Friday, November 15, 2013

VẼ VÀ XÓA ANH HÙNG - ANH HÙNG LIỆT SỸ NGUYỄN VĂN BÉ

Daniel Southerland - Trần Quốc Việt (Danlambao) dịch

Sài Gòn - Ngày 8 tháng Sáu năm 1971

Cộng sản tuyên truyền giỏi đến nỗi huyền thoại Nguyễn Văn Bé, một trong những anh hùng Việt Cộng hàng đầu, vẫn còn sống dai dẵng cho đến ngày hôm nay bất chấp cách đây bốn năm người ta đã công bố rộng rãi huyền thoại ấy hoàn toàn là dối trá.

Vào ngày Chủ Nhật, 30 tháng Năm, Việt Cộng đã tổ chức lễ truy niệm năm năm ngày mất và hy sinh anh dũng của Nguyễn Văn Bé.

Trận chiến về sự thật, mà bây giờ gần như đã chìm vào lãng quên, trong câu chuyện anh Bé là một trong những trận đánh tuyên truyền lớn trong cuộc chiến tranh Việt Nam.

Trận đánh khai màn vào năm 1967 sau khi người ta khám phá Nguyễn Văn Bé, người tưởng đâu đã chết anh dũng, thực sự đang còn sống và ở trong tù và hoàn toàn chẳng phải là anh hùng.

Hóa ra trong tình thế hiểm nghèo bậc "anh hùng" ấy chỉ là một thanh niên quá khiếp sợ, chưa bắn phát súng nào đã vội đầu hàng ngay quân đội chính quyền Sài Gòn. Tưởng đâu anh đã chết, những người làm công tác tuyên truyền của Việt Cộng quyết định biến anh thành một trong những anh hùng cộng sản nổi tiếng nhất. .

Nguyen Van Be is interviewed at the JUSPAO radio studio by Contact Magazine Bureau Chief James Ridgeway in late 1966, James Ridgeway Collection – The Virtual Vietnam Archive – Texas Tech (Nguyễn Văn Bé được phỏng vấn tại phòng thâu radio Juspao bởi James Ridgeway vào cuối năm 1966)

Thật ra Bé là người chẳng giống anh hùng và cũng chẳng bao giờ muốn trở thành anh hùng. Là người lính hậu cần hiền lành chất phác, anh không đủ tài giỏi để trở thành anh hùng tài ba. Tuy nhiên, Việt Cộng có thể đã xem xét kỹ tất cả điều này nên quyết định đây là một lợi thế trong việc giảng dạy ở các buổi học tập chính trị rằng "nếu Bé, người lính hậu cần bình thường không được đào tạo nhiều, nhưng khi bị bọn xâm lược Mỹ tàn bạo áp đảo và bao vây, đã "nhờ hành động anh hùng cách mạng" mà có thể biến thất bại thành chiến thắng, thì các đồng chí cũng có thể làm được như thế."

Rất vui khi biết Bé còn sống, và càng vui mừng hơn khi nghe câu chuyện thật sự của anh, người Mỹ và chính quyền Sài Gòn đã tổ chức một trong những chiến dịch "tâm lý chiến" lớn nhất trong cuộc chiến tranh Việt Nam. Họ sử dụng tranh tuyên truyền, những đợt phát thanh từ trên máy bay khi bay ngang qua các vùng Việt Cộng, thả truyền đơn, chương trình radio, và chính Bé nhiều lần xuất hiện trên truyền hình để chứng tỏ những chuyện về các hành động anh hùng của anh chiến đấu cho Việt Cộng đều là những điều bịa đặt.

Phản ứng ban đầu của cộng sản là gia tăng cường độ tuyên truyền. Những người làm công tác tuyên truyền của Mặt trận Giải phóng Dân tộc và Bắc Việt đã sản xuất ra hàng chục bản nhạc mới, thơ, tranh cổ động, sách, phim đèn chiếu, và cả nhạc kịch nhằm tuyên truyền về câu chuyện phi thường là Bé, một người lính tải đạn bình thường, sau khi bị bắt, đã một mình dùng mìn tiêu diệt 69 lính Mỹ và lính miền Nam.

Sự hy sinh dũng cảm ấy - người ta tin anh đã tự sát cùng với những người khác-đã được ca tụng không tiếc lời đến mức chẳng bao lâu anh trở thành anh hùng Việt Cộng số một trong cuộc chiến.

Nguyễn Văn Bé với bài báo "ca ngợi anh hùng"

Tuy nhiên, khoảng vào độ năm ngoái, Hà Nội rõ ràng bắt đầu hoài nghi về sự khôn khéo trong quyết định tuyên truyên quá sâu rộng về huyền thoại Bé nên đưa Bé xuống địa vị ít được ca tụng hơn trong nhóm những anh hùng cách mạng. Chẳng hạn, vào năm ngoái, tờ Tiền Phong, tờ báo dành cho tuổi trẻ miền Bắc, đã gỡ hình của Bé ra khỏi hình của nhóm sáu anh hùng tuổi trẻ nổi tiếng trước đây thường được đăng chung với nhau và tên họ đứng đầu danh sách những người nên được noi gương.

Bé cũng bắt đầu ít được nhắc đến trên đài. Như vậy rõ ràng chỉ còn lại Nguyễn Văn Trỗi, người mà những hành động anh hùng được khen tụng quá đáng tuy về cơ bản cũng có thật, là anh hùng Việt Cộng hàng đầu. Trỗi nổi tiếng lúc anh chết trước đội hành quyết của chính quyền Sài Gòn sau khi hô to "Hồ Chí Minh muôn năm." Trỗi dính líu vào vụ mưu sát không thành nhằm giật sập cây cầu nơi bộ trưởng quốc phòng Robert S. McNamara đi ngang qua trong một lần đến Sài Gòn.

Như vậy, chiến dịch của người Mỹ và chính quyền miền Nam nằm bóc trần huyền thoại Nguyễn Văn Bé là một thành công tới mức độ khiến Hà Nội quyết định không tiếp tục biến Bé thành anh hùng cao nhất. Chiến dịch này cũng thành công khi tạo ra những hoài nghi dai dẳng về câu chuyện của Bé trong lòng những người làm công tác tuyên truyền và các cán bộ chính trị cấp cao của Việt Cộng.

Một Việt Cộng cấp bậc cao mới đào thoát gần đây, ông Bùi Công Tường, trước đây từng là cán bộ chỉ huy tuyên truyền ở tỉnh Kiến Hòa, và là tác giả bản nhạc về Bé thường được phát trên đài Mặt trận Giải phóng, đã có những ngờ vực về câu chuyện của Bé. Theo lời ông kể, khi ông hỏi một cấp trên của ông về các bản tin của đài Sài Gòn khẳng định Bé vẫn còn sống, ông được bảo "Bọn Mỹ có thể tạo ra hàng ngàn anh Bé bằng phẫu thuật thẩm mỹ. Kiến thức khoa học của họ rất cao. Cứ nghĩ xem, đến mặt trăng mà họ còn lên được."

Về phía cộng sản giải thích lý do phẩu thuật thẩm mỹ cho chuyện Bé xuất hiện trên tranh ảnh và trên các chương trình truyền hình của chính quyền đã trở thành tín điều. Nhưng cách giải thích ấy vẫn hoàn toàn không thuyết phục đối với nhiều cán bộ có học của Mặt trận Giải phóng. Là một trong những người này, ông Tường bắt đầu tin rằng Bé vẫn còn sống, và niềm tin của ông đã được chứng thực khi ông thật sự gặp Bé sau khi đào thoát.

Một người khác mới đào thoát gần đây, Nguyễn Ngọc Mai, nhà văn người miền Bắc, công tác tại tờ báo Quân đội Giải phóng, có dịp được gặp Bé lần đầu tiên cách đây vài tuần.

"Tôi thật xấu hổ khi hiểu ra Bé chẳng phải là anh hùng thật sự," ông Mai nói. "Lúc tôi ở ngoài Bắc tôi có viết vài câu chuyện về Bé bằng lời văn rất hoa mỹ. Bé đã là anh hùng vĩ đại và là biểu tượng của tuổi trẻ thế hệ chúng tôi."

Cả ông Tường và ông Mai đều nói bất chấp tất cả nỗ lực tuyên truyền trong suốt bốn năm qua của Mỹ và chính quyền miền Nam và bất chấp bao hoài nghi mà chiến dịch tuyên truyền này đã gieo vào lòng nhiều các cán bộ cấp cao, người lính Việt Cộng bình thường vẫn còn tin tưởng vào hành động dũng cảm của Nguyễn Văn Bé. Bằng cách áp dụng kỹ thuật tuyên truyền cũ kỹ của Goebbels, tức lập đi lập lại những khẩu hiệu đơn giản đủ lâu và đủ to, những người làm công tác tuyên truyền cộng sản đã làm cho huyền thoại anh Bé sống lâu trong lòng người. ("Gương anh sáng mãi," là tên của bài hát ca ngợi Bé.)

"Tôi đã chiến đấu với tinh thần Nguyễn Văn Bé," một người lính Việt Cộng đào thoát thổ lộ, vì thế anh không tin vào tai mình khi được bảo Bé vẫn còn sống bình an ở Sài Gòn. Mặc dù người này sẵn sàng thay đổi chiến tuyến, nhưng anh vẫn chưa sẵn sàng từ bỏ niềm tin về Bé mà anh đã tin tưởng rất lâu và rất vững chắc.

Bé là một trong những anh hùng chính, hay có lẽ anh hùng chính duy nhất, được miền Bắc và Việt Cộng dùng cho việc học tập chính trị và khích lệ bộ đội nhằm chuẩn bị cho cuộc tổng tấn công vào dịp Tết năm 1968. Và một số cựu binh Việt Cộng hồi tưởng trong những buổi học tập chính trị mọi người đều đứng lên hoan hô khi câu chuyện họ học đến đoạn Bé ném mìn vào quân thù.

Câu chuyện được lập đi lập lại không ngừng trong hàng trăm cuộc họp nhóm. Rồi đến phần "thảo luận" mà qua đó mọi người đều phải trình bày cách họ có thể áp dụng tinh thần anh dũng cách mạng của Bé vào trong cuộc sống của mình.

Nhiều nhà tâm lý chiến Mỹ và miền Nam thoạt đầu hy vọng dùng câu chuyện của Bé để phá tan hoàn toàn uy tín của Hà Nội rồi từ đấy phá hoại những chương trình thi đua anh hùng của cộng sản vốn rất quan trọng trong việc duy trì tinh thần chiến đấu của Việt Cộng.

Tất nhiên, cuối cùng tuy họ có tạo ra những hoài nghi, nhưng những nhà tuyên truyền Mỹ và miền Nam đã không phá tan được niềm tin phổ biến về Bé.

Tóm lại, một chuyên gia tâm lý chiến đầy kinh nghiệm nói: "Chúng tôi nhận thức chúng tôi sẽ không thuyết phục được mọi người ở phía bên kia. Kiểm soát quá kỹ. Nhưng nếu chúng tôi tác động đến chỉ từ 3 đến 5 phần trăm trong số họ thôi, chiến dịch này được coi là thành công."

Như thế, trong lòng của hầu hết mọi người ở "phía bên kia", huyền thoại Nguyễn Văn Bé tiếp tục tồn tại. Nhưng quá xấu hổ do Bé hóa ra vẫn còn sống, Hà Nội bây giờ có lẽ chỉ muốn toàn bộ vụ này trôi qua hoàn toàn. Tuy nhiên guồng máy tuyên truyền miền Bắc đã đi quá xa với Bé nên giờ đây không thể nào hoàn toàn bỏ rơi anh. Ở miền bắc Việt Nam, có nhiều cánh đồng và một nhà máy phân bón mang tên Nguyễn Văn Bé. Công ty vận tải Nguyễn Văn Bé góp phần chuyển quân nhu dọc theo mạng lưới tiếp tế đường mòn Hồ Chí Minh. Có những huân chương Nguyễn Văn Bé. Và giả như bây giờ miền Bắc từ bỏ huyền thoại Bé, họ sẽ làm gì với những tượng của Bé tại Hà Nội? Hay tượng của anh ở Cuba?

Bé, 25 tuổi hiện đang làm việc cho cảnh sát Sài Gòn, cũng muốn quên đi toàn bộ chuyện này. Anh muốn học nghề thợ điện và rồi sống cuộc sống bình thường thay vì cứ mãi là người khác thường thỉnh thoảng được giới báo chí và các nhà tâm lý chiến quan tâm đến. Nhưng ai muốn thuê một người xưa kia vốn bình thường bây giờ nổi tiếng?

Diễn đạt sâu sắc hơn, toàn bộ chuyện này đã khiến Bé khổ đau rất nhiều. Việt Cộng đã ám sát người em họ của anh vì khẳng định Bé còn sống. Sợ không bảo toàn được tính mạng, cha Bé phải bỏ ruộng bỏ làng quê ở châu thổ sông Cửu Long mà đi.

Kể tự lúc bị bắt rồi được thả ra, Bé thường đến vùng châu thổ, miền trù phú nhất và đông dân nhất ở miền Nam Việt Nam. Không phải là người quá hào phóng với những lời khen chính quyền Sài Gòn, Bé thật sự cảm nhận rằng quân đội Quốc gia trong vùng châu thổ đã từ thế yếu chuyển sang thế mạnh.

Nhưng về chiến tranh tuyên truyền, Bé không hoài nghi bên nào mạnh hơn. So với những nhà tuyên truyền của chính quyền, những người làm công tác tuyên truyền của Việt Cộng, theo quan điểm của Bé, "nói hay hơn và giỏi hơn."

Vừa là anh hùng vừa là nạn nhân trong cuộc chiến tuyên truyền giữa hai bên, Bé có thể biết được điều này.

Nguồn: Báo Christian Science Monitor số ra ngày 8 tháng Sáu năm 1971.

Nguồn hình ảnh: http://www.psywarrior.com/BeNguyen.html

Bản tiếng Việt:

Trần Quốc Việt

The Strange Case of the Vietnamese
"Late Hero" Nguyen Van Be

SGM Herbert A. Friedman (Ret.)

Parts of this article have appeared with the author’s approval in an article entitled “When PSYWAR Went So Wrong” in the October 2012 issue of Vietnam.

One of the most unusual psychological campaigns of the Vietnam War concerned the martyred hero Nguyen Van Be. According to the legend, the young Viet Cong guerrilla was on a mission with his comrades on 30 May 1966 transporting explosives when they were attacked and Be was captured. Rather than submit, he chose to sacrifice himself and died a martyr’s death. The American and Vietnamese troops demanded that he instruct them on the workings of an unknown explosive mine. Be did so. He picked up the mine high over his head, and shouted, "Long live the National Front for Liberation. Down with American Imperialists." He then smashed the mine against an armored vehicle, killing himself and 69 American and Vietnamese officers and soldiers.

For six months, the Lao Dong (Communist) Party told of his heroics in prose and song. Young men were urged to emulate the fallen hero. Be had been a model guerrilla. He had joined the People’s Youth League at an early age and later became a volunteer in the Liberation Army. There were poems, booklets, plays and radio broadcasts telling of Be’s death and sacrifice. The communists in the North even wrote an opera for Be. In addition, two statues were erected in his honor. The Viet Cong awarded him the posthumous title of "Indomitable Loyalty and Magnificent Bravery."

The detailed story appeared in the Hanoi newspaper Phu Loi of 30 May 1966:

...[Nguyen Van Be with] two cells of the transport unit were assigned with the mission to convey arms and ammunitions to the front. As they were approaching the Beo Canal of My An village, My An District in Kien-Giang Province, they were encircled by a convoy of 49 enemy armored cars.

Following a fierce fighting with the enemy, Nguyen Van Be was captured by them. Afterwards. He was subjected to the most savage torture, and yet they were unable to get anything from him. Finally, they took him along with the captured arms to My An District where they resumed the torture and forced him to explain the handling of various sorts of mines, which he had transported. Be pretended to comply with the order and set about a demonstration session. Suddenly, he seized a mine weighing 10 kilos and shouted: 'Long Live the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, down with the American Imperialists.' As he stated these words, he rushed like a thunderbolt at the nearest M-118 tank and banged the mine against it.

The explosion set off by the 10 kilos mine triggered a series of explosions as the pile of mines captured by the enemy were ignited and went off. By this act of heroism, Nguyen Van Be sacrificed himself but he had destroyed an M-118 tank and heavily damaged two M-113 tanks, killed and wounded 64 enemies, among them 12 Americans.

Vietnam Youth – November 1966

This Communist North Vietnamese magazine published in English and French features Nguyen Van Be in a three-page article starting on page nine entitled "Nguyen Van Be, a heroic Fighter of South Vietnam L.A.F."

Time Magazine of 17 March 1967 told the world of the Communist hero:

The greatest Communist folk hero to emerge from the Viet Nam war is a skinny teen-ager named Nguyen Van Be, who left his home in the Mekong Delta to join the Viet Cong. Van Be’s death is recorded in poem, song and story throughout North Viet Nam and among the Viet Cong. Prompted by Hanoi's radio and newspapers, North Vietnamese schoolchildren compare his deeds to “a thousand thunderbolts.” His picture, taken when he was a guerrilla, has become a pinup among the Viet Cong, who name squads after him and hold periods of silent meditation to gain strength from his example. The Viet Cong have awarded him a posthumous decoration for “indomitable loyalty resoluteness and sublime bravery,” and declared that he “has shaken an entire region of the country and terrorized the enemies.” Earlier this year, his deeds were celebrated at a gathering in Hanoi of an organization called, in the best Communist fashion, "The Anti-U.S. National Salvation Heroes and Emulation Combatants Congress."

Just what were the deeds that have made Nguyen Van Be such a hero? As the Communists tell it, he was crossing a canal in the upper delta one day last May in a sampan, together with eleven Viet Cong companions and a heavy load of ammunition, when the sampan was attacked by a squadron of U.S. and South Vietnamese amphibious armored carriers. Nguyen Van Be fought off the attackers for 30 minutes with his rifle and was taken prisoner, “covered with mud and blood,” only when his ammunition was gone and his companions were all dead. Pretending cooperation with his captors, he then managed to pick up a 20-lb. Claymore mine. Raising it over his head, he valiantly shouted, "Long live the National Liberation Front!" and dashed it against the armored carrier, killing 69 U.S. and South Vietnamese troops as well as himself.

The Hanoi newspaper Tien Phong published an article entitled "To follow the example set out by Nguyen Van Be." Some of the writer's comments were:

Today the newspaper Tien Phong begins to serialize the story of Nguyen Van Be…to be published as a boook in the near future. This makes us respect him more and strive to follow his example…He stated "We must use our Communist spirit in order to defeat the mechanical equipment of the enemy." Our epoch is an epoch of heroes. As Be has stated, "We cannot perform a major task is when we have a good opportunity we fail to exert the spirit of a hero."

The Viet Cong troops Study and Emulate Comrade Be

Viet Cong troops were encouraged to follow the example of Nguyen Be. A captured Viet Cong publication entitled Thoi Su told of various military troops that were studying Be’s heroism in depth.

The Gi Rong and the Z groups enthusiastically study the glorious example set by Nguyen Be. The groups organized sessions to study in detail the great example of “unbending loyalty and bravery without comparison” set by Comrade Be...When facing the enemy, he showed his majesty, his braveness, his calmness and his wit. When they were on operations and close to the enemy they reminded each other, “We are fighting in Comrade Be’s Fatherland; we should do our best to be worthy of Be’s shining example….”

Another article in Thoi Su told more about the study of Be:

When the requirement to study Comrade Be’s example reached Company X, everyone was quite excited and enthusiastic. Old people as well as young people unanimously voiced their common opinion, “We should use the spirit of fighting to exterminate the enemies of Comrade Be to triumph over our stormy situation .We should study diligently the bright example set by Comrade Be….

On 21 May 1967, the Hanoi newspaper Tien Phong (Vanguard) mentioned Nguyen Be Again:

The Vietnamese Central Group Secretariat for all youth organizations has instructed: Conduct major theme study meetings on Nguyen Van Be to boost the offensive revolutionary morale, and carry out with resolution the Uncle’s instructions. From 30 May to 19 August 1967, a series of concentrated study meetings on Nguyen Van Be are to be conducted and action campaigns bearing the name of Nguyen Van Be are to be launched with the offensive revolutionary morale and the resolution to crush the American aggressors….

The Hanoi newspaper Nhan Dan commented on 11 May 1967:

The Vietnamese art and literature association has just started a creative campaign on Nguyen Van Be…A number of artists and writerss have already started the study and composition of their works….

Poems in honor of the Martyr Nguyen Van Be

In October 1966, Tran Nguyen Van wrote a poem about Nguyen Be:

The hero’s eyes were dark and enormous,

which reflected the emerald green of our Fatherland…

At the age of twenty you had seen,

Our beloved villages and hamlets suddenly turned into decaying ashes….

The North Vietnamese Army publication Van Nghe Quan Doi printed a poem about Nguyen Be written by Thanh Tinh in its 11 November 1996 issue. I quote the first few lines:

Remembrance

Do you hear the explosion of mines to destroy the Americans?

The chorus of hatred resounds all over…

During a battle, three times you showed your gallantry…

The Hanoi Weekly of 5 May 1967 added a poem about Be written by Duy Khan. It is two pages long so I shall quote a few lines from the "heroic" part:

And from the bullet splattered sound of your battles,

Nguyen Van Be, rose the great roar of your explosion.

An explosion that shattered those evil American night-flying crows…

We shall live like you, you who knows not retreat.

And every battle shall be fought as your fought it –“ forever.

We shall follow your shining example.

The Hanoi weekly Van Nghe of 5 May 1967 also printed a poem about Be:

And from the bullet splattered sound of your battles,

Nguyen Van Be, rose the great roar of your explosion.

An explosion that shattered those evil night flying American crows,

For the bridges still stand – they live, swarming with traffic.

Another poem appeared in the Hanoi monthly magazine Van Nghe, May 1967, written by Nguyen Dinh. It consists of six very long stanzas so I will just quote a few lines from one stanza:

It is necessary to arrest those who won’t sell their souls.

It is necessary to fabricate photos, to collect false Be’s.

Millions of dollars, billions of leaflets. Ah! Such cheating.

Leaflets have been scattered all over the two parts of Vietnam.

The radio stations, all the publications, crow and crow:

“Nguyen Van Be is still living here! Nguyen Van Be surrendered.”

But the lying mouths have received thousands of blows…

Nguyen Van Be reads about his alleged

exploits in the Liberation Army Newspaper

All this exploded in their face in February 1967. Nguyen Van Be was found alive and well in a Vietnamese prison camp. Be agreed to cooperate with the Government of Vietnam (GVN) and told the true story of his capture in a 13 March 1967 interview. He said that the battle lasted just a few minutes and he had never fired a shot. Instead, he dove into a canal in an attempt to escape, but was captured when a Vietnamese soldier grabbed him by the hair.

Time said:

Surrounded by the armored carriers, the overloaded sampan had immediately begun to list and overturned into the water. When one of their number had been killed, the Viet Cong squad jumped out of the sampan and fled to shore. Be also leaped into the water and was trying to hide himself under the surface when a South Vietnamese soldier grabbed him by the hair and pulled him out. He was the only one taken captive—and he had never got to fire a single shot.

The opportunity to show that the enemy has brazenly lied seldom occurs in psychological operations. The Government of Vietnam and the Joint United States Public Affairs Office (JUSPAO) took full opportunity of the chance to strike at the communists, embarrass them, and destroy their credibility. According to Robert W. Chandler, War of Ideas – The U.S. Propaganda Campaign in Vietnam, A Westview Special Study, Boulder, CO, 1981, "By July 1967 JUSPAO had publicized the Be affair for Southern audiences through the production of more than thirty million leaflets, seven million cartoon leaflets, 465,000 posters, a special newspaper in 175,000 copies, 167,000 photographs, 10,000 song sheets, several motion pictures, and numerous radio and television programs featuring Be, his family, and his Hoi Chanh (Viet Cong who had returned to the GVN) friends."

Nguyen Van Be is interviewed at the JUSPAO radio studio by Contact Magazine Bureau Chief James Ridgeway in late 1966

James Ridgeway Collection – The Virtual Vietnam Archive – Texas Tech

The Time Magazine article ended with this comment:

This week the U.S. psychological-warfare team—to which Nguyen Van Be is indeed a hero—will begin distributing some 7,000,000 leaflets and 100,000 posters in both South and North Viet Nam showing Nguyen Van Be posing beside Communist newspapers headlining his fictitious martyrdom. More than one-third of the leaflets will be dropped over North Viet Nam, where the government recently erected a statue in downtown Hanoi showing Comrade Be holding his mine overhead at the precious instant of immortality.

I have a hand-written letter from a fellow member of the Viet Cong that says there is no way Nguyen Be could have exploded such a mine. I suspect this was meant to be made into a leaflet, but I have not seen such a leaflet. Some of the written message is:

Since I joined the National Liberation Front I have attacked several military vehicles of the South Vietnam government. I can guarantee all of you comrades that Be could not have exploded the mine as told by the Front. According to our weapons regulations, mines are not filled with explosives during transportation. Any engineer or Special Activities Unit or anyone who knows how to use a mine will tell you the same thing. I am very angry for having followed a phony hero….

JUSPAO published a four-page position paper telling of the significance of Be's capture. Some of the text is:

The Nguyen Van Be affair threatens the very heart of Hanoi's motivation indoctrination technique, The Hero Emulation program' the Be story was believed by millions. Such belief becomes a fulcrum of the revolution's fighting spirit. To suddenly discover that the fulcrum has no base on which to stand, that the hours and months of concentrated study and hero worship were for naught, represents far too great a danger to the system…

The Truth about Nguyen Van Be Song Sheet

Leaflet SP-1964

Illustrated in Van Tac Vu Magazine, Issue No. 11.

This is the propaganda song meant to debunk the myth and legend of Nguyen Van Be. The music by Nguyen Van Long and the lyric by Nguyen Cong Luong. The literal title can be translated as “The effervescent truth about VC Heroes and the Hero Nguyen Van Be.” Some of the text is:

They know no better,

I'm still here

But the rumor was spread that I have died.

And with many embellishments to my life they added…

For the purpose of propaganda.

Thomas William Hoffer mentioned Nguyen Van Be in an article entitled "Nguyen Van Be as Propaganda Hero of the North and South Vietnamese Governments," published in The Southern Speech Communication Journal, Volume 40, 1974. He says:

A tabloid newspaper with the hero's name was produced and distributed nationwide. Culture-drama teams, groups of Vietnamese singers and dramatists touring the villages, carried with them 10,000 song sheets espousing 'The truth about Nguyen Van be.' Numerous radio programs featuring Be, his family, and three other defectors were broadcast over VTVN, the Vietnamese government owned and operated network. Plans were laid for a weekly five-minute radio report by Be, reporting his experiences, along with commentary on Vietnamese developments and reactions from the presses of other countries not directly involved in the conflict.

Among many leaflets printed, one featured Be's mother, with the caption, "I Ought to Know My Own Son." Be's three defector friends were captioned 'We Knew Too Much' in their leaflet testimonials. Special portable exhibits including photo-panels were produced for display at the provincial and district level. Loudspeaker tape recordings were produced for use on airborne helicopters hovering over the Vietnamese countryside.

When Sony Nguyen was about 10 years old in Vietnam, he heard Nguyen Van Be's voice on the radio almost daily. He told me in 2012 that Be's message was always the same:

I am Nguyen Van Be and the Government of North Vietnam claims I died a martyr, but I am still alive in South Vietnam.

Speaking of Nguyen Van Be’s family, Monta L. Osborne was the Chief of Field Development Division in the Joint United States Public Affairs Office (JUSPAO) in Saigon in charge of the Chieu Hoi (Open Arms) program during the Vietnam War. His letters home tell of meeting the Be family:

Nguyen Van Be was perhaps our prize capture of the war. He had been played up by the North Vietnamese regime as one of the great heroes of the war and all of the young men of North Vietnam had been exhorted to emulate his heroism. Hanoi reported that he had been captured, but even during capture had blown up a U.S. tank before he was killed. As it developed, Nguyen Van Be had been captured and our people found him in a Government of Vietnam prisoner-of-war camp. We managed to extract him from the camp, used him as the author of many leaflets which we dropped over North Vietnam and the North Vietnamese forces in South Vietnam. In this output he discredited all that Hanoihad said about him. We arranged for him to meet the press and to appear on radio and TV.

Don Rochlen with Nguyen Van Be

Rochlen seated at right. Be second from right.

One of my assistants, Don Rochlen, found that Nguyen Van Be’s family (father, mother, brothers and sisters) were living in an area where they could be captured by the Viet Cong, in retaliation for Be’s anti-Hanoi propaganda. Don proposed that he visit the contested area in which they were living, and with the help of a U.S. Army company enter the area and remove the family from their danger. We were able to gain approval for this project.

The Family of Nguyen Van Be

His father looks very unhappy.

Is he scanning the crowd for possible Viet Cong assassins?

Don did manage to move the family from the dangerous area, placed them on a plane, and traveled with them to Saigon. On that evening I heard a station wagon drive up to my villa. There was Don, with the entire family. He reported that the arrangements he had made with the GVN officials to receive the Be family had fallen through. I offered to keep the family overnight, but insisted that they be moved the next day, since I was due to leave for Bangkok and then go, with my family on home leave. Here I was, with a family that was undoubtedly an important target for the Viet Cong, in my own domicile. I managed to bed them down, stayed up all night, and made several tours of the neighborhood to see whether there were any suspicious characters hanging around. The next morning I fed them (the father, mother and four children) on bacon and eggs. Don did manage, during the day, to get them removed to a safe haven.

Don Rochlen in his JUSPAO Office

Notice the Nguyen Van Be poster at upper left

The Donald H. Rochlen who is mentioned above is an interesting character. He worked for the United States Information Agency, the Voice of America and the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization at different times. In Vietnam, he rose to Chief, Special Projects, JUSPAO. Rochlen was apparently a "trouble-shooter" and usually worked with Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army defectors or prisoners-of-war. When he got a good one like Be he would plan a propaganda campaign:

We plan taped interviews – both short ones for PSYWAR plane use and longer ones for VTVN [Voice of Vietnam] and VOF [Voice of Freedom] use. We want photo coverage including hospital treatment scenes and hand written leaflets.

During the Be campaign, many people were interviewed looking for information about how Nguyen Be had been seen by his friends and neighbors. On 30 March 1967, Be's mother was interviewed. The interview is eleven pages long. I will just mention some high points:

We didn't want to see him go. He left us. We didn't like it but under the circumstances we were forced to yield. They [the Viet Cong] obliged my son to go. He didn't want to see his parents suffer. We were not filled with joy [when told of Be's heroic death]. Our son was dead, how could we be joyful? [After being told that the Hanoi newspaper Thoi Moi(New Times) said that in Be's honor the family had sharpened 120 bamboo sticks, dug 100 booby-traps and volunteered to pay more taxes then asked], I didn't sharpen any bamboo stick, I was very afflicted by my son's death. [The people in the village] had to study Nguyen Van Be every five or ten days. I also went to study with them when I had the time…. When asked if she ever received any aid from the Viet Cong while her son was away or allegedly dead she answered] We received no assistance at all. They didn’t give us money, rice or land. Nothing at all.

Another official document is this interview with Le Van My, who lived about 1,000 meters from Be. The interview is six pages long. I will just mention some high points:

[Because of fear of the Viet Cong] everyone has to say he is dead; no one dares say he is alive…Be's family was forced to make an anniversary celebration. [The people] know he is still alive, but they are forced to close their mouths, they cannot say anything, they have eyes and ears but they are like deaf and dumb, they look but they can't see anything. At the ceremony [when Be was brought back to his home hamlet on 21 April 1967] two or three people saw him, they knew well who he was, but they dared not look at him…theey are not free because they are still within the area under Cadre control….

The Communists retaliated against the American propaganda campaign. They simply ignored the Allied propaganda or claimed that it was all an American fabrication. Even though he was clearly alive, they celebrated the anniversary of his death. They continued to write newspaper articles, make films, erected a third statue and published another biography of his life. They simply ignored the fact that he was alive and continued telling their lie repeatedly, believing that if it were told often enough, the people would believe.

I should add here that the American propagandists also made movies about Nguyen Be. A U.S. Government memorandum dated 16 October 1967 says in part:

We are interested with connecting Be with well-known Viet Cong personalities. Such linkages not only substantiate Be, but also make it more difficult for the Communists to refute Be…So far we have made three films. The evaluation panel has seen two of the movies. The first movie was approved unanimously. The second film will have to be edited again. The third movie which includes Cu, Be, Be’s mother and Hoi Chanh friends is now being processed in Tokyo. Now we come to future films [the writer mentions two additional well-known Communist Hoi Chanhs that could be placed in a move with Be – Ba Hung (a former guerrilla advisor) and Nguyen Dinh Khoi (a Viet Cong journalist)].

Communist Poster honoring Nguyen Van Be’s heroic action

Radio Hanoi attacked the disclosure that Nguyen Van Be was still alive in a program aired 16 March 1967. The title of the commentary was, "A Dirty Psychological Warfare Trick."

During the last few days, the psychological warfare organs of the Americans and their lackeys in Saigon employed every propaganda trick to invent a story of the appearance of Nguyen Van Be in their prison before they released the news that Nguyen Van Be had been arrested and is living safe in their claws, without being tortured. The Thieu-Ky clique's psychological warfare minister held a press conference during which a Nguyen Van Be appeared before journalists, who questioned him.

There is nothing new in this sensational farce. Any conjuring trick of the Americans and their lackeys is only a repetition of the ridiculous comedy they played when they invented the story of Tran Van Van's assassin, one-eyed man who professed to be a Viet Cong.

Taking this experience into account, this time they picked out an intact, good-looking man. They also taught him what to say. They plotted to use time to blur the hero's image so that they could easily deceive the public. But 10 months have not lessened the noise of the Nguyen Van Be bomb, but made it resound more.

Brother Be's image has been carved increasingly deeply into the hearts of millions of people. It is necessary to warn that their trick about hero Nguyen Van Be is an insolent offense to all the Vietnamese people. They dared offend an outstanding anti-US national salvation generation. Southern compatriots, south youths, and especially, liberation combatants, comrades of Hero Nguyen Van Be, will surely not forgive them. We will punish them severely.

The Lao Dong’s (Communist Party) newspaper Nhan Dan went so far as to claim, "It is not necessary to look for Be’s replacement in the bulky documents and files of the CIA. Zorthian (Director of JUSPAO) merely resorted to the Hollywood technique of selecting actors and the medical art of changing facial traits as applied in Hong Kong and Japan."

The Russian TASS news agency chirped in on 16 May 1967 and said in part:

The U.S. Psychological Service tried to pass off the Vietnamese hero, Nguyen Van Be, who died in the middle of last year, as alive and having defected to the Saigon Government’s side. The United States spent a million dollars; printing 29 million leaflets…They resolved to find an impostor who would pretend in public that he was Nguyen Van Be…The peasants were expected to recognize Nguyen Van Be under the threat of automatic weapons of 800 soldiers from the U.S. 9th Division and South Vietnamese troops and policemen.

On 21 May 1967, the Hanoi newspaper Tien Phong (Vanguard) featured a song entitled “Brother Be Goes Away – Youth Starts Out.” The first stanza of the “proud march” is:

Echoes will be heard forever in the future about the deeds and name of Brother Be.

They will be sung clearly and aloud.

His name will soar up to the clouds and become a star.

They will kindle in their youthful hearts the feeling of pride….

On 25 May 1967, the Hanoi newspaper Tien Phong published a song by Huy Du honoring Be. Some of the lyrics are:

Along the shore of the Mekong River, there rose a hero, just 20 he was.

Full of promise like spring coming to the countryside.

How glorious he is, this Nguyen Van Be.

His gentle countryside has become more beautiful because of him.

The Communists Celebrate the First Anniversary of Nguyen Van Be’s Alleged Death

As I said earlier, the Communist simply ignored the American leaflets and posters showing that Nguyen Be was alive. In 1967, they went to great pains to celebrate the first anniversary of his martyr’s death.

On 28 May 1967, the Hanoi newspaper Tien Phong honored the first anniversary of Nguyen Van Be’s heroic actions:

In preparation for the new program entitled “Follow the examples of Nguyen Van Be and Nguyen Viet Xuan; improve the revolutionary spirit of attack; and resolutely carry out the counsels of Uncle Ho” on the occasion of the first anniversary of hero Nguyen Van Be, the Central Group has coordinated with the Association of Musicians to emphasize the importance of promoting the writing of new songs using the subject of hero Nguyen Van Be.

The paper goes on to say that a musical play entitled “Three times a Hero” has been written, also a short play entitled “The Hero of Rach Gam” and a group of comedians had created a comedy show about Be. Two paintings of Be had been done by Vietnamese artists and they were in the process of producing an agitation propaganda poster. Two large statues of Be were being carved at the time of publication. 300,000 copies of the biography of Be were ready for sale. Finally, a number of short films and poems in his honor had been written.

On 30 May 1967, the Hanoi Newspaper Thu Do said:

With soaring emulative morale and desire to shoot down the 2,000th American aircraft, massive public rallies were held to commemorate the first anniversary of dead hero Nguyen Van Be’s sacrifice.

The same general message was read over Radio Hanoi that night.

In another article the newspaper spoke of 104 Nguyen Van Be sewing machines in a factory and an Nguyen Van Be natural fertilizer plant. An article in Tien Phong dated 28 May 1967 told of a military convoy heading south bearing the name of Comrade Be. Apparently the young hero’s name was everywhere.

On 30 May 1967, the newspaper Nhan Dan added:

One year ago today in the very heart of the provincial city of My An…The mine of Nguyen Van Be exploded like an angry thunderbolt. Just before that fateful blast came the clear shout, “Long live the National Liberation Front, Down the American Imperialists….”

That same day Radio Hanoi announced that in honor of the first anniversary of Be’s death the people of Vietnam had shot down four American aircraft and captured their pilots

A Communist document found in Long An Province on 31 May 1967 said in part:

30 May 1967 is the first anniversary of the death of hero Nguyen Van Be. In compliance with instructions from higher levels, it is advised that commemorative ceremonies be held throughout the province…

On 11 June 1967 Tien Phong mentioned a monument in honor of Nguyen Be. The newspaper said in part:

Overcoming the enemy’s rigid restrictions, in the Plain of Reeds where the incident took place, impressive ceremonies were held to honor the dead hero’s first anniversary. On the night of 30 May, the inhabitants of My-An erected a memorial monument right on the spot where dead hero Nguyen Be killed the enemy last year. It was two meters high, inscribed with the words “The country’s gratitude” with a photo of Be and the National Liberation Flag on top. Two signs in front of the monument said “Nguyen Van Be’s spirit lives forever” and “Loyal, indomitable and unusually brave.”

Another article in Tien Phong was entitled “Nguyen Van Be lives forever in my Heart.” In this article a soldier named Do Yen attached to a signal unit tells of wanting to volunteer to join a combat unit after reading of Be’s exploits. His comrades tell him that every job is important and he must follow the orders of his commissars just as Be had done. He ends:

The example of Comrade Be has helped me to see the truth of his glorious life. In know now that in the future, whatever task assigned me by the Party and the people and whatever the problems or risks, I’ll fulfill that task in an outstanding way. It is because comrade Be is with me and will live forever deep in my heart.

The Hanoi Daily of 4 April 1967 published an article entitled "A Too Crude PSYWAR Maneuver." It said in part:

They have conducted a sufficiently systematic sweep operation in the Kim Son Region (My Tho), the native land of hero Nguyen Van Be in order to capture some of the inhabitants. During the day in the prison camp the public address system loudly asked Nguyen Van Be to come and receive supplies sent by his family. The Americans and their lackeys wanted to give the captives the impression that Nguyen Van Be is still alive…

A Death Warrant for Nguyen Van Be’s Cousin

The Viet Cong were angry enough about the campaign to prove that Nguyen Van Be was alive to actually sentence his cousin Nguyen Van Anh to death. They mention several alleged crimes, but I suspect the main one was “acknowledging that Nguyen Van Be is still alive.” The document says in part:

National Liberation Front for South Vietnam

NLF My Tho Province Committee

No. 500

PEACE – NEUTRALITY – INDEPENDENCE - NATION

PEOPLE’S DEMOCRACY

CRIMINAL SENTENCE

Nguyen Van Anh, born 1 September … in ….Village is currently working for the enemy in Vinh Thanh Hamlet, Vinh Kim Village, Chau Thanh District, My Tho Province as a spy.

Based on the file and on the people’s criminal complaint that has been concerned, and based on the fact that Nguyen Van Anh’s motivation for conducting counter-revolutionary activities is clearly intentional;

Based on the NLF Committee’s policy order dated 15 October 1961 on detaining and suppressing spies, reactionaries, and ordinary criminals;

Based on the recommendations of the local population and the local Front organization that we must severely punish dangerous enemy thugs who owe many blood debts to the people.

Because Nguyen Van Anh has committed the crime of serving as an enemy lackey who has committed many crimes, such as surrendering to the enemy, beating members of local residents, helping to put out counter-propaganda acknowledging that Nguyen Van Be is still alive, and continuing to provide intelligence to the enemy;

Because Nguyen Van Anh has been warned many time both in writing, directly, and through his family but has refused to repent of his crimes;

Because we must protect the lives, the anti-American struggle movement, and the property of all classes of the local population,

The My Tho National Liberation Front Committee has decided as follows:

1. Nguyen Van Anh is hereby sentenced to death for the crime of serving as a criminal evil spy in Vinh Kim Village, Chau Thanh District, My Tho Province.

2. Method of Execution: He is to be executed on the spot and this sentence is to be distributed to the people and to his family to give them a clear picture of Nguyen Van Anh’s crimes and also as a warning to other enemy lackeys.

3. Our armed forces and paramilitary forces are responsible for carrying out this sentence and reporting back to the Province Front Committee.

An interesting captured Communist document explains to the Commissars how they are to counter the U.S. propaganda campaign:

Make everyone understand the enemy's wicked purposes. Make known their criminal distortions about all of our heroes generally speaking and particularly Nguyen Van Be. Reassert that the enemy-killing heroic accomplishments of Nguyen Van be are real…However, avoid talking much about Be's family in order to minimize the damage already done by the enemy in case they succeed in "buying over" Be's family.

In June 1967, U.S. Intelligence wrote a document reporting on the Communist media coverage of Nguyen Van Be. It stated that the Allied expose of the Nguyen Van Be myth was working. The VC then set a plan in motion to kill Be and discredit his true story. The report states:

As a result of the Republic of Vietnam propaganda program on the story of Nguyen Van Be, a Viet Cong hero, which exposes the Viet Cong conspiracy, the local Viet Cong feel uneasy and are afraid of the repercussions from that program. Therefore, the Viet Cong My Tho Provincial Executive Committee has ordered the assassination of Be while he is still in the Binh Tuong Reeducation Center. The My Tho Provincial Executive Committee also ordered F4, F5 and F6 (not further identified) to plan the project which will be used to counter the Republic of Vietnam’s propaganda along the following guidelines:

1. Continue to propagate the Nguyen Van Be story.

2. Organize a Commemoration Day on the Anniversary of Be’s exploits.

Much has been done by the Viet Cong to discredit the United States / Republic of Vietnam PSYOP program built around Nguyen Van Be as a martyred hero who died fighting the Americans. The fact that he had turned Hoi Chanh, cooperates with Allied Forces, has caused the Viet Cong much confusion and has hurt the credibility of their propaganda.

In an October 1967 Army Digest article entitled “Communist Propaganda in Vietnam,” Lieutenant Colonel N. J. Richardson mentions Nguyen Van Be. He says:

An alert Vietnamese policeman heard this tale and had seen Be's picture on Viet Cong propaganda. A Viet Cong prisoner in the local jail, he noted, answered Be's description. Investigation disclosed that it was in fact Be, who knew nothing about his heroic exploits as told by the Communists...South Vietnamese information specialists have brought Be's true story to the attention of the world. Meanwhile, the Communists still try to convince the Vietnamese people that he is a hero and dead. Indicative of their desperation, the Communists have recently put a price on Nguyen Van Be's head, with the offer of a reward to the person who murders him.

So how would the Communists revere the name of Comrade Be and attack the Allied story of his being alive? Here are some newspaper stories from Hanoi.

A 28 May Hanoi newspaper article is entitled “Let’s follow the Example of Nguyen Van Be.”

A 30 May 1967 article in the Hanoi newspaper Lao Dong is entitled “Nguyen Van Be’s Spirit will live forever!” Some of the inspirational text is:

Nguyen Van Be, fighter of the transportation service…fell into the enemy’s claws and paws. Stripped of all his weapons, he continued his offensive, calmly lured the enemy into the depth of the battle and suddenly launched his counter-attack. Hugging a mine, he rushed into the core of the enemy troops, thus causing sky-tearing explosions. On the spot he killed 69 foes, destroying scores of armored vehicles. He earned the at the same time three honors: “Victorious Hero,” “U.S.-Destroying Hero” and “Anti-Tank Hero.”

One of my favorite Hanoi articles was published in the Hanoi weekly Van Nghe dated 5 May 1967 and entitled “The Rach Gam Area and our Hero Nguyen Van Be.” It mentions the American “lies” and says in part:

The propagandists of the puppet regime begin to sing in a whining female voice…It would appear that the enemy’s psywar specialists have a surplus of American milk and flour which they use to feed a number of call girls…When their mouths are itching to speak they sing a few songs which are completely out of tune and with a voice full of narcotics which might belong to a prostitute…And then their wailing, maudlin voice goes on like this: “Dear friends, that fellow Nguyen Van Be you celebrate as a hero is still alive! He’s never fought the Americans or anyone else!” And following that, tons of leaflets bearing the picture of Nguyen Van Be still alive are being dropped daily…A friend of mine handed me a leaflet he had picked up. A faint smile passed over his lips…Finally he said, “Oh, how I miss him. If only he were still alive among us.”

In July 1967, the Lao Dong Party offered a two million-piaster reward to any patriot who would assassinate the fake Nguyen Van Be. They also stated that any member of his family or neighbor who claimed that Be was alive would be killed on the spot.

Nguyen Van Be Military Postage Stamp

Nguyen Van Be appeared on several North Vietnamese stamps including a 15 February 1971 military stamp that depicted him attacking an American tank.

The Nguyen Van Be Photograph Used for the Military Stamp

Be Military Stamp on Envelope

The philatelic researcher Robert Munshower sends a used envelope bearing the Be military stamp from his personal collection. He says:

The use of this military stamp is quite rare. There is also a civilian issue that is different in that it is denominated and bears the normal Dan chu Cong Hoa Viet Naminscription. This letter was sent using the return code HT 201 203 JA 01 which is known to be the military post at Ba Vi, North Vietnam.

The Americans continued to disseminate leaflets and other propaganda each year on 30 May, the date that Be was allegedly killed. It was all in vain. The Communists had succeeded in making most Vietnamese people believe that the real Be was dead and the current Be was an imposter. This is one of the very few cases where the lie was more powerful that the truth.

Hoffer adds:

While the North Vietnamese were denouncing the newly discovered Be in the South, the Vietnamese and their American counterparts formed a special Nguyen Be Task Force to exploit their discovery in roughly two phases. What later became the 'Nguyen Van Be Campaign,' consisted of an identification phase and an exploitation phase. For the first five months following the March 1967 press conference, Vietnamese propagandists aided by JUSPAO 'psywarriors,' were to simply identify Be in the minds of the target audiences. The exploitation phase occurred over a longer time with the propaganda thrust on Be's statements about the communist emulation system, his analysis of current communist propaganda, and his participation in various staged events.

The Americans were not unanimous in thinking that the Be campaign should be continued. The Director of the US Military AssistanceCommand, Vietnam Psychological Operations Directorate (MACPD) said:

The plan for further exploitaton of Nguyen Van Be appears quite ambitious and thorough: however, it is not without risks. It should be noted, for example, that one of the effects of our expose of the Nguyen Van Be lie has been to stimulate the Communists to step up the Be emulation campaign, which is not to our advantage.

A Propaganda meeting at the Alleged Village of Nguyen Van Be Notice the table in front with the loudspeakers and the helicopters in the background. As soon as the choppers left, the activities to disown the Be legend would begin. Unfortunately, it turned out to be the wrong village.

John R. Campbell, a civilian psychological warfare advisor in Vietnam from 1965 to 1967 points out that some errors occurred in the American campaign in Are we Winning? Are they Winning: A Civilian Advisor’s Reflections on Wartime Vietnam, Author House, 2004:

Then there was the big propaganda coup coordinated by every conceivable allied agency to take advantage of that fact that we discovered we had captured, sometime earlier, a simple VC cadre who turned out to be the same person who had been elevated to a folk hero status by Communist propaganda. As he was missing in action and presumed dead, they had fictionalized his self-sacrificing demise for the cause. A day-long operation was mounted including plenty of military security and helicopters to descend unannounced into his home village, in a VC-dominated area, to present him as a living lie to his fellow villagers while we fed them, entertained them, and gave them medical attention. To our chagrin, it turned out not to be his home village, though the peasants there recognized his name and fame. Next day we went back to our files to find out where we had gone wrong. The files concerning him, including posters, printed songs, maps, stories, etc., which were kept in an office just a few steps from mine, were completely cleaned out.
When I asked Campbell exactly what he meant by that statement, he said:

My statement was meant to emphasize that someone in our own organization was a Viet Cong operative that cleaned out all our documentation on Nguyen Van Be.
Nelson Voke was a member of the 6th PSYOP Battalion and also recalls the fiasco at the alleged Nguyen Van Be village. He says:

We were at a meeting at JUSPAO when we got the story about Be being found. I can remember Zorthian’s “Number Two” being very enthusiastic: “We’ll never let them forget this!” JUSPAO planned a big celebration “Be returns to his village.” There would be a welcoming banner over the entrance to the village, his mother would be greeted and honored, and all this would be observed and covered by the media. We knew about this at Battalion, and that a National Police force was sent out well in advance to secure the area. After the event, I happened across a U.S. reporter who asked if I had heard what happened. I told him “No.” “Well,” he said, “they flew two planeloads of us out there and we followed Be and party into the village. The villagers didn’t seem excited about Be’s return, so I asked one if he didn’t know who Be was?” “Yes, that’s Nguyen Van Be. He’s from that village over there.” (Whoops, wrong village!). Anyway, the reporter was less than happy and said it was the last time he’d respond to a JUSPAO invite.

Don North with Vietnamese cameraman Nghia near Da Nang.

Don North was hired as a staff correspondent for ABC radio and TV News following several years of freelance photojournalism in Vietnam. He was one of the members of the press that took part in the propaganda junket to the village of Kim Son on April 21, 1967. He told me:

The Army filled two “Huey” helicopters with about thirty journalists from Saigon, which included all three networks and the major newswires and newspapers. We were already familiar with the Nguyen Van Be story since he and his family had been presented to journalists at the so-called “Five O'clock Follies;” the daily news briefings.

Earlier that day four companies of the United States 9th Infantry Division had landed to secure Kim Son Village along with the Regional Forces stationed in and around the village. Loads of rice and gifts were brought in and distributed. There was a band and strolling musicians. A big attraction was a tent where Army medics extracted bad teeth and gave out medicine. A large crowd of villagers assembled around a makeshift stage and Nguyen Van Be was brought out with his family. He was greeted with puzzled stares. The Government Planning Director of PSYOP tried to generate enthusiasm for the miraculous return of Be, but nobody recognized him. Be had been taken to the right village but his own Hamlet was more than three kilometers away. One old man recognized Be as coming from another Hamlet. In rural areas like this there is little contact or transportation between Hamlets. The Army considered moving the troops to secure the correct Hamlet but it was too late in the day to mount a new operation.
I actually wrote a script about this operation and sent it back to the United States along with film. I called the story “Psywar Goof.” I sent background notes for Peter Jennings to read. Some of my comments were:

“This is the largest assault on a Viet Cong village by the Free world press in Vietnam. The hoped for objective – a major psychological warfare victory for the government…

Finally the star of the show arrived with his family, but he was greeted by puzzled, unfriendly glares. Bewildered eyes flashed between Be and the villagers…
Although this hamlet was held by the Allies for a few hours while the futile charade was acted out, there’s little doubt where the loyalties of most of the villagers lie. Some of them are undoubtedly Viet Cong agents. Even if they had recognized Be and his family it could have meant severe Viet Cong punishment for those who admitted it…
American and Vietnamese Psy-warriors go back to their maps and planning boards having lost face by the mistake of geography and lack of prior checking. In PSYWAR you can never afford to be wrong about anything. It was a bold psychological warfare move to bring Nguyen Van Be to his village, still effectively controlled by the Viet Cong. But, just like in military operations, one slip up and the battle was lost.”
This was not a story that interested U.S. news agencies. They wanted war stories about American troops in combat. I don't think my story was ever broadcast in the United States on television. However the film should still be on file at ABC News in New York City.
This farcical operation was mentioned in the North Vietnamese April 1967 newspaper Doc-Lap (Independence). The author puts his own spin on the story and says in part;

The country-selling traitors Thieu and Ky recently invented a story that Nguyen Van Be was still alive…Recently they swept and raided Kim Son village, native place of dead hero Nguyen Van Be…What a painful experience for them. All Kim-Son inhabitants immediately unmasked the impostor and those who invented the stupid story…That was a big cheat!

The first casualty of war is truth.

Rudyard Kipling

The Late Hero Nguyen Van Be Reads About His Own Death

JUSPAO Leaflet # 66

The North Vietnamese Affairs Office of the Joint United States Public Affairs Office (JUSPAO) in Saigon produced a leaflet coded "66." That number shows that The Allies disseminated the leaflet in the north during the time that the United States was bombing the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The operations, named "Fact Sheet" and "Frantic Goat" took place from 1965 to 1968.
The front of the leaflet bears the text:

A very strange story indeed. According to the Communists, Nguyen Van Be died a glorious death in the service of the cause. Supposedly, after the Army of Vietnam (ARVN) forces captured him, he detonated a mine killing himself and 69 Americans and Government of Vietnam troops. The Communist newspapers, Radio Hanoi and Liberation Radio printed and broadcast glowing accounts of his heroic death. Poets and musicians wrote and sang of his exploits. The government built a statue in his honor. However, as you can plainly see on the other side, he is very much alive. He is shown reading about his own death in the Hanoi newspaper Tien-phong of 7 December 1966. The Communists say he chose a hero's death. He says that he never fired a shot and did not even think about exploding a mine.
The back of the leaflet bears the text :

The 'Late Hero' Nguyen Van Be reads about his own death and depicts Be reading the newspaper account.
The North Vietnamese Affairs Division mentioned this leaflet in their Weekly Report, April 16 to 22:

The leaflet on Nguyen van Be continues to be an irritant to the North Vietnamese. An editorial in the 14 April issue of Tien Phong Daily from Hanoi which was received here this week states in part: “We all want to now, more about this young hero who represents a shining example, a proud expression of our generation, a source of fear and terror for the enemy who sought all dirty means to distort the spirit of his immortal war deed.” The same issue of this paper featured a large picture of be on the front page along with the first chapter of a book telling his “life history.” This leaflet was dropped over Hanoi on April 10.
The Weekly Report May 13 to 19 adds:

9,600,000 copies of leaflet number 66 which tells of Nguyen van Be were dropped over the area between the DMZ and Dong Hoi on May 17.
The Saigon Post of 8 September 1967 mentions the Be leaflet:

12 Million leaflets rain over the North. Five different leaflets were dropped. One leaflet pictured Viet Cong Martyr Nguyen Van Be reading a report of his death: 800,000 copies dropped between the area north Vinh and Phu Qui…The leaflet unmasked the Communist’s deceitful propaganda because in reality, Be was still alive in South Vietnam and had presented himself several times before the press and addressed people on television.

Truth is the best PSYOP.

Colonel Fred Walker, United States Special Operations Command.

JUSPAO Leaflet # 131 (Front)

Another leaflet dropped on the North later is coded "131." Text on the front is:

Nguyen Van Be and Platoon Leader Nho. This photo, take in Saigon in July 1968, shows (on left) Tran Huy Nho, of Viet Yen, Ha Bac, leader of Platoon 1-C2, 2nd Battalion, Quyet Thang Regiment, who rallied to the national cause at Gia Dinh, near Saigon, 18 June 1968. Platoon leader Nho and 54 NVA soldiers who rallied at the same time have addressed a letter to President Ho expressing sorrow that they had been misled by Lao Dong propaganda and stating that, in reality, the South is free, independent and more prosperous than the North. Platoon leader Nho was surprised to find that Nguyen Van Be, with whom he is shown chatting, is alive and well and a supporter of the national cause. Nho now understands that Lao Dong propagandists invented the story of Be's martyrdom for the purpose of encouraging other soldiers to sacrifice themselves.
A photo of Be and Nho is at the left of the leaflet.

JUSPA0 Leaflet # 131 (Back)
The back of the leaflet depicts Be showing a group of Vietnamese the newspaper that told of his heroic death. The text is:

Nguyen Van Be Exposes Lao Dong Propaganda. Two years ago Lao Dong propagandists were seeking ways to encourage young men to sacrifice themselves for the sake of the Party. Believing Nguyen Van Be had been killed at the Cai Beo Canal, they invented s story saying that he had been captured, tortured, and had killed himself and 69 allied soldiers by exploding a detonator against an armored vehicle. Even when it was revealed that be was alive and their story false, they insisted he was dead to cover their embarrassment. Nguyen Van Be is shown in the photo exposing the Lao Dong lie to some members of the Quyet Thang Regiment who rallied near Saigon on 18 June 1968.

Actually, in military psychological operations (PsyOps), there is no game-playing. Truth is of the utmost importance to achieving the mission.

362nd PSYOP Company

JUSPO Leaflet # 1775

JUSPAO developed leaflet 1775 in February 1967. It measures 5 x 7 inches. The front of the leaflet shows Nguyen Van Be holding a newspaper that depicts him in almost the same pose. The text is:

The 'Late Hero' Nguyen Van Be reads about his own death.
The back is all text:

A very strange story indeed. According to the Communists, Nguyen Van Be died a glorious death in the service of the cause. Supposedly, after ARVN forces captured him he detonated a mine killing himself and 69 Americans and GVN troops. Glowing accounts of his death were printed in communist newspapers and read over Radio Hanoi and Liberation Radio. Many poems and songs were written about his exploits. A statue was even built in his honor. However, as can be plainly seen, Be is very much alive. He is shown reading about his own death in the Hanoi newspaper Tien-phong. The Communists say he chose a hero's death. Be says that he never fired a shot and did not even think about exploding a mine.

PSYOP messages must remain truthful to maintain credibility; however, the impact on the target audience is only limited by the imagination of the PSYOP specialist, the staff, and the commander.

Headquarters, Department of the Army, FM 33-1-1, Psychological Operations, May 1994

JUSPAO Leaflet 2018
The front of this leaflet depicts Nguyen Van be giving a speech to former Viet Cong members and later talking to them. The back is all text. Seven million copies of this leaflet were printed on 11 July 1967 and distributed nationally. The text on the front is:

The "late hero" Nguyen Van Be comes back to meet former Liberation soldiers to tell them the true story of his "Sacrifice."
The text on the back is:

On March 31, 1967, at the National Chieu Hoi Center in Saigon, Nguyen Van Be fully told his own story of how he was captured. He spoke to some 300 Hoi Chanh who had to study Nguyen Van Be's bright example before they chose to return to the government side. Following his talk, Nguyen Van Be answered all questions put to him by the Hoi Chanhs. His meeting with them lasted nearly three hours. Before Nguyen Van Be left the center, crowds of Hoi Chanh came forward to personally greet and shake hands with the man whom the Communists have honored as their "dead hero."

Martyr-Hero Be Meets Again His Old Comrades

JUSPAO Leaflet # SP-2138

JUSPAO leaflet SP-2138 prepared in July 1967 depicts Nguyen Van Be meeting with his former comrades. The text reads in part:

On July 15 1967, Nguyen Van Be met again his old comrades who had served the same length of time with him in the Liberation Front.... Be is holding a copy of the Tieng Phong Newspaper, which published his story in Hanoi....
The party can make a newspaper hero, but it cannot admit a mistake. If you are really interested in reading closely, you can see the size of their error.

JUSPAO Leaflet # 2233

JUSPAO leaflet 2233, prepared in October 1967, is also about Nguyen Van Be. It is 5 x 7 inches in size. The front of the leaflet depicts Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Huynh Cu meeting Nguyen Van Be. The text is:

Revolutionary heroism is a propaganda trick says LTC Huynh Cu, who trained 3000 National Liberation Front officers and noncommissioned officers. LTC Huynh Cu, former Chief of the Viet Cong Training Section, Military Region Five, who returned to the Government of the Republic of Vietnam on 24 March 1967 at Son-Trung camp, Son Tinh district, Quang Ngai province. Seeing Nguyen Van Be on 4 August, he related to him all the tricks of the Liberation Front of the South is using with his name, his home village and his unit to cheat the other young men. Nguyen Van Be burst out laughing when hearing LTC Huynh Cu tell him about his marvelous death.

The back of the leaflet depicts LTC Cu writing a letter:

As a military man who served with Communist cadres more than twenty years, I know well how they have to manipulate all of us to achieve their objectives. The only reality for them is that which will serve their interests. When I was training director for MR 5 I heard the story of Be's heroism. I doubted the story. However, I knew the importance of making men die for the cause so I kept quiet. After returning to the government I met Be and found that he had done nothing but let himself be captured. No heroics, no slogan shouting, no nothing. Now that the government has revealed this, the Communists must shout his heroism all the louder. Do you know why? Be is a victim, not a heroic soldier! The Communists are trying to make victims of us all. I feel it is my duty to save my comrades from emulating such false heroics.

Credible and verifiable facts whether favorable or not, are the backbone

of the leaflet message because they demand attention.
Psychological Operations Field Manual No.33-1" published in August 1979 by Department of the Army Headquarters in Washington DC.

JUSPAO Leaflet # 2243

JUSPAO also developed leaflet 2243 in October 1967. It is very similar to 2233. It is also 5 x 7 inches in size. It depicts the same photograph of LTC Cu and Nguyen Van Be as is shown in the earlier leaflet on the front. PSYOP records indicate that 5 million copies of this leaflet were printed and forwarded to Da Nang, Nha Trang, Pleiku, Bien Hoa and Can Tho. Text on the front is:

Now that you are still living, you have created a big problem' LTC Huynh Cu tells dead martyr Nguyen Van Be. Here, LTC Huynh Cu, former Chief of the Viet Cong Training Section, Military Region Five, meets Nguyen Van Be who the communists claim is a dead hero. LTC Cu returned to the Government of the Republic of Vietnam on 24 March 1967 at Son-Trung Post, Son-Trinh district, Quang Ngai province. He met Nguyen Van Be in Saigon where they discussed the communist story of Be's heroic death while blowing up ARVN and American soldiers with a mine. Cu told Be at the time: Believe me, next time the Viet Cong will have to look for a death certificate when they want to honor somebody as a hero. Do you know why they persist in denying their mistake?

The back of the leaflet depicts LTC Cu writing a letter. Although the picture was probably taken the same time as the one used in 2233, the pose is slightly different. The text is:

Why must the communists lie about the living Nguyen Van Be? LTC Cu tells Nguyen Van Be at their meeting in Saigon on 4 August 1967: Having made a major hero out of you, the Viet Cong must now deny that you live. They must say that you are a bogus Be, a creature of fiction created by the Americans. They have built a major propaganda campaign on you and now that you are alive, the fact of your existence may destroy and refute an entire set of arguments.

Nguyen Van Be meets Lieutenant Colonel Huynh Cu
There must have been some problems with the way the Cu letter was originally written. A “request for evaluation” dated 13 October 1967 has a comment by Research Psychologist L. A. Newberry that says:

Last paragraph of Vietnamese text on side one makes no sense. A revised paragraph has been written and is attached. Please use revision.

An early version of the Be-Cu leaflet undergoing Editing
Although the leaflet shows Cu writing the letter by hand, other documents I have seen imply that the text was written by Americans with the aid of psychologists and translators and Cu was photographed just copying the text. I find numerous documents showing that words and sentences were changed, different photographs recommended, some changes to the text and even the changing of specific words. It is clear that a great amount of thought went into these Be-Cu leaflets and it is not the random writing of a Hoi Chanh. For instance, four American officials are involved in evaluating a Be-Cu product and one of the comments is:

On change (of a grammatical nature) has been made in explanatory text…It was recommended that “tiet lo” be changed to “vach tran” (i.e. “to uncover”)…
There are three such changes and comments in this document so it becomes clear that although the text was allegedly written by the Vietnamese defectors, it was certainly suggested and honed by the Americans.
Curiously, the 1968 booklet Communicating with Vietnamese Through Leaflets, Field Development Division, Office of Plans and Policy, JUSPAO, says about this very matter of writing testimonials:

The Hoi Chanh should write his own leaflet…The Hoi Chanh should sign his testimonial. A food, clear photo of the author should be included…Do not write the testimonial for the Hoi Chanh. A version written by a U.S. PSYOP officer or a Chieu Hoi cadre man probably will be recognized as bogus. It is permissible to suggest themes to the returnees, but the language must be his own. The best approach is for the Hoi Chanh to address his letter specifically to his former unit and address some of his former comrades by name.

The entire mental conditioning of NVA troops, pursued through political indoctrination sessions, the three-man cell system and constant exhortation by the cadre, aims at achieving automatic responses reflecting the communist party view of word issues. This rote learning becomes a powerful cohesive element. It can be chipped at only by repeated discoveries that what has been studied and accepted as gospel truth does not accord with visible facts in the soldier's personal experience.

JUSPAO PSYOP POLICY No. 59 -The NVA Soldier in South Vietnam as a Target dated 20 February 1968

JUSPAO next produced three consecutive leaflets on the theme of Nguyen Van Be. They are coded 2003, 2004, and 2005.

JUSPAO Leaflet 2003
Leaflet 2003 depicts Nguyen Van Be along with his family on the front. The back shows the familiar image of Nguyen Van Be reading of his heroic death in the Hanoi newspaper Tien Phong. The text on the front is:

NGUYEN VAN BE IS HAPPILY REUNITED WITH HIS FAMILY AFTER A LONG PERIOD OF SEPARATION
The text on the back is:

Why does The National Liberation Front stubbornly continue to say that Nguyen Van Be sacrificed his life when he burst a mine in order to kill 69 people on 30 May 1966?
In the above picture, Nguyen Van Be is holding the Vanguard Newspaper that was published in Hanoi. Nguyen Van Be's portrait is featured in this newspaper, but he has the name "Hero Nguyen Van Be." The truth is very clear. Everyone can see that Nguyen Van Be is still alive. So, why does the National Liberation Front keep saying that Nguyen Van Be is dead? Do all the people understand why the National Liberation Front does this?

JUSPAO Leaflet 2004
Leaflet 2004 depicts Nguyen Van Be reading of his heroic death in the Hanoi newspaper Tien Phong. Below the photo is a hand written letter signed by Be. The back of the leaflet shows Be and his entire family looking at newspaper reports of his heroic death. The text of the letter is:

Kien Phong, 15 April 1967
To all my compatriots throughout the country: My name is Nguyen Van Be. I am the son of Mr. Nguyen Van Hieu and Mrs. Le Thi Ba of Kim Son Village, Long Dinh District, Dinh Tuong Province. I was previously assigned to Unit 860 x 16, a transportation unit of the Central Cochin China Region [Military Region 8, also called T-2]. I was captured on 30 May 1966 at the Ca Beo Canal, My Quy Village in Kien Phong Province. Previously the Front said that I had jumped into an M-113 armored personnel carrier clutching an explosive charge to my chest and called me "Martyr Nguyen Van Be," but that is not correct. I am still alive and living in South Vietnam. My compatriots, I implore you not to study me to follow my example.
I am informing all my compatriots throughout our country of this so that there is no misunderstanding of me.
Nguyen Van Be
The text on the back is:

Here, Nguyen Van Be unites with his family. As everyone can clearly see, Nguyen Van Be is as strong and alive as he was before. However, the cadres of the National Liberation Front have forbidden anyone from saying that Nguyen Van be is still alive.
So, what do you think?

JUSPAO Leaflet # 2005

JUSPAO leaflet 2005 is a 5 x 8 inch leaflet developed in June 1967 that depicts Nguyen Van Be at home with his family. Eight people are pictured. The text is:

Why is the Liberation Front afraid to let people speak the truth? Nguyen Van Be is alive, well, and shown here with his family. As anyone can see, Nguyen Van Be did not sacrifice himself. Why are you not permitted to speak the truth?

The back of the leaflet is all text:

To the people living in the area of Kim Son Village. Have courage. In your hearts, you know the truth, Nguyen Van Be lives. His family knows he lives. Everyone knows he lives. Yes, even the front cadre who forbid you to speak the truth. Even they know he is alive. You can see the truth in the eyes of the cadre. Why do you think the front must continue to say that Nguyen Van Be is dead? Have courage; nothing can change the truth in your heart.

The key is always to tell the truth, and never promise something we cannot deliver. Once we have credibility, then we have an effective message that will win over propaganda and stories told by other factions. 310th PSYOP Company, Bamian, Afghanistan.

JUSPAO Poster # 1774

JUSPAO also prepared a number of posters showing Nguyen Van Be. One is coded 1774, developed February 1967, and measures 17 x 22 inches in size. There are three photographs on the poster. One shows Be holding a newspaper featuring his picture (the same photo used on several leaflets), another shows Be in profile and the third shows a statue of Be. The text is:

HOW COULD SUCH A STRANGE THING HAPPEN? The 'late Hero' Nguyen Van Be reads about his own death. For many months, the communist newspapers in both North and South Vietnam have been telling everyone the fantastic story about the supreme sacrifice of the 'hero' Nguyen Van Be. Communist youth throughout Vietnam have been urged to emulate him. According to the communist story Be was captured on 30 May 1966 after fighting like a tiger to defend the arms and ammunition he was helping to transport along a canal near My An. Supposedly he was later forced to explain how a new mine worked, and seizing the opportunity he exploded it with his own hands against an armored vehicle. The communists claimed that be gladly gave his life for the cause and killed 69 Americans and ARVN troops. A heroic act indeed! This photograph of a statue built in honor of the 'late hero' was published on the front page of the Hanoi newspaper Van Nghe on 6 January 1967. It is supposed to show Be at the moment he sacrificed his life. However, read what Mr. Be has to say: 'We were convoying ammunition along a canal in the My An district. When I heard the Government of Vietnam shots, I plunged into the canal. I was captured after I jumped into the water. I never did any of the things they say I did. Why would the Front say such things?' Look at this: Here is the 'dead hero' alive and well. He is reading about his own death in the important Hanoi newspaper Tien Phong that carried the fantastic story on the front of the 7 December 1966 issue. Similar stories were broadcast over Radio Hanoi and Liberation Radio, and many poems and songs were written about the 'late hero' Nguyen Van Be.

Psychological Operations soldiers use persuasion to influence perceptions and encourage desired behavior. The cornerstone of PSYOP is truth, credibly presented to convince a given audience to cease resistance or take actions favorable to friendly forces.
U. S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command Missions and Functions.

JUSPAO Poster # 1983

A second poster depicting the same photograph of Nguyen Van Be holding a newspaper showing his picture was developed by JUSPAO in June 1967. The poster is 17 x 22 inches in size and printed in two colors. The code is 1983. The text is:

NGUYEN VAN BE IS STILL ALIVE!

The man whom the Lao Dong Party of the North and the National Liberation Front of the South proclaim as a dead hero is in fact very much alive. However, the Front still insists that he is dead, and urges all youth to emulate his example. Yet, here is Nguyen Van Be holding the newspaper that describes him as the 'late hero' who sacrificed his life. Why does the Lao Dong Party and the National Liberation Front make up such a strange story? What do you think?

Besides leaflets, JUSPAO also produced a number of short radio and loudspeaker tapes that told the story of Nguyen Van Be. Tape number 113 was eight minutes long and entitled "Cousin of Nguyen Van Be." A synopsis of the text follows:

A tape statement by Nguyen Van Ba, former platoon leader, political officer, and cousin of Nguyen Van Be. In this message, Ba (a Hoi Chanh) reminisces about classes he conducted for the members of Nguyen Van Be's unit to inspire then to emulate Be. Upon learning that Be was alive he realized the hoax that had been perpetrated by the Viet Cong. He also compares living under Viet Cong control as opposed to Government of Vietnam control, and speaks of the Chieu Hoi program urging his former comrades to rally to the just cause.
Tape number 114 is entitled "Friend of Nguyen Van Be." This is an 11-minute tape. A synopsis of the text follows:

A tape statement by Nguyen Van Tho, former National Liberation Front sabotage expert who knew Nguyen Van Be. This (a Hoi Chanh) reminisces about former hardships shared with his friends in the 322 x 12 unit. He recalls classes conducted on dead hero Nguyen Van Be and then states Be is alive and he has seen him with his own eyes. He also emphatically states that in a technical sense of the word it would have been impossible for Be to have exploded the mine against the armored personnel carrier as the National Liberation Front has described the event. He then requests that his friends meet him on the path to rally.

Tape number 115 is entitled "Squad leader from Nguyen Van Be's Company." This is a longer 11-minute tape. A synopsis of the text follows:

Tape statement by Le Van Hue, squad leader from the same transportation company as Nguyen Van Be. Hue states that he has rallied to the just national cause and is living a happy life. He compares his happy life with the hardships he suffered in the Viet Cong ranks. He also exposes the lies told by the National Liberation Front, which promised land and assistance to fighters in the Front. He discussed the Chieu Hoi program, and insures his former compatriots that if they rally they will receive good treatment. Hue assures his friends that Be is alive and well, that he has seen Be, that he had been captured and not killed, as stated by the Front. He urges his former comrades to rally to the just cause.
Tape number 120 is only 35 seconds long. It is entitled "Nguyen Van Be." The text is:

Dear Fellow Citizens, I am Nguyen Van Be. I am the son of Mr. Nguyen Van Hue and Mrs. Le Thi Ba from Kim Son village, Long Binh district, Dinh Tuong province. I am a former member of Unit 860 x 16, a transportation unit in the central area of the South. On 30 May 1966, I was captured while on a mission on the Cai Beo canal, My Quy village, Kien Phong province. For some time the Front has proclaimed that I sacrificed my life by exploding a mine against an M-113 troop carrier, and have honored me with the title of 'dead hero' Nguyen Van Be. However, I want you all to know that the story is not true, because here I am, right now. I am still alive. I am alive and living here in the South. I ask you not to emulate my example of 'sacrifice.' I am telling you all about this so that you will know the truth.
Perhaps we should take a moment and look at the responsibilities of the Transportation Platoon as explained by Le Van Hue, a friend of Be from the same unit who later defected to the National Government.

We transported weapons, ammunition, land mines, water mines and Bangalores to our units in Central Vietnam. A sampan can carry about 300 kilograms of supply. We usually had from three to five sampans each trip. One platoon can transport about two tons of supplies. We got the supplies in Cambodia in Soai Rieng province. There were two piers there. They were brought by buffalo carts that could carry about 900 kilograms and we placed them in the sampans. We made three trips a month.

Nguyen Van Be Invalid Veteran Pay Book?
Robert Munshower discovered this Invalid Veteran pay book in the name of Nguyen Van Be while researching his history. I must state here that we are not sure this is the same individual, the name is not uncommon in Vietnam and this could be another young Viet Cong soldier with the same name as the revolutionary “hero.” Nguyen Van Be is an extremely popular name for Vietnamese males, especially those who are born in rural areas. However, his military record and time of injury match up fairly well with the Communist propaganda story of Be. Although we are not 100% positive that this is THE Nguyen Van Be, I believe we must depict portions of the book.
The Nguyen Van Be in this booklet was born November 1945 at Binh My Village, Hoc Mon District, Gia Dinh Province, and enlisted 14 February 1962. His rank when injured was Corporal (Deputy Squad leader) in unit C2D4E2F9. His was wounded in combat at Xa Cat, Binh Long. He spent 3 months and 3 days in a Viet Cong hospital, and was considered 35% disabled, Class 2, with a monthly stipend of 39 dong.

1971 reunion of Senior Viet Cong Defectors at Ben Tre, South Vietnam

Nguyen Van Be is at the bottom right in white shirt and sunglasses. Captain Bob Turner of the Joint United States Public Affairs Office is above him in blue checkered shirt leaning against the wall. The man in the center with blue pants is Don Rochlen, a psychological Operations Advisor of the United States Information Agency and the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization who worked with JUSPAO.

Credibility is a condition of persuasion. Before you can make a man do what you say, you must make him believe what you say. A necessary condition for gaining his credence is that you do not permit him to catch you in lies. Hence, the constraint upon all propagandists to accurate reporting of matters which are subject to verification by the audience…Propaganda, to be effective, must be not only factually true, but credible.

Sykewar, Daniel Lerner, George W. Stewart, NY., 1949.

This story of PSYOP intrigue is interesting because it seems to defy all the laws and logic of psychological operations. We have shown over and over again that the rules of PSYOP demand that (except in the cases of a disinformation campaign) the text of the propaganda message be truthful and credible. Yet, in the case of Nguyen Van Be the communists were shown to be liars. Repeatedly the Allied leaflets and posters pointed out that the communists had lied to the people. The result should have been a complete loss in credibility by the Vietnamese in communist propaganda. However, the old adage about the "big Lie" seems to have worked in the enemy's favor in this case.

Concept Drawings
It is rare that we get to see the early concept drawings for a propaganda campaign. I have about a half-dozen drawings that were considered for this campaign and I depict two of them here.

You Bet I am Alive
The first is overly simple and silly and it is clear why this was never made into a leaflet. Nguyen Be is depicted semi-buried in the ground holding a sign saying “You bet I am alive.” This was not good propaganda.

How did it Happen?
The concept is much more thought-out and very similar to a number of leaflets that were printed. It uses the vignette of Nguyen Be holding the newspaper reporting his death that is found on many of the printed and disseminated leaflets.

…The magnitude of a lie always contains a certain factor of credibility, since the great masses of the people in the very bottom of their hearts tend to be corrupted rather than consciously and purposely evil, and that, therefore, in view of the primitive simplicity of their minds they more easily fall a victim to a big lie than to a little one, since they themselves lie in little things, but would be ashamed of lies that were too big.

Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler.

Hanoi and the National Liberation Front controlled what their people heard and read. They spent several hours each day in the indoctrination of their troops. Every time the Allies pointed out the lie, the cadre counterattacked. They said that the GVN and the Americans were the liars, and that the fake Be was a figment of their imagination, an actor treated with plastic surgery who just pretended to be their dead hero. This would appear to be a case where the truth did not conquer. The big lie seems to have reigned supreme.

A lie told often enough becomes the truth.

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin.

What may be the most interesting aspect of this story is that experts who have traveled to Vietnam cannot find a single street or building either in Hanoi, Saigon or any other major city named after the alleged hero, Nguyen Van Be. The communists honored all of their military heroes with streets and buildings named or renamed for them. It may be that even as they lied and propagandized their own people with tales of Be’s heroism, they secretly fumed at having been duped and waited for the first opportunity to erase him and make him a "non-person" in the best Communist tradition. Sony Nguyen told me in 2012 that some of the streets had been changed only recently. It is possible that in some parts of Vietnam, the ability to use the Internet and perhaps read this article alerted some local mayors to the fact that Be was not the hero they believe him to be. It is shocking that it took them 40 years to learn the truth.

This article is just a brief look at the Nguyen Van Be campaign carried by JUSPAO against the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong. We have selected and depicted a few leaflets that were particularly interesting. If any of our readers have additional leaflets that they think should be included in this article, they are encouraged to send them to the author. You are invited to write to the author with comments or questions at Sgmbert@hotmail.com

Friday, November 15, 2013

VẼ VÀ XÓA ANH HÙNG - ANH HÙNG LIỆT SỸ NGUYỄN VĂN BÉ

The Strange Case of the Vietnamese
"Late Hero" Nguyen Van Be

SGM Herbert A. Friedman (Ret.)

The Viet Cong troops Study and Emulate Comrade Be

Poems in honor of the Martyr Nguyen Van Be

The Communists Celebrate the First Anniversary of Nguyen Van Be’s Alleged Death

Concept Drawings

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Friday, November 15, 2013

VẼ VÀ XÓA ANH HÙNG - ANH HÙNG LIỆT SỸ NGUYỄN VĂN BÉ

The Strange Case of the Vietnamese"Late Hero" Nguyen Van Be

SGM Herbert A. Friedman (Ret.)

The Viet Cong troops Study and Emulate Comrade Be

Poems in honor of the Martyr Nguyen Van Be

The Communists Celebrate the First Anniversary of Nguyen Van Be’s Alleged Death

Concept Drawings

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The Strange Case of the Vietnamese
"Late Hero" Nguyen Van Be