This is the village of Dien Tho. During the period of struggle against the United States, the Americans committed a huge massacre in this village. Today, with your delegation visiting this village, the chairman of the village will report to you the situation in the village and also the facts of that massacre. I will now introduce to you Comrade Chinh Keo who is the chairman of this village and who will give you the report.

Honored guests and Provincial Leaders: The cadres and inhabitants of the village of Dien Tho are very honored to receive you, who are people from thousands of miles away. During the war years, it was people like Burchett had sympathy for our cause and who represented progressive people elsewhere. Now your delegation is composed of friendly people from other countries such as the United States.

Thank you for paying so much attention to Dien Tho and for braving the arduous road to come here to Dien Tho. On behalf of the inhabitants and the cadres of Dien Tho, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to your delegation and its leader, Comrade Burchett, as well as to the provincial leaders for your attention. Honored guests, Dien Tho is twenty kilometers from Da Nang as the crow flies. It is to the northwest of Dien Ban district.

It is a place where the struggle was both resilient and heroic during the Resistance against the French and the war against the Americans. During these two protracted resistance, the enemy concentrated their power to destroy this place. They used all kinds of means, especially during the American period, to destroy all, burn all and kill all.

They bulldozed everything flat. Therefore, before 1960 the village of Dien Tho had 14,200 inhabitants. But because of utter destruction during the war years, by March 1975 there were only 1,203 inhabitants left.

This is to say that, day and night, there was not a single moment when you did not have bombs or shells exploding in the confine of this village. They placed military outposts everywhere. With a total surface of only twenty-fives square kilometers, there were seventeen military posts and forts of all kind, some containing several platoons others up to a regiment of soldiers.

During the height of the war, you had three American soldiers to every inhabitant of Dien Tho. Such was the situation in the 1969 1970 period. But the inhabitants of Dien Tho remained faithful to the revolution and they refused to move even by one inch. They vowed to die for the survival of the nation.

Therefore, those who were still alive fought until the final days when the country was liberated. A typical example of the policy of bulldozing, killing and emptying the village occurred on January 31, 1967. They landed a battalion in this place, in Thuy Bo hamlet which was 300 meters from where we are now.

Was it a battalion of American troops?

A battalion of American marines.

Do you know which division they belonged to?

They left behind an emblem with the letters "A-5" on it.

It was a regiment, not a battalion. They sent a regiment in and not a battalion. And it was Regiment A 5, as far as he's concerned? It is very important that he be absolutely accurate...If he isn't he should say he isn't, cause otherwise he is going to look extremely foolish, and so are we...

They landed in Thuy Bo around noontime. It was lunch time. Within fifteen minutes they shot and killed and wounded 145 persons. One hundred and 115 persons were killed, but the actual number of Thuy Bo inhabitants who were killed was 105. All this was in a short period of only fifteen minutes. After that they used their airplanes to destroy much of the area.

Of the 115 persons killed at Thuy Bo, how were they killed?

They shot these people with automatic rifles and submachine guns. And most of the people killed were old people and young children and babies. After they killed these people, they set the houses on fire and then threw the corpses into the fire. Those who were wounded that day are still alive now.

We rescued them and treated them and so they survived. Twenty days later, there was a search and destroy operation involving six battalions. They surrounded this village and attacked it.

During this attack, they dug up the graves of all those who had been killed and buried twenty days previously and exposed their bodies. During this second attack, they were equally brutal. During the first time, they only destroyed Thuy Bo. But during the second attack, they burnt all of Dien Tho village. They removed the population and killed 105 persons.

So he is saying that on the 19th of the 2nd, '67, a further 105 people were killed?

Yes.

Are you sure?

Yeah.

On April 30, they created another bloodbath which was not much less brutal than the previous ones. They killed another forty-eight inhabitants of Chau Lau and Thon Trung hamlets. They again used rifles and submachine guns to murder these people.

(Interruption) These are but only some of the most typical cases during the height of the war. But I must remind the delegation that as far as Dien Tho was concerned, it was frequently bulldozed, destroyed and bombed and its inhabitants removed. Then there were all kinds of psychological warfare techniques and brutal tortures.

But as far as the massacres were concerned, I would like to report to the delegation that we still have a number of eyewitnesses. The delegation can meet with these people and verify the facts if it wishes. I can give you more facts, but I think I should cut short my report here and invite you, members of the delegation, and the brothers in the leadership to the scenes of the incidents to inspect them.

We would like to ask a few questions first before we go there. You have given the date of the 19th of the 2nd, 1967 when 6 regiments came and turned over the graves, a further 105 people were killed. Why were they killed and how were they killed?

They surrounded this area with six battalions. They coordinated tank, infantry and air attacks. The villagers were afraid of a massacre like the one in Thuy Bo, so they ran in all directions. As a result, they were shot down with automatic rifles. And it was not until five or six days later that their bodies were buried.

So it was a general battle in the village?

It was a general battle over the whole village.

All the hamlet.

But what I can't understand is: was there a battle?

Was there resistance, that is what he is saying, in certain areas? Was there fighting going on between the villagers and the Ameri...or did they just simply come and kill them?

The villagers did carry out political struggle. That is to say, they did tell the Americans not to use such brutal means. After that the brothers in the armed units struck back in retaliation...

This was during the time the marines came into the hamlet?

It was only after the Thuy Bo incident had happened that we rallied our forces to fight back.

Were there NLF cadres in this area at that time?

There were. I was a military cadre here at the time. I had been appointed by the people's administrative committee to direct the guerrilla fighters and the village inhabitants. But I was about 400 to 500 meters in distance from Thuy Bo. I was lying in wait there for the Americans to come in order to fight them. But even before they came, they had already massacred the inhabitants in the hamlet.

Both of these massacres took place at Thuy Bo?

One occurred at Thuy Bo. One happened to the whole village. And one at Chau Lau and Thon Trung.

Where is "toan xa" (whole village)?

One hundred and five persons were killed in the whole village.

What is the name of this "toan xa?"

This was Dien Tho village.

Sorry, I am not with you. The first one he was talking about is on January 31st. That happened in Thuy Bo, yes?

Yes. The second in Dien Tho.

Why were they turn over the graves, how come they were turning the graves in Dien Tho and not in Thuy Bo? I don't quite understand.

No. Thuy Bo hamlet is in Dien Tho district.

But these people, he said, did not die in Thuy Bo. (Interruption) The first ones did die in Thuy Bo, that I understand. But he said they came back and turned over the graves and 105 died but...

So Thuy Bo is just a hamlet of Dien Tho district.

The first incident occurred at...