Basic HTML Version
by
Anhur A. Ferdig
Only six weeks before South Viet–
nam·s unconditional surrender to
the Nonh,
1
was in Saigon with fel–
low
Plain Truth
staff member Rogar
Lippross. lt was our first trip to
Southeast Asia. and our South Viet–
nam leg of the jouiT!eY was espe–
cially impressionable.·
1
guess we expected to find a
wonhless patch of real estata - la–
tid swamps and . tangled junglas
scarred by l¡ombs, scorched by na–
palm and stained by generations of
human blood. (Pardon my igno–
rance, but l'm a 12-year vetaran of a
TV war.) We expected to find grand–
famer. father and son (if still alive)
waary. sick at heart and immobilized
by war. l'm sure many Americans
felt this way.
Alter just a few days in and
around Saigon, however, it didn' t
take a mental giant to real iza what a
beautiful and bountiful land tha
North Vietnamese ware alter. South
Vietnam is a rich agricultura! land,
well cultivated and even capabla of
exporting rice. Driving along the
roads, we were reminded of the Phil–
ippines. or even Hawaii. The fialds
ware abundant with tropical crops,
such as sweet potatoes, peanuts and
sugar cana. little villages and towns
8
each had their own markets, nestled
among palm and rubber tree graves.
Hanoi has an obligation to l eed
millions of hungry mouths, and
South Vietnam contains soma of the
richest agricultura! lands in South–
east Asia. In the South, crops grow
with ease; in the Nonh they don' t.
Farmers around Saigon enjoy fine
harvests with relatively littla hard
labor, comparad to farming the rug–
gad terrain in the Nonh. The South
ís the breadbasket of Vietnam -
well worth fightíng for. The land ís
rich. green, productiva and beau–
tiful. The food is good, and there ís
plenty of
ít.
Farrners in the South's outlying
provinces, howevar, wara admit–
tedly suffering a morale problem.
Their harvests were being taxed by
both the Saigon administration end
the Vi.et Cong . Failure to supply
grain to the
ve
meant having thair
fialds bumed and thair familias
threatened. Sorne farmers under this
durass were giving up and movíng
to the crowded cities.
We also heard repons that certain
Seígon merchants were buying
foodstuffs from the farmers and
blackmarketing them to the
ve
for a
tidy profrt. War breeds corrupt ion
- anything for a price, even to the
point of selling out your own people,
their food, clothing and military
equipment. (The latter, of course.
provided the biggesl' blackmarket
bonanza.)
1
was told that you couldn't leave
the country - excapt for a price -
and also that you must "buy" a job,
a government position, or
a
military
commission.
In spíte of such aconomic hard–
ships, Saigon was aliva with a flurry
of activity. Vibrant and alart people
wara going about the normal tasks
of living. 1 would ventura to guess
that fully hall the population was in
perpetua! transit during the daylight
hours - jamming the streets orl
roaring Hondas (somatimes laboring
under the weight of 4 or 5 peopla),
ridíng bicycles of avery size and de–
scription, driving automobiles of
new and ancient vintaga, and, of
course. walking.
Gasoline was at a premium -
often blackmarketed in coke bottles
along the side of the road - but in
spíte of such shortages. the wheels
of Saigon kept turning . The clamor,
dust and exhaust fumes only ceased
as curfew approached, and then tha
next day was a repeat of what went
before. 1wondered what the activity
had been like prior to the U.S. troop
pullout - bordering on chaos,
1
as–
sume.
The more
1
talked with tha citizens
of Saigon, the more
1
realized that
competition for the U .S. dollar
seemed to overshadow any concern
about the military threat from the
Nonh - and this was in late March
of
19751
The almighty dollar was public
concern Number One. At the pros–
pect of money, pimps. prostitutas.
beggars and sidewalk salesmen
crawled out of the woodwork en
masse.
All were anxious to extend a
friendly hand for a greenback. With
the Gls gone, street servíces waren' t
so much in demand, so the com–
petition was brisk and annoying.
Money was their number one con–
cern, and there just wasn' t enough
to go around.
The biggest complaint on the
street was registered not with the
communists but with the corrupt
politicians - those whose greasy
palms demandad continua! greas–
ing. those with already bulging bank
accounts who continuad to greedily
line their pockets wi th dollars and
WEEK ENDINO MAY 24,
1915