Original subtitles

In 1965, when I joined the guerillas,

the Americans had invaded Southern Vietnam in large numbers.

They searched for soldiers.

They took people, and they beat them for no reason.

They murdered people, burned down houses.

There was this hatred. but I didn't know then it was hatred.

But I wanted to join the revolution to stop it,

to stop those cruelties, those inhumanities.

I have to say that the first time I shot and I saw that I had killed an American,

it gave me a thrill.

I destroyed one tank,

and then killed about 15 American soldiers.

In all the battles that I participated in,

I was called "Tank Killer Hero."

We all longed for a tranquil life,

a peaceful life.

No one wants war.

But now that we had guns in hand, we had an obligation to join the fight.

Uncle Ho is our common father.

We listen to Uncle Ho's teachings, that we must love our country,

protect our country, and keep it from division.

Every young man and the entire nation marched to battle

with the spirit of determination to fight and win.

Chairman Hồ's goal was independence and freedom.

We had to liberate South Vietnam and unify the Fatherland.

The act of a country attacking another country is an invasion.

And at the time, even though it was a single person,

it was two different regimes.

My father was born in Hau Tien village, Quảng Trị,

on the outer bank of the Thạch Hãn River.

He joined the Communist Party.

During his political activities from 1930 to 1945,

he spent ten years in French colonial prison.

So in 1957,

Uncle Hồ asked him to go to the North

to become the First Secretary of the Central Party Committee.

My unit had some people who cleared the forest

wherever we needed to go.

There were a lot of roads back then.

But now they call it the Hồ Chí Minh Trail.

Back then, our march was very grueling.

There were hundreds of ways to die, not just a few.

From bombs and bullets...

Crossing streams, you could be swept away by the current.

There were people who got sick, got malaria.

So much hunger. People would starve to death.

From the start point to our destination, we lost six full months.

We don't know the Communists.

We just only know the Việt Cộng fight against American invaders.

But we don't know why they're there,

and we didn't really know the Communists and what they believe.

We farmers.

We don't know which side are we on,

but we know that we love our Motherland.

We don't call them "Việt Cộng."

We call them...

So it's "Uncles of Liberation."

They are the villagers. They know us. They live with us.

So we're comfortable with them. We supported them.

Americans show up in our village.

They say, "Everybody have to go. Your village's gonna be leveled."

Go? Go where? Go where?

You thinking about here you have house, you have... everything.

Overnight, you become a refugee.

All the people put in one refugee camp

with a little bamboo hut or shack for them to live there.

No rice paddy.

How can people survive?

We starving.

That is what I see. That's what I saw.

Westmoreland says

that the offensive that he has anticipated,

that he'd been fearful of, is now on.

And he wants people as quickly as he can get them.

Everybody killing everybody.

The people who had nothing to do with the politics,

who had nothing to do with how the war turned into such killing zones.

It's just so sad and suffering.

So this is what built up hatred

and built up why did the villagers join the Việt Cộng.

They say, "When the enemy comes to the house,

even the women fight."

We fought with whatever we had.

It didn't matter that we didn't have modern weapons.

I'm the prime example. On my first day, I received...

I received a World War II-era rifle.

If you got to use modern weapons, that meant that you got them yourself

by killing the enemies and taking their guns.

And I really like that.

And in my gut, all I wanted to do was fight head-on.

They called us the "Việt Cộng," but we were the Liberation Army.

We were all comrades and considered ourselves one family.

When one person fell, five to seven others stepped forward.

At that time, it was a hot-blooded atmosphere.

If there was a gun and someone came, I would fight right away.

I would shoot immediately,

because I would never use the excuse, "My emotions got in the way."

This was for the love of the people.

This is the 25th Infantry Division,

the newest troops in South Vietnam for the United States.

It's just so typical, Mr. President.

It's a relatively small enemy force.

We think we're--

we're, uh, taking a heavy toll on them.

And if we-- we hurt them enough,

it isn't so much that they don't have more men

as it is that they can't get the men to fight.

Westmoreland came in last night to me.

He's very distressed.

He has concentrated more firepower and bombing

in the last week on the DMZ,

and they've concentrated more on us,

than has ever been concentrated in any equivalent period

in the history of warfare.

Much more than was ever poured on Berlin or Tokyo.

Well, I know goddamn well I'm unpopular.

You don't have to tell me I'm unpopular.

I know that. I've been in politics 40 years.

And when a man's carrying a war and carrying a tax bill

and carrying all the problems I've got, of course you're not going to be popular.