1 00:04:18,716 --> 00:04:21,886 The most important for me, if I were to be elected, 2 00:04:22,679 --> 00:04:25,598 {\an8}and as I think for any future leaders, 3 00:04:26,391 --> 00:04:31,020 {\an8}is, uh, to organize the stronger political life 4 00:04:31,104 --> 00:04:32,605 {\an8}in-- in Vietnam. 5 00:04:32,689 --> 00:04:36,150 {\an8}Because, uh, if we have a not stronger political life, 6 00:04:36,234 --> 00:04:38,319 {\an8}we cannot win the war against Communists. 7 00:06:12,747 --> 00:06:16,626 {\an8}When Mr. Thiệu became president, I became his chief of staff. 8 00:06:17,460 --> 00:06:22,006 {\an8}I was focused on how we could leverage the help of the Americans, 9 00:06:22,090 --> 00:06:24,050 but also tell the Americans, 10 00:06:24,133 --> 00:06:28,471 "Let's agree on a common strategy and how to execute that." 11 00:06:29,263 --> 00:06:32,183 But by that time, the politics got involved. 12 00:06:33,184 --> 00:06:35,103 This fella, Thiêu, um, 13 00:06:35,186 --> 00:06:36,521 most of the people think-- 14 00:06:36,604 --> 00:06:38,439 I'm not very good at evaluating, 15 00:06:38,523 --> 00:06:43,319 but most of the folks think, Westmoreland and-- and Bunker and them… 16 00:06:45,196 --> 00:06:48,241 {\an8}they think that Thiệu is going to be better than Kỳ. 17 00:06:50,159 --> 00:06:53,079 And I've been suffering a terrific onslaught. 18 00:06:54,455 --> 00:06:57,500 Our own people plucking that we ought to get out of the war, 19 00:06:57,583 --> 00:07:01,170 and that they're not dependable, and that the generals are taking over, 20 00:07:01,254 --> 00:07:05,758 and-- and, uh, it's been quite a problem for me in my own group. 21 00:08:28,966 --> 00:08:30,134 for people to celebrate Tết. 22 00:08:34,514 --> 00:08:38,267 {\an8}Half of the army was allowed to go home on leave for the Tết holiday. 23 00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:02,959 {\an8}At this time, I was very well-versed in this mission 24 00:09:03,501 --> 00:09:07,338 because I was a liaison for the Deputy Commander. 25 00:09:09,090 --> 00:09:11,717 The goal was eight points in Saigon. 26 00:09:12,969 --> 00:09:17,390 The attack on the US Embassy was approved in the final days, 27 00:09:17,473 --> 00:09:22,103 so the ninth target was the US Embassy. 28 00:09:28,359 --> 00:09:32,530 {\an8}All the entry points into Saigon had many checkpoints. 29 00:09:32,613 --> 00:09:35,700 This was to tightly control people coming in and out. 30 00:09:37,785 --> 00:09:40,913 Anyone who wanted to enter needed identification documents. 31 00:09:42,915 --> 00:09:45,167 In just a short period of time, 32 00:09:45,251 --> 00:09:50,298 there were several hundred fake ID cards to make. 33 00:09:51,841 --> 00:09:56,220 {\an8}There would be major events happening. 34 00:09:58,014 --> 00:10:00,057 I had taken photos of each person. 35 00:10:03,185 --> 00:10:04,979 I had a premonition 36 00:10:05,062 --> 00:10:09,191 that this meeting with this person would probably be the last. 37 00:12:06,392 --> 00:12:09,812 {\an8}To prepare to attack the US Embassy, we gathered 15 people. 38 00:12:09,895 --> 00:12:14,817 {\an8}Seventeen, including a male driver and a female liaison. 39 00:12:15,443 --> 00:12:17,987 If we didn't have this woman guide to lead them, 40 00:12:18,070 --> 00:12:21,198 how on earth would they know how to find the US Embassy? 41 00:14:46,176 --> 00:14:49,597 I don't think it's a last-gasp, uh, action. 42 00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:53,601 {\an8}I do think that it represents, uh, a maximum effort 43 00:14:53,684 --> 00:14:56,687 {\an8}in the sense of, they've poured on all of their assets… 44 00:14:57,479 --> 00:15:00,065 It's-- It's largely a propaganda effort, 45 00:15:00,149 --> 00:15:03,277 and a publicity effort, and I think they'll gain that way. 46 00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:06,280 I imagine our people across the country this morning will-- will feel 47 00:15:06,363 --> 00:15:09,366 that, uh… that, uh, they're much stronger 48 00:15:09,450 --> 00:15:12,244 than they had previously anticipated they were. 49 00:15:12,328 --> 00:15:14,538 And in that sense, I think they gain. 50 00:19:36,133 --> 00:19:39,344 Huế was able to successfully push out the Communists. 51 00:19:41,138 --> 00:19:46,393 Huế suffered the most during the Tết Offensive. 52 00:19:49,730 --> 00:19:54,318 {\an8}The fighting in Huế was the most horrific. 53 00:24:51,156 --> 00:24:53,658 I don't admit that this is a Communist victory. 54 00:24:53,742 --> 00:24:56,495 And I don't think anybody but a goddamn Communist admits it. 55 00:24:56,578 --> 00:24:58,413 - Yeah. - That's what I think. 56 00:24:58,497 --> 00:25:02,083 And I just think they're using us, just playing games around us… 57 00:25:02,167 --> 00:25:04,419 And nearly everybody I talk to tries to find out 58 00:25:04,503 --> 00:25:07,714 what's wrong with our boys, our country, our leadership, our men. 59 00:25:07,797 --> 00:25:10,550 Our president's a liar. Westmoreland's no good. 60 00:34:18,639 --> 00:34:21,809 I was born in the village of Sơn Mỹ. 61 00:34:27,148 --> 00:34:30,359 I had just turned 11 years old. 62 00:34:37,700 --> 00:34:39,660 I was 13 years old. 63 00:34:40,161 --> 00:34:43,122 I lived with six siblings 64 00:34:43,206 --> 00:34:47,001 and an older sister who had business far from home. 65 00:35:39,512 --> 00:35:43,266 The US Armed Forces bombarded the village 66 00:35:43,349 --> 00:35:44,934 with their artillery. 67 00:35:46,018 --> 00:35:49,564 First, they started killing people walking on the road, 68 00:35:49,647 --> 00:35:52,608 people going to school, people going to the market. 69 00:35:54,402 --> 00:35:56,612 After that, they marched in a horizontal line 70 00:35:56,696 --> 00:35:58,281 and advanced into the village. 71 00:36:00,032 --> 00:36:04,370 As they entered each house, they killed everyone in it. 72 00:36:04,453 --> 00:36:10,168 They consolidated people and began to kill everyone. 73 00:36:47,330 --> 00:36:49,207 They captured our relatives 74 00:36:49,290 --> 00:36:51,334 and led them to Mrs. Ly's ditch. 75 00:36:53,878 --> 00:36:57,131 The ditch was completely full of blood and dead people. 76 00:37:01,219 --> 00:37:05,681 They captured 102 people and led them to the watchtower at the village gate, 77 00:37:06,265 --> 00:37:11,562 and they killed them there in Mr. Nhiều's rice paddy. 78 00:37:11,646 --> 00:37:13,522 All 102 of them. 79 00:38:15,751 --> 00:38:19,255 At eight o'clock in the morning, soldiers came to my family. 80 00:38:20,256 --> 00:38:25,886 They sat us in the front yard and killed three cows in the barn. 81 00:38:26,470 --> 00:38:29,598 They proceeded to burn our house and our barn. 82 00:38:29,682 --> 00:38:31,976 They shoved the six of us, including my mother, 83 00:38:32,059 --> 00:38:33,352 into an underground shelter. 84 00:38:35,187 --> 00:38:39,608 In the moment, my mother sensed the Americans' intent to kill. 85 00:38:40,109 --> 00:38:43,487 So, she told us, her children, to go down to the shelter first. 86 00:38:43,571 --> 00:38:46,657 She would enter behind us to shield us from bullets. 87 00:38:48,117 --> 00:38:51,996 Once everyone was inside, they threw in grenades to kill us all. 88 00:38:53,164 --> 00:38:56,959 I fainted and blacked out. 89 00:39:01,714 --> 00:39:04,884 I had my four-year-old niece, my older brother's daughter. 90 00:39:04,967 --> 00:39:07,053 The bullet entered here. I still have the scar. 91 00:39:07,136 --> 00:39:10,848 I picked her up, and her head was twitching as the bullet went in here. 92 00:39:12,516 --> 00:39:13,809 I just laid there dazed, 93 00:39:13,893 --> 00:39:16,729 and the American soldiers thought I was dead. 94 00:39:16,812 --> 00:39:18,189 There were no more stray bullets. 95 00:39:19,065 --> 00:39:21,108 Only after they passed me, 96 00:39:21,192 --> 00:39:26,238 I was able to crawl under the body of a woman. 97 00:39:28,074 --> 00:39:28,949 Sorry. 98 00:40:59,123 --> 00:41:01,083 {\an8}After the Americans withdrew, 99 00:41:01,167 --> 00:41:03,043 {\an8}relatives from another village came. 100 00:41:05,671 --> 00:41:07,965 When I came to, 101 00:41:08,048 --> 00:41:13,637 I saw the bodies of my mother and siblings lifted out. 102 00:41:13,721 --> 00:41:16,265 We staged the parts in a basket in the yard. 103 00:41:16,348 --> 00:41:18,601 We picked up flesh, arms, heads, legs. 104 00:41:21,395 --> 00:41:25,691 No one was left intact. 105 00:41:27,276 --> 00:41:31,238 I was very emotional and at a loss for words. 106 00:41:32,907 --> 00:41:34,158 I could only cry. 107 00:41:41,665 --> 00:41:44,251 At whatever time of day it was, the Americans left. 108 00:41:44,335 --> 00:41:45,503 When I met my brother, 109 00:41:45,586 --> 00:41:48,714 he told me he heard our father died in the ditch by the tree. 110 00:41:48,797 --> 00:41:53,594 He was shot dead where the gas station is right now. 111 00:41:56,180 --> 00:42:01,185 When I arrived, I carried my niece back home. 112 00:42:01,894 --> 00:42:06,315 We buried her, and I notified others. 113 00:42:07,650 --> 00:42:13,280 There are things that I have forgotten, but my mind will never forget that event. 114 00:42:13,864 --> 00:42:17,368 The utter destruction, 115 00:42:17,451 --> 00:42:21,288 annihilation, and death was horrific. 116 00:42:50,359 --> 00:42:54,822 To our knowledge, no opposing force fought against them. 117 00:42:54,905 --> 00:42:58,867 There wasn't a single semblance of resistance. 118 00:43:08,460 --> 00:43:13,674 To me, if you say this village was Việt Cộng, 119 00:43:13,757 --> 00:43:15,050 they weren't here. 120 00:43:17,011 --> 00:43:21,849 If it was Việt Cộng, shoot the Việt Cộng. Why would you shoot the villagers? 121 00:43:21,932 --> 00:43:25,227 And the little babies in their cribs, why were they shot? 122 00:43:25,728 --> 00:43:27,896 The cows were not Việt Cộng, but they were shot. 123 00:43:27,980 --> 00:43:30,441 The pigs were not Việt Cộng. Why'd they shoot the pigs? 124 00:51:24,664 --> 00:51:27,626 I'm afraid the people are going to interpret this 125 00:51:27,709 --> 00:51:29,961 as representing a change in strategy 126 00:51:30,045 --> 00:51:32,255 and tactics and everything else… 127 00:51:32,339 --> 00:51:37,928 I've got to find some alternatives to turn some of this thing around a little bit. 128 00:51:38,011 --> 00:51:41,306 If we don't, uh, we're going to be in trouble, 129 00:51:41,389 --> 00:51:44,309 and Vietnam is the only thing, and it's just murdered me. 130 00:54:17,212 --> 00:54:19,339 {\an8}He's mean, bitter, 131 00:54:20,090 --> 00:54:23,468 {\an8}a vicious… animal, in many ways. 132 00:54:24,219 --> 00:54:27,222 {\an8}He's got this other side of him in his relationship with human beings, 133 00:54:27,305 --> 00:54:29,975 {\an8}which make it very difficult unless you want to kiss his behind 134 00:54:30,058 --> 00:54:31,434 {\an8}all the time. 135 00:54:33,228 --> 00:54:35,647 All of it makes Bobby look like a great hero 136 00:54:35,730 --> 00:54:37,399 and makes me look like a son of a bitch, 137 00:54:37,482 --> 00:54:40,902 and 95% of it is completely fabricated.