schell was able to wander about freely, unaccompanied by military authorities. He did have an interpreter. He hitched rides on jeeps, etc, moving about the territory and was ferried into the village along with the attacking troops on one of the '60 helicopters.' He was not 'embedded.' He did not live with the GIs, travel on their schedule, or be managed by their supervisors.
ReplyDeleteIt isn't clear how he knew the background information about Ben Suc, such as how the NLF operated there. It appears he got some of it from interviewing villagers after they were interned in the resettlement camp. However, I don't think he spent any time there before the attack.
The rest of the information he presents is from first-hand experience.
I went in on one of the first 6 Choppers and did not see any civilians in our group. We lost several men in my platoon from mines just a few meters outside the Village.
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