Remember hue victims

On Jan. 30,1968, the Viet Cong guerrillas (VC) supported by the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) attacked South Vietnamese and U.S. installations as well as the five largest cities in South Vietnam. The scope and speed of the attacks caused the VC and NVA to capture many cities including the old capital of Hue (pronounced "way"). By Feb. 10 the attacks had ended and the South Vietnamese had regained control of most areas previously held by the VC and the NVA. The NVA held Hue for 25 days and withstood heavy ground and air attacks with heavy casualties for the VC and NVA, U.S. Marines, U.S. Army units and South Vietnamese units. When the Allied forces discovered the first mass graves of civilians who had been executed by the communist force occupying the city. The battle for Hue has been called the longest and the bloodiest battle of the Vietnam War.

The initial count showed that approximately 2,800 bodies were in these first discovered mass graves. It was assumed that these people were accused of being sympathizers of the South Vietnamese government or of working for the U.S. and South Vietnamese. Some estimates of civilians executed in Hue reach as high as 5,700. There were bodies found that had been beaten to death, shot, and buried alive. None of these events in Hue were new for communist forces occupying spots in South Vietnam.

Since the early days of the Vietnam War when VC would move into a village or hamlet their first acts would to have all civilians come out to view what was going to happen. The village chief or other high-ranking official would be brought out and executed in front of the civilians including the official's family. The VC would then steal food and other supplies and leave after threatening to return.

The atrocities committed by the VC and NVA seem to have faded from the public memory, but similar behaviors have been repeated by ISIS and other terrorist organizations. Creating fear in civilian populations is a tactic used to effectively ensure compliance.

Jack Dragoni attended Boston College and served in the U.S. Army in Berlin and Vietnam. He lives in Chaffee, Missouri.