Follow us on twitter. Announcer military assistance command in vietnam were often small groups of u. S. Army teams does assigned to small areas supported only by South Vietnamese forces. Two recently had a reunion in charleston, south carolina. Up next, drawing upon their own experiences, two Vietnam Veterans get talk about efforts to assist agricultural rita veldman. Officials felt this would draw local support to u. S. Backed forces command away from the communist north. All right, that is a hard act to follow. Im going to be more academic, maybe. Only have the one and . Lide lets see if i can make this thing work. Lets review a little bit of the basic geography. Some of us may have forgotten. That is smack them in the delta. The mequon river, the mainstem of the north, the other river on the south. Headquarters to the delta south. There. Tioned up where the position was was about there. Four districts. , around the city. Wide base area, which was the security problem. Thecenterpiece of much of activity. Both military and economic the veldman. Militarystory of and Economic Development. The Development Program that im going to talk about. One quarter of one Million People. 50,000 of them live in the province capital. Ethnicre entirely vietnamese. Perhaps 1 each cambodian, and chinese. About half of the population were buddhism. Most of the rest were other varieties of buddhist. About 6 for the eclectic sect. About 3 for christian, almost entirely catholic. A tranquil place during french colonialism, but the 1930sepression of the provided Fertile Ground for revolutionary sentiment, particularly where there was a higher percentage of absentee ownership. French and vietnamese elites sometimes living in saigon. As in other countries, were susceptible to revolutionary ideologies. These movements began to show up in the delta as early as the 1920s. Particularly during the 1930s. World war ii, with the defeat of the french by an asian race, strengthened nationalist and communist groups with the vietminh under ho chi minh being the strongest overall. In other parts of the central and western delta, they were challenged politically, militarily and economically. By the rapidally growth of the ofeligionist sect considerable sophistication, and a political movement. And are reformed simplified, there are a lot of buddhism. It lacks the ornate and expensive ritual of mainstream buddhism. It was founded by a charismatic in the nextdoor province in 1939. He was viewed as a living buddha. He was sent to preach in poetry and heal the sick. The french considered a pay political threat the french considered him a political threat, and locked him in a psychiatrist. He escaped. Hisnese occupiers found nationalism politically convenient and permitted him to preach during wartime years. The group grew to some 200 adherents in the central delta, and established what amounted to a local government before the french attempted to reestablish control in the postwar period. Delta withed in the the complex threeway struggle. French, vietminh and were shifting alliances in terms of military control of land and people. They represented a threat to the tminh, this admitted the circumstances which we benefited a great deal from in our day. It was both a sophisticated and popular religion with a set of competing warlords excepting taxes from a peasantry. Consoled controlled the city for parts of the french period. In the aftermath of the french defeat, other factions sought to retain control and sought saw an enormous rise from the saigon government. For their services against the vietminh. Men was able to subdue these warlords, and other groups. They used a mix of direct luke perry assault, and a hearts and minds strategy can fit suggested in part by everett lansdale, who had been instrumental in the feet of the philippine communist insurgents. Men was able to reestablish and go effective ,ontrol over much of the delta and bring many howe units. Essentially purchasing their support. Some units, however, including who was brought into the fold only in 1965, with the assistance of an american advisor. Stories. Nd larry have i hope they will share them. Some of the former units were among the best fighting forces in the province. There was tension between the catholicism,omote and those who sought to keep and promote their faith. Political and military tension and conflict. That was eventually brought nominal degree. Iner the falls of the regime 1963, the social and political structure that paralleled saigon became more open. The Central Government was astute enough not to recognize that cooption was the best approach. The political geography is directly reflected the importance of the group. Communists had begun to establish themselves in the southern wonton village as early as the 1930s, they released their control to the point where they controlled three quarters of the district by the mid 60s. Mid 1960s. Reform,onducted land thegained support by giving holdings of absentee holders to the farmers on the land. They did not tech they did not talk about future collectivization which led to mass starvation in 1975. As it was fought over in the mid1960s, particularly with the deployment of airpower including b52 strikes, the area became a moonscape. Lines of water filled craters visible from the air. Houses belted back into the landscape. Suffering on the land that provided them sustenance command from the communities that were there cultural world. They became refugees, on more than one occasion moving to the northern part of the district, and even to saigon. Battalions, the 857 in the 859, and other units, called the area home and were usually at full strength. Forces, rfvernment and pf lacked the manpower to make their presence felt in several parts, particularly 300 0300 in january, they attacked their field. Coming out of the wide base area. They took most of the city and penetrated deerfield perimeter where fighting continued for six and as asserted cookes washers manned the perimeter with air support. Aboutis a marvelous story the good shepherd, the catholic orphanage for vietnamese girls located miller,tain robin checking with the nuns, when the line went dead on the second downhe grabbed a stripped a huey that was in for maintenance, and a couple of mechanics, and flew a few meters, landed inside the courtyard of the nursery. The orphanage. Parker ratlines who interviewed, got out and organized the nuns, 16ecting them as miller flew stories back and forth, lifting out withns and nuns gunships providing air cover. That escaped the worst of the fighting in 1968. The vc attacked the home of the ardent ninth division commander, they were wiped out. In tone did the vc make significant gains, taking six of the seven government outposts, and holding the district town for five days. The district compound was bordered in a nine hour ground assault. Was beaten assault off by u. S. Navy pvrs and army omni helicopters. They moved a couple of kilometers north. They gave more refugees than had been the case before it i hope some of the people that were around for that during that will share some of this. This is all secondhand information. On my part. Battlesre several during the remainder of 1968, including a fight on the west leg. Sailors killed. Three members of team 65 were killed including advisors, within their cheap caught fire. Took fire. The correlation of court of the correlation of forces begin to change. One battalion went to saigon and never came back. The 857 battalion, itself understrength. We have conducted a major mobilization in the period, with a large past and of Territorial Forces and popular forces, which made it possible to employ Additional Units and outposts. Personallyt chief recruited several hundred men and incorporated them into units. Ninth Infantry Battalion conducted sweeps of the south and built a road. Outposts were built at each of the four southern villages and at the base. Served on those outposts. 13 rf companies were assigned. A civil government was established. This is where i came in. I was a very green Second Lieutenant. I was assigned to the province as phoenix advisor. I got to know some of the state Department People like david pilot. Who was a he was a u. S. Information agency officer. I was looking towards the state department and a career afterwards, so i expressed for the work. Surprise, i was asked if i would be willing to go to as the first Area Development officer. The first guy to be working fulltime on Economic Development and government programs. My brief included the spectrum of Economic Development. Since i had a rather cushy and reallyb, i thought, do i want to go . But i said yes. This assignment was approved by john, in spite of the directive ,rom the saigon level of macv the officers work needed to be taken off. On one occasion, i had to physically hide from a visiting phoenix team coming down from saigon because i was carried on the but the district phoenix , today gilbertne who unfortunately didnt make it, but i did not do that job at all. Confusion. Acute oh well. [laughter] i was given a usaid scout, and told to move down to the district team. Helping refugees return to their former homes was a centerpiece in our efforts. Particularly so into tone. Had 25,000 refugees over the ports of a couple of your spirit refugees have been registered by the government and were given 10 sheets. 10 sheets of roofing 10 and very arctic foodstuffs various other foodstuffs. Our chief did not have a good reputation. Himself alding substantial house in the suburbs , and i would not be surprised usaid elder materials went into his house. Nonetheless, we got a lot of material out to the people rebuilding their homes around the province. Billd an ag advisor named williams. He was a hands dirty, grassroots, corners farmer. Efforts, heajor purchased nonheavyduty crackers capable of breaking up the soil, and literally plowed up. It was hired cruise and pf soldiers. It was mine clearing equipment. And good oldfashioned bayonets. He also introduced the numerical rice that permitted double withing and double yields 120 day growing period. They were quick to adapt these when they saw what they could do, and the demonstration that we sponsored, the vc after initial propaganda, these scenes would make the seeds would make you sit darrell sterile or some such, they went silent on it. Land reform was another major thing. The land to the tiller program initiated in 1969 was among the most effective land Reform Efforts of done anywhere. Title to the actual cultivators, restricted ownership. To itompensation of landed the amount couldbsentee owners retain. Half of all ricegrowing land in the mequon delta was redistributed under the lands of the tiller program. Intended i attended festive ceremonies, handing out deeds. We built roads. While we were unable to keep the wide roads open in the 19691970 provincehe rest of the rose to be quite secure. Traffic continued into the i up to saigon. S or two tore a time pick out a food a few million to get more roads. Many tons of gravel to put on market roads. Successorm quinn, my as the development guy, came to be the district Senior Advisor. In thelding experience mekong delta was put to use in the 1990s when he was u. S. Ambassador to cambodia. Education. There were theoretically five years of mandatory schooling. Aspirational in rural areas. The 611yearold population was in school. In the south, we had to start over from scratch. A schoolhouse with two rooms, concrete floors, cinderblock walls, tin roof cost 300,000 about 2500. One of my regular jobs is to inspect the half a dozen or so that we built. We saved money. Vietnamese education was monitored by supported by the advisory inspecting the school. The fact that we put a dent in the concrete with my combat boot , i looked for the village chief and kicked them out. We monitor elections. We monitor ward elections. Vietnam has a strong tradition assassination by the vietminh and the vietcong. We are established establishing local government began in 1967. Ed led to Council Elections and 31 of 36 villages. Shortly after, elections were held in the 103 of 129 hamlets. 1969, the south had been repopulated enough to hold elections. Down there, election turnout was high. Over 75 . Reflecting both real political engagement, and an degree and a degree. Candidate was benefited by the Central Government. The chief and district chief did monitor the process. Issues tended to be localized and focused on welfare and economic concerns, as opposed to broader national, or political concerns. The party and affiliated. Andidates did well they practiced the policy of separating god and caesar. They were given a modest pot of money in the form of a checkbook for local developer projects. 1969ions were held later, for a province counsel whose function was advisory, richard rather than legislative. Antep toward democracy, and achievement. Needless toy say, these efforts were generally ignored in the ken burns docudrama. After six months, i was pulled back. As Assistance Development advisor, that new life development. Working for a Foreign Service officer, mike became the refugee advisor. Months, my tour for six and stayed until november 1970 the cambodia novation occurred in april 1970. That are medically improved the security at the delta. The nva units that had begun to infiltrate the delta in mid 1969, and particularly the were cut off from their supply lines, and had to disperse in smaller units my and slow their operational tempo. In 1970, the u. S. Military withdrawal accelerated. 1969, arrived in april of u. S. Troop strength was at its peak, 543,000. When i left 19 months later, it was half of that. Teams were, for the most part, withdrawn. Bob mentioned that by 1972 or some such, he basically had three provinces by himself. Continuedty situation to improve through 1971, up to 1972. You can drive around the why. The arvin one all major battles. In the mequon delta between 1969 in 1974. 1972, the paris accord violated before hanoi before the ink was before the and military assistance continued. Watched 13r, hanoi launched 13 divisions into the south. They were defeated by massive u. S. Air support, but no american ground forces. In the subsequent three years, congress, which had supported the war for over a decade, prohibited military and economic aid to saigon, an act of abandonment repeated in iraq in 2011 which led to the rise of isis, and is happening again in syria. Invasion975 overwhelmed the south. In and for heroes of the final days. Helping evacuate those who had cast their lot with americans. The aftermath was a sad story of communist, specifically targeted retribution. Peoplenst not only the associated with the saigon government, but what amounted to ethnic cleansing, approaching the level of genocide against the chinese. An estimated 65 an estimated 75,000 died in hanoi plus gulags. Possibly figure was 1000. Acts in his warped perspective, rather than as National Policy directed from the top down. Ahere between acre quarter Million People died in the south china sea. A quarter million figures from the u. N. Hi commissioner are the rest. They go to half a million. Accompanied collectivization in the south. Ive never seen a good estimate for how many thousands tens of thousands died from starvation in the post1975 period. Thisssion continues to day. If you go back to vietnam, as they did in 2013, things appear relatively prosperous at first glance. On closer inspection, vietnam is not matching the economic success as the rest of southeast asia, and has liberalized politics less than china has. Once ubiquitous throughout the good as who we know from my day. They are gone. Today, prosperity and democracy were made for the people of vietnam. Thank you. [applause] joeefore i turn it over to ortega couple questions, i have to make a plug for my book. War and reconstruction in the all proceeds go to team river runner, a veteran Service Organization that i have been spending some time with for the last decade or so. We take wounded warriors, we started in walter reed physical therapy pool in 2004. Put them in rafts, kayaks, and get them out on rivers, including whitewater stuff. Cliniceeks ago, we had a for seven blind or visually impaired veterans on the Potomac River in d. C. , guiding them under voice command. I have worked with up to triple amputees in kayaks. We do good stuff. The books are over there yeah if you would like to buy one, take a check and make it out to team river runner. You a receipt for tax purposes. Thank you. Any questions . Cost of that school was 2500 . For a two room schoolhouse, yes. To room, sounded like a pretty good deal. What with that same school, do you have any idea, what would it cost you to build that today . Dont i really dont know. One thing that i did notice when i went back to vietnam in 2013 was those small, two room cinderblock schoolhouses were gone. Story stucco tile roof, 10 room schoolhouses in so there has been iopments in the delta drove around the base area in 2013, but i could not give you a figure. Soldiers, former soldiers over there now building schools, most of them probably know that, and you plug your book. If i may plug a magazine that has always been reporting on these people who are doing the building, a lot of you may know this, but the and of america, which you might want to consider getting yourself a light membership. Im not trying to steal your thunder, but this is the best 50 you could invest for a life membership. You get this every couple of months, and this group does more congress thans in any other organization that i know. Im not mistaken now, Vietnam Veterans of america has been doing some School Building , cambodia as well as vietnam, and yet another organization i think somebody is going to talk about at some point today is counterparts, a group of american advisers, has done the same kind of thing. Absolutely. All right. Thank you. Good job. [applause] lets bring joe up. When i was talking to michael , he asked me to explain a little bit about the different inzations in court, soup. The cords alphabet david gave a talk on said act sudek. Lets see if i can advance. We want to cover a few things, unravel the alphabet so