Our Family Vietnam History and Legacy

Preface

While Pope Paul VI's did not believe the street clashes leading to the killing of a Catholic youth by Buddhist mob were signs of religious conflicts [New York Times, 1964], the L'Osservatore Romano appealed to the South Vietnamese for calm in the midst of further violence and protests after the ouster of President Diem's First Republic.

In the meanwhile, the U.S. bishops believed Major Dang's allegations and trial were results of religious discriminations orchestrated by a pro-Buddhist government to appease the raging turmoils threatening the new Military Junta's replacement. Monsignor Asta, the Papal Delegate in South Vietnam, insisted on U.S. intervention due to the indications that General Khanh's decision to attack Major Dang Sy, at the trial, would precipitate an all-out religious war between the Catholics and Buddhists [Blair, 1995]. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, Mike Forrestal, assured National Catholic Welfare Conference Legal Department, Harmon Burns, that Premier Khanh pledged to reduce Major Dang's capital punishment and would grant Major Dang the permission to leave Vietnam after the trial [United Nations Affairs, 1964].

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United Nations Fact Finding Mission

After the incident at Hue radio station, the arrests of dissidents at several Buddhist temples in Saigon, and the protest of Venerable Thich Quang Duc, Cambodia broke off diplomatic relation with South Vietnam and declined further U.S. aid packages. Laos declared neutrality. Sixteen members of United Nations filed human right violations against South Vietnam. To clear itself of the allegations of persecuting the Buddhists, the First Republic invited an independence panel of representatives to visit and did an exhaustive investigation of these allegations. Embassies from Afghanistan, Brazil, Costa Rica, Dahomey, Morocco, Ceylon and Nepal, accompanied by Marguerite Higgins, began their investigation on October 11 and concluded their findings on December 9, 1963. This report was largely ignored by international press until December 20, when Costa Rica Ambassador Fernando Volio-Jimenez granted an interview to NCWC News Agency and brought it to international attention.

On February 17, 1964, U.S. Senator Thomas Dodd (D-CT) presented these findings to Senator James Eastland (D-MS), chairman of U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Internal Security, to inform the American public that they had been misled [U.S. Senate Report, 1964].

During their visit, the fact finding mission was permit to travel anywhere in South Vietnam and met with many government officials, mainly Buddhists and Confucians, as well as members of the Buddhist Hierarchy. No Catholic clergies or citizens were invited to participate in the United Nations investigation.

Served as a time capsule, the mission's report consisted of United Nations recommendations, the testimonies of South Vietnam government officials, demands from moderate Buddhist leaders as well as the radical Thich Tri Quang accusations of religious persecutions.

The appendices included decrees, dated from Emperor Bao Dai's reign, stating:

1) All South Vietnam citizens could enjoy practicing their faith of choice.
2) All religious flags must be flown below the national flag.
3) Government could hold South Vietnam citizens indefinitely for political reasons.

Some of the findings included:

1) There were no religious persecutions as the law did not single out any one particular religion.
2) Deaths at the unfortunate incident near Hue radio station was caused by explosions, most probably made by Communist infiltrators. As South Vietnam army did not have such weapon in their possession.
3) There were only 8 dead, 7 children and one adult, in contrast to the 9 dead and 24 wounded, as perpetrated by the international press.
4) Victims suffered massive wounds, in contrast to claims of gun or artillery fires, as perpetrated by international press.
5) The victims came from various religions, not all were Buddhists, as perpetrated by international press.
6) A young Buddhist monk reported that he was recruited to perform self sacrifice acts, with promises of using drugs to dull pain, and he later learned the heinous acts committed by the government were complete fabrications.

Ambassador Volio-Jimenez stated that though no government was perfect, the very act of South Vietnam to invite United Nations investigators proved that the First Republic was forthright and willing to fix its human rights violations, as alleged by the sixteen member nations [U.N. Fact Finding Mission, 1963].

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The Trial

The trial, took place in Saigon on June 2, 1964 at 9:00 AM, with the presence of United Nations. It lasted for a week. The Military tribunal, or the Revolutionary Court, made up of eight military personnel, including General Dang Văn Quang and Colonel Dương Hiếu Nghĩa. The Honorable Lê Văn Thụ was the presiding Judge and Lt. Colonel Nguyễn Văn Đức was the Prosecutor. These were the same officials for cases against Ngô Đình Cẩn and Colonel Phan Quang Dong a year before, when both of the accusers were quickly judged and executed. Unlike the previous two cases which were held in Hue, the trial of Dang Sy was held in more orderly manner, the twenty families who represented the eight victims were absent [Hammer, 1987].

The charges brought against Major Dang were attempted and premeditated murders. The prosecution sought the death penalty, if the defendant was found guilty. Even though the incident took place at Hue, the prosecution and defense asked the court to hold the trial in Saigon, away from the dissidents and possible violence against the defendant and his family [Gettysburg Times, 1964].

The public reaction was frenzy. The Buddhists, initially demanded death penalty, proposed clemency if Major Dang admitted guilt. On the other hand, the Catholics demanded equal treatment for Major Dang, as other Buddhist perpetrators of the allegations [Times, 1964].

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Allegations

While General Khanh's Revolutionary council released all Military Junta generals, he continued to imprison Major Dang Sy. General Khanh was sure this move would improve his relation with General Duong Van Minh's Military Junta while bolstering his support with the militant Buddhists under Thich Tri Quang [CIA Weekly Report, 1964], [Moyar, 2006].

While in prison, Major Dang reported that he was pressured into pinning the responsibility for the raising death toll on the only remaining Ngô figure, Bishop Ngô Đình Thuc. He refused to do so, either in prison or at the trial [Higgins, 1965], [Gheddo, 1970]. Had this ploy worked, the South Vietnamese Catholics and the Catholic Church itself would have gone through an extremely difficult time [Gheddo, 1970].

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Testimony

To gain a neutral perspective, the First Republic invited United Nations to send an investigative mission to South Vietnam, despite official protests from North Vietnam. Even though South Vietnam was working toward membership in United Nations, the Secretary General granted the request. Completed in December 1963, this report had never seen the light of day since the media deemed it was unnecessary because the Diem government had been replaced [Higgins, 1965], [Hammer, 1987].

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Verdict

While the First Republic government dismissed charges of misconducts and paid indemptions to victims families in 1963, the Revolutionary Tribunal tried and pressed a death sentence for Major Dang in 1964 [Gadsden Times, 1964].

Major Dang, maintained his and his men's innocence in the cause of deaths. Fifty men were released but the sentence still progressed toward extreme penalty for Major Dang.

The victims of the blasts came from mixed backgrounds and religions. While the media reported the victims were Buddhists, they glossed over the fact that at least one of the victims was a Catholic [New York Times, 1964]. The cause of the blasts were of unknown origin, even until today. Major Dang, while escaped harm, was implicated because of the his vincinity to the casualties. Post-mortem autopsy, performed by Dr. Le Khac Quyen, revealed the corpses were damaged by explosion, not ammunition. MK3 concussion grenades used by Major Dang's troops were determined to be non-lethal. Dr. Wulff's testimony and medical office corroborated that victims were killed by larger, lethal explosions.

Despite the prosecution's press for the death penalty, Major Dang's lawyer contended that the court could not establish concrete evidence to prove beyond reasonable doubts of his client's alleged crimes. Major Dang concluded his defense by saying he was a victim of a religious conflict [Gadsden Times, 1964].

When the military tribunal pronounced sentence, sympathetic Catholics and Buddhists lined the streets in protest in the following Monday, prompting many international observers to speculate an internal civil war was about to be erupted [Gadsden Times, 1964], [ Keesing's World News, 1964], [Topmiller, 2006].

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Further Turmoil

Tension between Catholics and Buddhists over the life sentence given to Major Dang Sy heightened [New York News, 1964].

On Monday, August 9, 1964, 40,000 people marched across Saigon and surrounding areas protesting the sentencing as well as the odd silence of the United States. Crowds carried English banners urging U.S. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge to state his official stand and demanded the Revolutionary Council's stand on governing South Vietnam. As the crowds converged at the Cathedral in Saigon, some even tried to tear down the memorial plaque for the late President John F. Kennedy, saying religious ground was not a place for politicians. Though they were promptly stopped by others in the crowd, most South Vietnamese felt the Kennedy administration was partly responsible for the death of President Diem [New York News, 1964]. Some believed that Ambassador Lodge was molding the subservient Nguyen Khanh's government which was held under the sway of certain Buddhist leadership influence [Associated Press, 1964], [Blair, 1995].

On the following Wednesday August 11, 1964, a petition, signed by 345 Catholic clergies, was delivered to General Khanh Nguyen asking clemency for Major Dang. The petition stated the charges were vague and the conviction was based on the testimonies of two men who changed their stories and contradicted each other. General Khanh stated that he would open a commission to review Major Dang's case [New York News, 1964].

South Vietnamese army went through a period of demoralization as commanding officers refused to execute orders from their superiors without written authorization. They blamed the frequent replacement of their superiors would make them doing their duty one day and be punished by the next incoming commanders. They did not want to go through the same ordeal as Major Dang Sy [The Daily News, 1964].

The United States silence on the trial of Dang Sy had created a double standard. As the media and U.S. government condemmed Saigon regime on Buddhist persecution, little or no coverage on the arrests of Catholic military personnel. Father Patrick O'Connor observed that Buddhists or those claimed to be of this faith, were given preferential treatment, even in cases of committing crimes [New York News, 1964].

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Aftermath

While the initial reports from U.S. Embassy and Halberstam-Sheehan in Saigon reported that Major Dang ordered troops to fire on peaceful demonstrators, or the victims died from grenades on the radio station's balcony; subsequent U.S. State Department reports restated that Major Dang's troops were not involved in the casualties at the Hue radio station and the deaths were caused by large, unknown explosions. They further elaborated that the death tolls were limited to 8, instead of 9 with many wounded, as stated in the initial reports. According to a CIA high level official, George Carver, the source of the explosion would probably remain a mystery, shrouded in secrecy, for all times [Hammer, 1987].

In a report to the U.S. Congress Subcommittee of Internal Security, Senator Thomas J. Dodd presented the false reports created about South Vietnam. He informed the subcommitee that the United States had been misled by radical reporting that led to the ouster of President Diem [Dodd, 1964]. In his testimony to Congress, CIA director William Colby also expressed his doubts in the reports of Buddhist persecutions. He iterated that Major Dang Sy did not order his troops to open fire on demonstrators, though actions taken by the South Vietnamese military were witnessed by German doctors [Prados, 2004]. In Congressional Recording Volume 114, the U.S. Congress found that Major Dang Sy was a 7 times decorated hero in the South Vietnamese Army and was held without formal charges. The Trial of Dang Sy had created such financial burden on the Dang family that several U.S. faith-based charities had to provide financial support to Mrs. Dang [HR 12449, 89-2, 1966], [Congressional Recording, 1967].

One of the presiding members of the Military Tribunal, and Major Dang's lawyer contended that the court sentenced Major Dang without proving beyond reason of a doubt, based on inconclusive and unconnected evidences. This was done to court the radical Buddhist movement for supporting a fading Military Junta that was facing further turmoils [Hammer, 1987]. The most notable act that caused violence under General Khanh's regime was the revised Vietnamese Constitution (Vietnamese: Vũng Tàu Hiến Chương).

In 1970, the Hoa Binh newspaper ran a story that Captain James Scott, who was reassigned to Mekong Delta region, admited that he was the one who set the explosive devices [Hammer, 1987].

As for the cause of deaths for the eight victims, the debates raged on, even until today [Wolf, 2002], [Truong, 2010].

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