1
00:00:25,850 --> 00:00:29,230
In 1965,
when I joined the guerillas,

2
00:00:29,230 --> 00:00:32,110
the Americans had invaded
Southern Vietnam in large numbers.

3
00:00:42,250 --> 00:00:44,910
They searched for soldiers.

4
00:00:44,910 --> 00:00:49,340
They took people,
and they beat them for no reason.

5
00:00:50,170 --> 00:00:53,670
They murdered people, burned down houses.

6
00:00:57,550 --> 00:01:02,640
There was this hatred.
but I didn't know then it was hatred.

7
00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:09,230
But I wanted to join the revolution
to stop it,

8
00:01:09,230 --> 00:01:15,110
to stop those cruelties,
those inhumanities.

9
00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:21,620
I have to say that the first time I shot
and I saw that I had killed an American,

10
00:01:21,620 --> 00:01:24,160
it gave me a thrill.

11
00:01:26,620 --> 00:01:28,460
I destroyed one tank,

12
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and then killed
about 15 American soldiers.

13
00:01:38,890 --> 00:01:42,180
In all the battles that I participated in,

14
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I was called "Tank Killer Hero."

15
00:01:46,520 --> 00:01:50,480
We all longed for a tranquil life,

16
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a peaceful life.

17
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No one wants war.

18
00:01:59,070 --> 00:02:04,540
But now that we had guns in hand,
we had an obligation to join the fight.

19
00:05:59,400 --> 00:06:02,110
Uncle Ho is our common father.

20
00:06:03,270 --> 00:06:07,860
We listen to Uncle Ho's teachings,
that we must love our country,

21
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protect our country,
and keep it from division.

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Every young man
and the entire nation marched to battle

23
00:16:03,960 --> 00:16:07,210
with the spirit of determination
to fight and win.

24
00:16:07,210 --> 00:16:10,210
Chairman Hồ's goal was
independence and freedom.

25
00:16:11,220 --> 00:16:15,970
We had to liberate South Vietnam
and unify the Fatherland.

26
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The act of a country attacking
another country is an invasion.

27
00:16:27,060 --> 00:16:30,820
And at the time,
even though it was a single person,

28
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it was two different regimes.

29
00:18:42,160 --> 00:18:47,370
My father was born
in Hau Tien village, Quảng Trị,

30
00:18:47,370 --> 00:18:49,500
on the outer bank of the Thạch Hãn River.

31
00:18:52,130 --> 00:18:54,210
He joined the Communist Party.

32
00:18:55,960 --> 00:19:01,720
During his political activities
from 1930 to 1945,

33
00:19:02,260 --> 00:19:05,600
he spent ten years
in French colonial prison.

34
00:19:07,850 --> 00:19:11,310
So in 1957,

35
00:19:11,310 --> 00:19:16,070
Uncle Hồ asked him to go to the North

36
00:19:16,070 --> 00:19:19,700
to become the First Secretary
of the Central Party Committee.

37
00:20:44,990 --> 00:20:47,570
My unit had
some people who cleared the forest

38
00:20:47,570 --> 00:20:48,910
wherever we needed to go.

39
00:20:49,410 --> 00:20:52,540
There were a lot of roads back then.

40
00:20:52,540 --> 00:20:55,540
But now they call it
the Hồ Chí Minh Trail.

41
00:20:58,210 --> 00:21:00,050
Back then, our march was very grueling.

42
00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:04,170
There were hundreds of ways to die,
not just a few.

43
00:21:04,720 --> 00:21:06,090
From bombs and bullets...

44
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Crossing streams,
you could be swept away by the current.

45
00:21:15,140 --> 00:21:18,310
There were people
who got sick, got malaria.

46
00:21:19,940 --> 00:21:22,190
So much hunger.
People would starve to death.

47
00:21:24,610 --> 00:21:28,780
From the start point to our destination,
we lost six full months.

48
00:22:32,550 --> 00:22:34,470
We don't know the Communists.

49
00:22:34,470 --> 00:22:39,900
We just only know the Việt Cộng fight
against American invaders.

50
00:22:40,690 --> 00:22:43,310
But we don't know why they're there,

51
00:22:43,320 --> 00:22:47,490
and we didn't really know the Communists
and what they believe.

52
00:22:49,320 --> 00:22:50,280
We farmers.

53
00:22:51,910 --> 00:22:55,160
We don't know which side are we on,

54
00:22:55,790 --> 00:22:58,160
but we know that we love our Motherland.

55
00:23:15,180 --> 00:23:17,020
We don't call them "Việt Cộng."

56
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We call them...

57
00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:22,980
So it's "Uncles of Liberation."

58
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They are the villagers.
They know us. They live with us.

59
00:23:28,110 --> 00:23:31,240
So we're comfortable with them.
We supported them.

60
00:25:30,360 --> 00:25:32,530
Americans show up
in our village.

61
00:25:33,400 --> 00:25:37,410
They say, "Everybody have to go.
Your village's gonna be leveled."

62
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Go? Go where? Go where?

63
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You thinking about here you have house,
you have... everything.

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Overnight, you become a refugee.

65
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All the people put
in one refugee camp

66
00:26:07,060 --> 00:26:11,650
with a little bamboo hut
or shack for them to live there.

67
00:26:13,780 --> 00:26:14,900
No rice paddy.

68
00:26:16,150 --> 00:26:17,650
How can people survive?

69
00:26:19,110 --> 00:26:20,160
We starving.

70
00:26:20,950 --> 00:26:22,870
That is what I see. That's what I saw.

71
00:27:43,410 --> 00:27:45,030
Westmoreland says

72
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that the offensive
that he has anticipated,

73
00:27:47,950 --> 00:27:50,410
that he'd been fearful of, is now on.

74
00:27:51,710 --> 00:27:54,630
And he wants people
as quickly as he can get them.

75
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Everybody killing everybody.

76
00:37:48,090 --> 00:37:51,640
The people who had
nothing to do with the politics,

77
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who had nothing to do with how the war
turned into such killing zones.

78
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It's just so sad and suffering.

79
00:38:04,070 --> 00:38:06,740
So this is what built up hatred

80
00:38:06,740 --> 00:38:11,080
and built up
why did the villagers join the Việt Cộng.

81
00:38:13,540 --> 00:38:16,160
They say,
"When the enemy comes to the house,

82
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even the women fight."

83
00:38:21,380 --> 00:38:22,790
We fought with whatever we had.

84
00:38:22,800 --> 00:38:28,510
It didn't matter
that we didn't have modern weapons.

85
00:38:28,510 --> 00:38:32,510
I'm the prime example.
On my first day, I received...

86
00:38:34,020 --> 00:38:36,180
I received a World War II-era rifle.

87
00:38:42,480 --> 00:38:48,280
If you got to use modern weapons,
that meant that you got them yourself

88
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by killing the enemies
and taking their guns.

89
00:38:54,040 --> 00:38:55,660
And I really like that.

90
00:38:55,660 --> 00:39:01,210
And in my gut,
all I wanted to do was fight head-on.

91
00:39:34,080 --> 00:39:37,120
They called us the "Việt Cộng,"
but we were the Liberation Army.

92
00:39:37,790 --> 00:39:43,210
We were all comrades
and considered ourselves one family.

93
00:39:43,210 --> 00:39:48,340
When one person fell,
five to seven others stepped forward.

94
00:39:50,670 --> 00:39:57,140
At that time,
it was a hot-blooded atmosphere.

95
00:39:57,140 --> 00:40:01,890
If there was a gun and someone came,
I would fight right away.

96
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I would shoot immediately,

97
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because I would never use the excuse,
"My emotions got in the way."

98
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This was for the love of the people.

99
00:46:10,600 --> 00:46:12,470
This is the 25th Infantry Division,

100
00:46:13,350 --> 00:46:16,520
the newest troops in South Vietnam
for the United States.

101
00:49:18,370 --> 00:49:19,990
It's just so typical, Mr. President.

102
00:49:19,990 --> 00:49:22,870
It's a relatively small enemy force.

103
00:49:22,870 --> 00:49:24,160
We think we're--

104
00:49:24,160 --> 00:49:27,330
we're, uh, taking a heavy toll on them.

105
00:49:27,330 --> 00:49:29,750
And if we-- we hurt them enough,

106
00:49:30,250 --> 00:49:32,460
it isn't so much
that they don't have more men

107
00:49:32,460 --> 00:49:35,510
as it is that they can't
get the men to fight.

108
01:04:21,440 --> 01:04:23,770
Westmoreland came in last night to me.

109
01:04:23,770 --> 01:04:25,150
He's very distressed.

110
01:04:26,150 --> 01:04:29,530
He has concentrated
more firepower and bombing

111
01:04:30,280 --> 01:04:32,950
in the last week on the DMZ,

112
01:04:33,450 --> 01:04:35,870
and they've concentrated more on us,

113
01:04:35,870 --> 01:04:39,240
than has ever been concentrated
in any equivalent period

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01:04:39,250 --> 01:04:40,870
in the history of warfare.

115
01:04:40,870 --> 01:04:44,330
Much more than was ever poured
on Berlin or Tokyo.

116
01:07:04,310 --> 01:07:06,020
Well, I know goddamn well I'm unpopular.

117
01:07:06,020 --> 01:07:07,640
You don't have to tell me I'm unpopular.

118
01:07:07,640 --> 01:07:10,060
I know that.
I've been in politics 40 years.

119
01:07:10,060 --> 01:07:13,020
And when a man's carrying a war
and carrying a tax bill

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