Atrocities in Vietnam

July 6, 1965 - Harsh and brutal measures have increased on both sides as the intensity of the war in Vietnam has risen.

For years, the Communist insurgents have used terrorism as a principal tool in their campaign to subvert the Government. Thousands of Government functionaries have been assassinated throughout Vietnam in the last five years.

In the aftermath of the attack last week at the Danang air base, patrols found the body of a village woman floating in the river with her feet cut off.

Also last week, two civilians were kidnapped and buried alive near Loinong in the Mekong Delta, and five women were kidnapped in Haungia Province. A child was killed and two others wounded by intentional Viet Cong gunfire in Binhdinh Province.

Similar incidents have also been staged by Government supporters.

During the Phubon battle last week, at least five Communist prisoners were shot because the capturing Government troops felt they could not guard them properly.

At another place a day later, a Western newsman watched while a Government guard stepped forward without warning and beat a 15-year-old youth accused of aiding the Viet Cong.

With a greater U.S. participation in the war, brutality has begun to occur among the American troops as well.

One American helicopter crewman returned to his base in the central highlands last week without a fierce young prisoner entrusted to him. He told friends he had become infuriated by the youth and had pushed him out of the helicopter at 1,000 feet.

When a superior warned him he would be court-martialed, the crewman changed his story, saying the prisoner had attacked him and had fallen accidentally.

What has concerned some U.S. commanders more than such isolated actions, however, has been the decision during the last six months to bomb heavily throughout South Vietnam.

“I don’t like to hit a village,” said one American pilot in his mid-20’s, who has flown more than 100 missions. “You know you’re hitting women and children. But you’ve got to decide that your cause is noble and that the work has to be done.”

In Saigon, commanders who acknowledge the problem also note the bombing that accompanied the liberation of France in World War II.

“It was a friendly population there,” one senior officer said, “but some of them died. War is no good for anyone.”A year ago, the U.S. mission turned the phrase “winning the hearts and minds of the people” into a cliché through repetition. The phrase is seldom heard now.

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