MOMMI
.~&... ...
Vast network of
once used by Vi
had commanded the Cu Chi Libera-
EDITOR'S NOTE - Associated tion Battalion during 1966.
Press Pulitzer Prize winning pho-
tographer-writer Horst Faas, who THAT WAS THE unit the Ameri-
covered the Vietnam war for 12 can colonel's "Black Lion" battalion
years, recently made a return visit to had opposed. The slightly-built, 45-
yyear-old Capt. Linh looked quizzical-
that country. Here is the report of a ly as I pursued my questioning. Yes,
trip to a former Vietnam battlefield. he said, intelligence reports had in-
formed him at the time that the
By HORST FAAS opposing American battalion com-
Associated Press Writer mander had been killed.
CU CHI, Vietnam (AP) - As Lt. As he recalled those days for our.
Col. George Eyster lay dying from tourist group, the horror of a war I
Viet Cong sniper bullet wounds on a had witnessed from only one side
jungle trail, he said to me, "Before I became vividly real.
go I'd like to talk to the guy who The battleground we were taken to
controls those incredible men in the lay beneath our feet, at one, two and
tunnels." three levels underground: It was a
Eleven years later I met that man twisting octopus of tunnels and
and he showed me the inside of the caverns stretching from Cu Chi
fantastic tunnel octopus that took 30 towards Saigon and the surrounding
years to dig and stretched 150 miles, provincial capitals. The tunnels were
with tentacles sometimes winding marked in black lines on a 12 by
right under the chairs of U.S. 12-foot map hanging from a briefing
commanders as they sat in their room wall, and my first reaction was
headquarters. that it looked like a map of the New
York or London subway system, with
EYSTER, A TALLWest Pointer dots not for stations but for fighting
from Cocoa Beach, Fla., died in a positions and secret entrances and
field hospital while his battalion, the exits.
Second of the 28th Regiment, First
Infantry Division, was trying to fight THE SLIPPERY, humid corridors,
its way out of the vast underground about two feet wide and two feet high,
complex 20 miles northwest of Sai- blocked with wooden trapdoors at
gon. underground intersections, spanned
The ,now peaceful tunnels were on the history of the whole Vietnam war,
the itinerary of a German tourist starting from the days when Com-
group I traveled with on a rare munist agents hid from the French
two-week trip to Vietnam. police. But it was during the Ameri-
One of the briefing officers at can phase of the war, Linh said, that
district headquarters was Capt. Ngu- the system was truly tested.
yen Thanh Linh. Dressed in an olive "As more and more American
drab North Vietnamese uniform and soldiers arrived to occupy the sur-
Ho Chi Minh rubber tire sandals, he face above, the more we extended
said in answer to a question that he our system below," said a senior
/unnels
et Cong
officer at the briefing, Col. Duong
Long Sang. "At the end we had a
three-tier tunnel system and every-
thing was underground - the toilets,
the hospitals, all our soldiers, many
civilians and even water buffalo."
The colonel continued, "We literal-
ly dug for 30 years, usually in the
dark, squatting down. We carved out
about a meter every eight hours, and
women distributed the earth on the
surface, hiding it under fallen
leaves."
THE TUNNELS crept under some
U.S.positions. "Several times we
knew that American field command-
ers would sit like this on their metal
chairs directly above us;" said Linh
with a grin.
Eventually the Americans figured
out the counterattack.
First they used hunting dogs "and
we battled them underground with
rifle butts, mines and knives," said
Linh. Then somebody had the idea to
use American toilet soap and the
Vietnamese started smelling the
same as the GIs. "That stopped the
dogs," Linh said.
NEXT CAME the "tunnel rats -
small, tough Americans, like -us,"
Linh said. "They crawled into the
tunnels with explosives and gas to
blast us out. We installed more
escape routes, more tiers, but some-
times we were cornered and we tried
to kill them with bayonets so as not to
give our positions away.
"Many Americans died in the
tunnels. They wasted much time
pulling their dead back. That gave us
time to regroup. The more we killed
the fewer problems we had," said
Linh.
__
Carter signs urban
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Carter winner among the big cities, boosting million Urba
dministration's first new urban its share of federal community devel- spurring ec
rogram was signed into law yester- opment dollars from $28.3 million the nation's
av. promising billions for ravaged this year to $65.7 million in 1980.
an
on
mo
'There is
nation a
ern sta
other st
loses un
Everyon
housing bill
Action Grant fund for CARTER SAID his visit to the
omic development in South Bronx revealed slums that are
ost troubled cities. The "A disgrace to our great country."
In fact, ghetto-marked cities like
::::::::::::::::::: Detroit, New York, and Baltimore
will receive millions of dollars more
under the Carter housing bill than
no discrimi-M they were to receive under the
expiring legislation.
gainst South- "There is no discrimination
against Southern states or any other
tes or any states," declared Sen. Edward
Brooke (R-Mass). "No one loses
ates. No one under this bill. Everyone gains."
New York-gets a boost from $151
der this bill, million to $255 million, while cities
such as Atlanta and Oklahoma City
t gains.' are held relatively constant in receiv-
ing about $14 million and $8 million
Sen. Edward respectively.
The housing and community devel-
Brooke opment bill, product of a two-month
conference between the House and
Senate, extends the community de-
.::::::::::.:.:: :..:::.. velopment program for revitalizing
cities for three years and funds it
with a total $10.9 billion, a $2.4 billion
formula that drastical; increase.
d in Included in the housing bill is $1.2
ederal aid to citiesin billion in rent subsidies for low-
and the Midwest but income families, as well as a variety
a trickle more money of subsidies for homeowners and the
.ties of the South and housing industry.
Carter aides expect the neasure to
spur private investment in distressed
urban areas, again where the need is
@@0L? the greatest.
The bill also increases mortgage
irvice insurance and lowers down payment,
: requirements under the Federal
Housing Administration.
titution. "It will help a lot of big bill includes a f
thern cities, but also the inner- ly increases fe
g suburbs and more than a few the Northeast
belt cities." also providesa
ew elements in the community for growing ci
elopment program include a $400- West.
GOING TO LAW SCH
Law School Counseling Ss
provides at low cost
-personalized attention to individu
-help in coping with the admission
-vital information on special progr
-numerous other services.
For free brochure, send name and adc
LSCS; Box 181; Cambridge, MA., 0
jai needs.
s process.
ams.
dress to:
2138
1
What is Carter's
"human rights"
campaigntrw b
really about?
Come hear what a veteran of
Latin American jails has to say.
The "revolutionary's revolutionary,"
as the VILLAGE VOICE called him in
1971, Hugo Blanco led thousands of
poor Indian tenant farmers in their
fight for land and freedom. Acclaimed by Che Guevara, Blanco
was imprisoned and exiled time and time again. Now living
GET MOVING,
AMERICA!
TECHNOLOGY AND POLICY
PROGRAM AT MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is
now offering a Master of Science Program in
Technology and Policy. This program is de"
signed for persons wanting to participate in
leading the development, use and control of
techn'ology and its products. Students apply