University of Virginia Library

Vietnamese Ask War Journalist,
'Tell Them We Are People'

By BARBARA HAND

"The United States got so hung up on
ideologies, we forgot the Vietnamese
would rather have been left alone,"
remarked Don Luce, agricultural
economist and journalist, who spoke to a
small group yesterday on Vietnam.

Mr. Luce, who spent the last 12 years
in South Vietnam talked mainly about
the Vietnamese people and the hardships they
have experienced in the past decade. "The
biggest thing that has torn the country apart is
the refugee situation," he said.

Homes Destroyed

He remarked that 90 - 95 per cent of the 5
million refugees have left their home villages
because of their fear of airplanes, their crops
were ruined, or because U.S. forces have made
them leave and then burned their town. Mr.
Luce said that there has been a "complete
tearing apart of the family structure."

'Tiger Cages'

The 36 year old journalist, along with two
U.S. Congressmen, was responsible for the
discovery of the well-publicized "tiger cages"
found in one of the South Vietnam's largest
prisons last year. "I knew about them in 1968,
but I had to gather more evidence and gain
interest from some government officials before
I could do anything about them," he said.

Mr. Luce commented, "What impressed us
the most about the tiger cages was the great
affection and concern that existed between the
prisoners. The guards could not break their
spirit and morale," he added. New isolation
cells have now been built to replace the tiger
cells through funds provided by the United
States.

"Justice in Vietnam is a one-way street,"
said Mr. Luce. The police in Vietnam have
expanded from 16,000 in 1963 to 113,000
today. He said that "these police do not control
crime, but only try to keep down political
offenders".

Rapport Ignored

A major fault the Vietnam expert found with
U.S. policy in the war-torn country is that
"we've never had an ambassador sent there who
could even say 'hello' in Vietnamese."

Mr. Luce cited problems being caused as U.S.
soldiers are pulled out of Vietnam, such as
much unemployment in urban areas. "The
refugees who fled to the cities will have to
begin returning to the country and to what is
left of their old villages."

"When I left Vietnam last spring, I asked my
Vietnamese friends what they wanted me to say
to the United States about them. They said to
tell them that we are people", remarked Mr.
Luce.

Lecture Tonight

Tonight at 8:30, in the South Meeting Room
in Newcomb Hall, Mr. Luce will present
another public lecture on the problems and
people of Vietnam.