In Search of Freedom

By Tu Van Lam

War is cruel and bloodier through ages. A million Vietnamese victims bore full barbaric acts of crimes against hummanity; committed, unchallenged and covered-up rampantly in the Vietnam War. Freedom fighter Tu Van Lam was not immune even when the war ended. He became fugitive, who embarked on a forty year

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Universal Breakthrough
• Release date: Jul 19, 2021
• ISBN: 9781956094060

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In Search of Freedom

The Unspeakable Sorrow of a 40 Year Saga

Tu Van Lam

Copyright © 2021 Tu Van Lam.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without a prior written permission from the publisher, except by reviewers, who may quote brief passages in a review, and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by the copyright law.

ISBN: 978-1-956094-07-7 (PB)

ISBN: 978-1-956094-08-4 (HB)

ISBN: 978-1-956094-06-0 (E-book)

All of the characters in this book are fictitious,and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

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Contents

Ho Chi Minh City, October 1977

Bui-Chu, Giao Lac 1952.

Nam Dinh French Garrision 1952.

Battle at Giao Lac village 1952.

Hai Phong Port. 1953. (North Vietnam)

Bui Chu church, 1954.

Bui Chu police station 1954.

Trung Chanh village-Western of Saigon 1955.

Battle at Di An , January 1963.

People’s Court, March 1963.

Cong Ly Street, 01 November 1963.

The Tet Offensive at Ba Queo February 1968.

Trang Bang Commando base, Tay Ninh 1970.

In the Gulf of Siam

The unravelling B.52 giant Bomber.

Battle of Ban Me Thuot, February 1975.

Saigon 3 April 1975.

Saigon 21 April 1975

Phu Quoc Island, 28 April 1975.

Saigon 29 April 1975.

Navy Base at Duong Dong. (Phu Quoc).

Phu Quoc Island 30 April 1975.

Saigon and other Cities in May 1975.

Phu Son Village in June 1975.

Anti-Communist Movements.

Phu Son jungle. December 1976.

Phuong Lam Sub-District Police Post January 1977.

Phuong Lam District May 1977.

Ho Chi Minh City, June 1977.

Phuong Lam District. September 1977.

Phuong Lam District, September 1977.

Phuong Lam District 15 October 1977.

Ho Chi Minh City 20 October 1977.

Phan Dinh Phung Street 27 October 1977.

Tan Binh District, evening 27 October 1977.

Ho Chi Minh Bus Terminal 28 October 1977.

Phan Dinh Phung Street 29 October 1977.

The U Tapao Airbase in Thailand.

Singapore, the Lion City on 29 October 1977.

Singapore police intimidation.

Singapore Tugboat detained in Vietnam.

‘Kangaroo-like High Court’ on 16 December 1977.

Kangaroo’ Supreme Court of Appellant in June 1978.

First confrontation with Prison Authority in April 1980.

Smuggling of letters and Punishment June 1981.

Changi Prison August 1981.

First visiting of the UNHCR Representative in June 82.

Legal Aid from the American Lawyer.

The remarkable Visit in September 1982.

Changi Prison, Christmas day 1982.

Confrontation with Prison Director, March 1983.

Corruption of Changi Prison Staff September 1983.

Tragedy of Tu Van’s wife and daughter in Jan, 1984.

New Rehabilitative Program.

Confrontation with SCORE June 1985.

Prison Authority Abused Inmates’ Human Rights.

Freedom at Last, Changi Prison 29 May 1987.

The Vietnamese Refugee Camp in Singapore 1987.

Dr. Bernard Kouchner and La Lumiere du Monde Ship.

US Joint Voluntary Agency Chief John Drake.

Catholic Priest Patrick J O’Neill. January 1989.

An escaping attempt to Canada, February 1989.

First Escaping Attempt to Australia by Boat, March 89

Leaving Singapore on Saturday 03 March 1989.

Criminal Investigation Department of Singapore

8th March 1989 Gelasa Island. (Indonesia)

On 12 March 1989 at Navy Base Pontianak.

Screening Program in Galang Refugee Camp. 1989.

The First Boat People to Be Screened, July 1989.

Second Escaping to Australia in March 1991.

Asylum Seekers demanding for Refugee status.

Military Fiasco at the Refugee Camp October 1994.

Third Escaping Attempt to Australia January 1995.

The Buddhist Monk Imposter Tri Plotted to Kill Tu Van.

The fourth escaping attempt to Australia 29 April 1995.

The Indonesian Samaritan.

Anak Sambu Island. (Batam)

Batam Prison April 1995.

Kupang- Oesapa Beach. September 2006.

Christmas Island, 1 April 2007.

(Immigration Detention Center)

For those who fight for it, life has a flavour. The sheltered never knows

Dedicated to Nguyen Thi Lan and Lam Diep; perished in the South China Sea. Kim Tuoi raped by Thai pirates in search of freedom.

To Anita, Peter Nguyen, Mary Nguyen, Theresa, Angela and Ruth, who have pleased me in a thousand ways.

To the noble: Lawyer Jon Webster, Engineer Robert Mc.Intyre. Sharon Mc.Intyre. Ex-navy man Cecil Ong, and many more, who have been so kind and generous to me during my forty-year saga; you are my heroes.

Ho Chi Minh City, October 1977

Sky above Ho Chi Minh City was clear blue with doted thin white cloud floating and dancing in the trade wind of Oct 1977. More than 2 years ago, many North Vietnam Army Divisions, in the name of The National Front for The Liberation of South Vietnam overran the Saigon Capital. They then named it Ho-Chi-Minh City to commemorate war Victory in respect of Ho Chi Minh, the founder of Vietnam Communist Party or Viet-Cong.

Since, his portraits was displaying not only in public but also in every house in Vietnam. The Vietnam Communist Party idolized Ho Chi Minh or Uncle Ho for the sake of vicious hidden scheme in coming years. The mass hated him for they knew so well how twisted-mind Ho chi Minh was in 1945s during his reigned and even after his death in 1969. He and his cohorts bloody purged several thousand landowners, rich people to rob their wealth in order to finance the Vietnam War against the French and American.

Tan-Son-Nhut Airbase, located in the Ho-Chi-Minh city was the busiest airport in Vietnam during the Vietnam War but its services now reduced to just a few flights each day to serve the most needed Comrades in power transporting their ill-gotten wealth, war loots plundered from the South Vietnam to their far-flung home in all parts of North Vietnam.

A young man, who hated Communist from childhood in white shirt, respectfully carried Ho-Chi-Minh bust in his arms, blended himself in the middle of a winding procession of men and women stretching far from a DC-3 Airplane door to the gate of the waiting hall.

Two fully armed Vietcong with AK-47 and hand grenades kept watching the passengers. The liberators authorised to shoot and kill anyone they deemed anti-revolutionary. Occasionally, cold-blood street executions took place weekly, tactically to terrorise the South Vietnamese. It embedded in the minds of people since the Fall of Saigon in 1975.

Cold-sweat silence lingered on the tarmac where Viet-cong hawk-like eyes watched and carried out strictly security measure. Abruptly, the armed Communists stopped and poked their AK-47 barrel against the luggage and questioned its content with a stern face.

A man in white shirt was very worried. He trembled. His heart missed a beat. He had no luggage or any scanty belongings for he was not a regular traveller or businessperson but just a bust in his arms. He tried to gain composure himself because he knew that he was one of his own kinds among the passengers. He could be shot at any moment or tortured in all form of sub-human ways in the so-called infamous re-education camps in Vietnam if his best- laid plan went wrong. As fears gripped him. Time seemed stopped moving. He got the sense of chill running down- ward his spine. He got cold sweat. He wished that he had not joint this procession. He wished that he could be with his 6 months’ pregnant wife.

However, it was too late now for the crucial moment approaching fast. It was all soon over. He came to the point of no return. That is why he was confused, and he had been in agony from the moment he possessed the Ho Chi Minh bust. He, at moment hated himself for embarking on this journey and at the same time he knew that he was so lucky having been a fugitive on the run for years, comparing to other million detained, jailed, languished, tortured in the so-called re-education camps deep in the untouched jungle, facing the certain -painful slow death. All because they chose liberty or death. His luck might run out this time. He might lose his life if his years- in- the making plan failed.

He cheated death times before but now, he scared because the stake was so huge, and he had not plan B. That meant he gambled on his own life and others’ as well for he totally put his trust in God whom, he believed in control and blessed him in order to achieve one thing, just one thing that was so dear to him. Life without it, is dead. Because he lost it when the liberators took over South Vietnam, now he determined that he must have it back no matter what…For he knew how.

One Communist with both hands on his AK-47 approaching fast. He paused, his stern face, hawk-like eyes spotted the man in white shirt holding Ho Chi Minh bust. The man in white shirt silently said a prayer. His heart almost stopped beating…

Gradually, the Communist’s face changed while his eyes focus on the bust. He admired at the precision work and talent of the sculptor. In his mind, he had another thought I am so grateful to uncle Ho for what I am now and he paced past the man in white shirt with a smile.

The man in white shirt walked to the main door of the DC3 airplane in disbelieving. He settled himself on the mid-section seat and took a long breath. Satisfactorily, he laid Ho-Chi-Minh bust squarely on his lap and made a quick glance inside the DC 3 Airplane while, other passengers taking seats and stacking luggage. A sense of self-confidence arose in his mind. He stared through the window. Again, he saw the faces of two communists faded behind the thick smoke of propellers revving up.

In the noisy roar of propellers, the DC-3 Airplane moved fast forward and up in the air. Thin white clouds enshrouded the plane as it is ascending. Everyone occupied by oneself thought. It was just another flight from Ho-Chi Minh City to Phu-Quoc Island.

The Dakota DC-3 American- made plane, was one of the exceptional flying machines, serving people globally and safely for many decades. A man in white shirt remembered his first ever board airplane in 1972 when he was just 18 years old. It was a pleasant flight with his cousin from Saigon to Tuy Hoa. But it was not pleasant at all on this flight controlling by armed communist crew. It was not pleasant at all because he remembered a disgruntled soldier Le Duc Tan of the South Vietnam Army hijacked a plane in 1975, demanded to take him to Ha-Noi. The pilots did not give in. The lone hi-jacker exploded a hand-grenade in mid-air, sending all crewmembers and passengers to their graves too soon. Silently, he said earnest prayer deep down in his heart, asking his God for blessing. He then took a deep breath, stood up and left his seat.

The man in white shirt forcefully and intentionally dropped the bust in the steady roar of propellers. A few passengers could notice the man in white shirt picked up a revolver P.38 Smith&Wenson and quickly walk to the cockpit. Gently he pushed the cockpit door, but it remained locked. Desperately, he kicked and pushed harder while he looked back as he feared that someone would attack him in the back.

Suddenly, the cockpit door opened from the inside. The man with a gun was stunned. Two communists in uniform found themselves staring at the black barrel of the revolver. Instantly, they plunged forward and attacked the man holding the gun. He felt and landed on the floor but his two hands pointed his revolver toward the cockpit. He pulled the trigger 4 times…the attackers dropped inside the cockpit.

Bui-Chu, Giao Lac 1952.

Giao Lac village is located next to Hong Riverbank, in the Bui Chu province, North Vietnam, where it is easily accessible by boat than other way. Village children did exactly what passed down from their ancestors for their own survival. Their livelihood depended on the rice harvest, which at times was totally wiped out by storm, severe floods, that caused by either tropical torrential rains or the burst of the riverbank.

Rudiment houses, which built by the hard work of many generations, yet easily blown away by storms. Extreme cold, hunger and sickness were also the constant companions of the villagers. Each time calamity repeated itself; they beat against their chests and cried out as if they were the castigated ones.

The unforgettable deadliest starvation purposely conducted by the cold-blooded Japanese occupation forces, which claimed million Vietnamese lives could deter the locals from abandoning the land, which they regarded as a spiritual privilege to live and to die exactly the way their ancestors had done.

Huong was detained in the vacant house of this village for many months. She had no idea why her only brother Mai hated her so much. It was only the second time she had met him in her lifetime. The first time was just before her mother left for South Vietnam and worked at the rubber plantation owned by the French colonists. Malaria and tropical fever claimed her life the following year. Huong remembered her adoptive rich aunt in Giao- Lac village once introduced her to her brother; and it was the day that he left the village to join the communist force.

The communist forces were under the command of Ho Chi Minh and Vo Nguyen Giap, founders of Vietnam Communist Party. Mai was a zealous Communist cadre who denounced his family ties and religion to serve Ho Chi Minh, promoted through the ranks faster than many of his friends. He took part in many battles against the French Colonists and the Japanese.

The news of her brother’s return to Giao Lac village excited her. It was years of separation, and she had expected that she would have been incredibly happy to meet him in person, to tell him how she missed him, for he was the only remaining living member of her family.

Her father had died of starvation, purposely caused by the Japanese occupation forces in Vietnam when she was a child. They robbed peasants of their reserving rice for the next season to feed their troops and horses. The famine was so severe that nearly two million North Vietnamese perished in a year’s time.

Huong also thought that her brother might love her more because she was the youngest one in family, but the reality was so painful to bear. Incarcerated by her only brother, angered her more and more as time passed by.

Nightfall was scary. The vacant house where Huong was detained, located far from the village. It was well- selected by the communist for its security purposes, so the clandestine meetings were well- kept secret. She had a deep- seated fear of ghosts since childhood. Older villagers often told children of ghost stories which circulated among the younger ones for many generations.

As night dragged on, more insects joined in singing their songs, rats shuttled in and out of their holes, playing and looking for food noisily. They all struggled to survive instinctively. However, for Huong the nights were hair-raising, yet she knew that she must bear with it. She knew she had to grow stronger and stronger, not only for her own survival, but for that of her unborn 6-month baby.

‘I must get out of here,’ she whispered.

Mai kept walking back and forth in his hideout located next to the vacant house where his sister was currently detained trying to conceal his own problem. His authority power of a senior comrade was absolute and unchallenged within his command area. He could detain anyone, making decisions on villager affairs or even send someone to his grave if he deemed it would have been necessary to do so. It was absolute authority empowered to him by the communist party; but now, facing his own problem, trouble and uneasy if his sister was still in incarceration.

‘I have detained my sister...all because I do not want to lose her!’ he murmured.

He personally brought her meals and taunted her, ‘I know you want to run away to South Vietnam with your husband who is serving the French Colonists and the American Imperialists. Where is he now? Change your mind and stay with me, I will set you free.’

She stayed defiant. Mai grew impatient and desperate as the news of the French forces were conducting search and destroy operations, closed in on their vicinity. It would be suicidal to be captured or to engage in a battle against them for his group was outnumbered and ill equipped.

‘Be ready comrades,’ he shouted. ‘Check your fire-arms, hold your positions and wait for my order.’ He was himself impatiently waiting for the order too.

After World War II, most occupied lands in the world gained independence but not Vietnam. The French Colonists who supported by the American Government made a comeback that antagonised the Mao Tze Tung-back Vietnam Communist Party, led by Ho Chi Minh.

As war was no stranger to the Vietnamese. For more than 2,000 years, the nation struggled toward unity and independence in the face of civil strife, Chinese incursions and European imperialism. Now the Communist Viet Minh forces campaigned for new members as well as consolidating their bases in the countryside. Dirty tactics and ruthless methods were employed. Landlords, rich people, western-trained public servants and those who co-operated with the French were tried by the so-called People’s Court, if found guilty, put to death by buffalo-drawn plough slicing their heads, stoned to death or being decapitated in the remote villages. The People’s Court’s bloody campaign lasted for years which terrorised the mass. As the result, more than fifty thousand Vietnamese perished, and several thousand detainees languished in the re-education camps bordering with China. Million others had no choice but to join them or escaped to the South Vietnam.

The French Colonists had their own ambition, which was to rule Vietnam again. French Forces increased their war activities and brutal suppression to silence opponents of political parties demanding for independence of Vietnam. Many died of torture or sentenced to death. Several more thousand languished in prisons. The most notorious one was Con Dao Prison on Con Son Island where Ho Chi Minh and his cohorts had been jailed.

Many Catholic priests who disliked Communist atheists and their religious persecution policy sought French backing to form armed groups opposing the Communist. Bay led a Catholic Armed Group in his church village under the command of priest Hoang Quynh. Bay was a burly and hand- some man in his twenties, keenly on learning martial arts, hardworking and humorous. He had no political ambition but was a devout catholic committed to fight against the atheist communists. He commanded with respect and good manners, which enabled him to win the hearts of his men. The group secured safe passage, keeping communists away from the church vicinity. However, his short-lived victory was thorny to the communists. Soon the hunter became the hunted.

The sky above Giao Lac village grew darker. Farmers hurriedly returned home, chatting and laughing without noticing ten fully armed communists clad in black pyjamas. They advantaged of the nightfall, quietly ambushing along the bamboo bushes on both sides of the winding road leading to the village. As the farmers came closer, the communists raised their guns ready to open fire, but their target was not insight. Bay is not here. Said one of the raiders as they stalked behind, disappeared in the bushes closer to the farmers’ homes. A cat nearby caught a glimpse of a rat running into a hole. They waited.

Not far from the bushes where ten black pyjama- clad men hid, Bay and his men discussed their move to save his wife kidnapped by communists’ months ago. Due to security reasons, he had to abort his plan repeatedly. Now, his patience was running out. He reached for his gun and commanded his men,’ Let’s move.’

The night rolled on. Six communist raiders paced along either side of the dim lit road towards Bay’s house. Occasionally they stopped, observed, signalled and moved on. They positioned on both sides of the house while the other four aimed their riffles towards the front door. They held their breath, placing their fingers on the triggers and moved closer to the house. Dogs sensed strangers approaching, barking noisily. Quickly, they dodged behind trees. Bay and his men cautiously opened the back door to investigate, two of his men slowly emerging out of the house. Bay followed them only a few steps behind. Two communists on the right-side opened fire. Bay, his men quickly stepped backward and returned fire. Others in the house dodged behind windows.

‘Do not get out of the house, shoot them! We are surrounded,’ he commanded his men while reloading his gun. The deafening sound of gunfire explosions echoed in the air, shattering the tranquillity of the night. Dogs panicked fled from the village. Bay’s man was hit. The bullets ripped open his chest, killing him instantly. Communists pumped more bullets into the house. Four communists on the left side closed in.

Bay shouted to his men, ‘Fire!’ The door swung opened together they shot and ran into the woods. God was on his side. They strode faster to a nearby village.

Nam Dinh French Garrision 1952.

The sun rose higher. Out of the woods Bay and two companions rested in a barn. Suddenly, the wooden door swung open. They were dumbfounded, staring into the black gun barrels of the French soldiers. Their luck had not changed. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. The interrogation went on for days in the French Garrison.

Bay had excruciating pains and a terrible headache. Lazily, he moved his head upward, scanning the sunlight and feeling the morning breeze through a small window. The stench of human excrement and urine inside a bucket made him nauseous. Constant hunger and thirst weakened him. He had endured savage beatings by French interrogators for days and