Freeport Journal-Standard from Freeport, Illinois • Page 23

Vietnam Atmosphere Unnerving EDITOR'S NOTE-Allegations that American GIs massacred South Vietnamese civilians during a raid on a village complex last year have stunned the United States. How could it happen? is the most frequently asked question. In the following analysis, John T. Wheeler, who reported the war in Vietnam for the Associated Press for several years, gives an insight into the conditions of a strange war in which anything can happen. By JOHN T.

WHEELER Associated Press Writer To try to understand the alleged massacre by American GIs of civilians at My Lai it is necessary also to understand the atmosphere of a war which has led many U.S. fighting men to feel they are as much at war against Vietnam as for it. While the communiques speak of battles involving companies and clash of professional soldiers doing their grim GI carries with him the certain knowledge that in any village there may be men, women, and even children who are also the enemy, waiting for the time and place to attack him. Brutality, and indifference to human life, are commonplace In Vietnam. Even the disfigurement of dead GIs is common.

VC Established Practice In Vietnam the killing of civilians was a practice established by the Viet Cong as a major part of the war long before the first U.S. ground troops were committed in March 1965. By official count, more than 20,000 civilians had been murdered by that time in enemy executions aimed at so thoroughly terrorizing the countryside that none would resist. The total now is more than 40,000 including more than 3,000 killed by the enemy in Hue when they held part of that city for weeks. At Hue, the victims were predominantly civilians of all ages.

Many were killed simply by tying their hands behind their backs, shoving them into a trench and burying them alive. It was into this conflict that the American troops were plunged. They had been told to kill the Viet Cong who were bad and woo the peasant who only aided the enemy because he had no choice. Given a chance, the official line went, Vietnam wanted to be free and democratic just like America. Divided Allegiances But the GIs found a war of sundered families, and divided allegiances to any regime, either Viet Cong or Saigon.

There is no front in Vietnam, no rear, no safety. To the GI of a rifle company everyone outside the perimeter can be suspected of plotting to kill him. In Vietnam word civilian does not describe noncomba- Berets began using lie detectors jecause their mercenary forces some camps were running as high as 30 per cent Viet Cong. Mining Of Convoy Item: A U.S. truck was blown up, killing all aboard, on highway 13.

called "bloody Route 3" because of the frequency of minings. GIs from another truck quickly traced out the electrical wires to the detonator and found young girl still holding the handle. They shot her. The Pentagon says that today's soldiers are the most so- jhisticated in history. But more than being able to operate in- ricate electronic equipment and the like, the GIs in Vietnam also see at first hand the corruption, the indifference of Vietnamese soldiers to winning the war, the contrast between the xwerty in the countryside and Jie comparative wealth of the cities and the way Vietnamese merchants, bar girls and even children selling black market American soft drinks gouged them.

Added to this were the deaths and maimings of friends. Cynicism mixed with anger rapidly replaced the early ideal- among combat troops. Vietnamese were called "gooks" and "slopes" in a way that sometimes translated as subhuman. No spark sets off a fire unless tt Popular Priced I "Table Top Gifts" SILVER PLATED BUTTER SHELL AND BUTTER KNIFE. Beautiful gift.

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Marines found begging children to whom they had seen giving food were stealing grenades that were tossed back at the Leathernecks during the night. Item: One Green Beret commander found his desk booby- trapped by one of the Vietnamese working for him. The Green News Analysis it falls into combustible material. The sparks that ignite American GIs are snipers, mines and booby traps. The major cause of casualties in Vietnam are mines and booby traps.

vSnipers also are a major factor. The three are all the more hated because each is hidden and after the damage is done, there usually is no chance for the American infantrymen to even the score because no enemy can be found. Often intelligence will pinpoint a village as the source of the mine and booby trap makers and snipers. Repeated sweeps through the hamlet turn up little or nothing except more casualties. And hatred builds up for the villagers who know the snipers and know where the hidden traps are but don't tell.

Then one day something snaps in one or more men. The frustration and fear drives them across that line of civilized conduct that in combat zones is a hazy mark at best. There are indications that these things might have been at work on the men who are accused of massacre in My Lai last year. Brief Rampage They certainly were on a group of American Marines I accompanied into a village south of Da Nang in 1965. A half squad, out of a regimental size force, went on a brief rampage killing a group hiding in a civilian air raid shelter.

The battalion was due to rotate home in four weeks. In the previous month, 15 per cent of the battalion had been killed or wounded by snipers and booby- traps. None of the Marines had seen a Viet Cong soldier during the time. The U.S. Command's position has been from the beginning that civilians are not to be harmed.

But the case for the sanctity of civilian life is weakened by the knowledge that there are South Vietnamese assassination led by operating in the countryside killing enemy officials, as opposed to soldiers, often in their beds at home, Viet Cong style. And GIs who have searched out a village after American bombers have done their work cannot help but be a bit cynical about orders not to molest civilians. Legal Answers A senior officer in the legal field was asked after a series of murder trials earlier this year what he thought had motivated the Americans involved, all found guilty. He said nearly all the cases he had handled involved villagers in Viet Cong held areas. When the pressure of fear or hate or some combination of these factors hit the men hard enough, "Open Sunday" Stone's Hallmark On-The-Downtown-Plazo they broke down with a sort of combat fatigue that ended with slayings.

In some cases the same men who have had to stand trial for killing civilians have helped support Vietnamese orphanages or become involved in unofficial relief operations for families made refugees by the war. "In war, everything is realer than real. The capacity for great violence rises to the surface, but so does a capacity for great compassion," an Army doctor said. "Remember, part of the brutalizing men undergo is necessary to their psychological survival. You can't look war in the face with the kind of emotional responses we use in the states.

You would go mad." Freeport (III.) Journal-Standard Pg. 24 Dec. 5, 1969 Illinois Serviceman Dies In Vietnam WASHINGTON AP The Defense Department announced Thursday the name of an Illinois serviceman killed in action in Vietnam. He was Army Spec. 4 Robert J.

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