[Nyugen Van Be, Vietnam veteran] On April 30, 1975, I was guarding a security post near Saigon to prevent the communists from entering. My comrades and I counter-attacked until we ran out of ammo.
I let them arrest me, around 1pm or 2pm on April 30, 1975. After President Duong Van Minh ordered us to lay down our weapons.
I grew up and received the education of the Republic of Vietnam regime. After I was about fifteen or sixteen years old, I learned through the media that the communists in the North wanted to annex the South.
Since I was the only son in the family at that time, I was exempt from military service. But I thought that even at home the communists would break in and kill me. For that reason, I decided to join the army 6 months before turning 18.
[White text on black screen] On January 27, 1973, the Paris Peace Accords were signed to re-establish peace between North and South Vietnam. They were intended to mark the end of conflict between the two states.
[Nyugen Van Be] Before 1973, as long as the US and allies aided South Vietnam, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, then the communists could never win against South Vietnam.
However, after the Paris Agreement was signed, the Americans began to withdraw from Vietnam, leading to the gradual decline of the means of war of the Republic of Vietnam.
They stopped giving aid to South Vietnam, and things were quiet for less than a week. They attacked and the Southerners had to defend.
Even so, the South managed to hold out until April 30, 1975. All those who had already dropped their guns to go home were required to appear at the local authority to register to participate in ideological re-education.
During the first week after my arrest, I was treated kindly very well by those people. They took us out into the public area to show that they treated Republican soldiers very well.
It was part of their propaganda plan. In a room of about 24 m2, they locked up about 15 to 20 men. They gave us a small bucket for people to defecate in.
In the morning, they opened the door to call all the prisoners to gather for roll call, and at the same time took that bucket to dump.
They forced us to work by digging, hoeing, and cutting down trees. They would put us in tiger cages if we didn't do what they want. As long as we cannot afford to follow the instructions, we will be assumed by them to be stubborn, and unwilling to accept the so-called revolutionary values.
They did not see us as people, but as criminals.
[White text on black background] It is estimated that more than 200,000 South Vietnamese soldiers and government officials attended ‘re-education’ camps between 1975 and 1990.
Many served extended terms of hard labour and ideological conditioning of up to six years without charge.
[Nyugen Van Be] I was released at the end of 1976. All my family property was confiscated. My family assumed that I was killed on the battlefield, so they took care of themselves to find a way to escape overseas.
I was the last person in my family who was still in Vietnam at that time. When my family was resettled in Australia, Australian society took care of us very well.
I went to the library and found movies about the Vietnam War and showed them to my children. I then analysed those videos so that my children could understand that my homeland had suffered from war and poverty.
Australia is a very humane and liberal place. I made a comparison between the two countries so that my children could see the difference.
Every year, I spend some of my savings to organise my own commemorative service at home. Through that, I perform the ritual of praying for the souls of allied soldiers who sacrificed for my Fatherland. Sacrificed for the freedom of South Vietnam.
Because I don't know how to repay the Australian government and the Australian soldiers who died in my home country.
[White text on black background] Nguyen joined his family in Australia in 1996 after being sponsored by his mother.
He is the proud father of five children and two grandchildren.
End of transcript.
Updated