Page Four
THE MICHIGAN DAILY -
Saturday, July 3, 197/6
N"orth and South Viet Nam reunite
BANGKOK, Thailand W1 ---
North and South Vietnam were
officially reanited yesterday af-
ter more than 20 years of in-
ternal war and H:noi was de-
clared the capital. Radio Hanoi
said leaders of the new Socialist
Republic of Vietnam were elect-
ed by secret ballot.
The radio said an "explosion
of applause" greeted the an-
nouncement in the 492-member
National Assembly.
THE FORMER North Viet-
namese flag, anthem and em-
blem were approved as symbols
of the country.
"A new page of Vietnamese
history has been turned," the
wroadcast said. "At this moment,
8:30 a.m. (9:30 p.m. EDT
Thursday) on July 2, 1976, the
Vietnamese nation is officially
considered as a unified country
from Cao Lang to Cao Mau."
Cao Lang is the northernmost
point of what was formerly
North Vietnam and Cao Mau is
the southern peninsula of the
former South Vietnam.
THE RADIO Hanoi broadcast
did not say how the decision on
reunification was actually taken.
The formal reunification an-
nouncement was something of
an anticlimax, since Hanoi and
Saigon have described Vietnam
as one during the past year. But
the two halves maintained sep-
arate government machineries
and leaders until yesterday.
As many Western observers
had anticipated, all but one
high government office went to
North Vietnamese leaders rather
than to those who had fought in
the South.
THE EXCEPTION was Ngu-
yen Huu Tho, former president
of the Provisional Revolutionary
Government of South Vietnam,
who will be one of two vice
presidents. The other will be
Nguyen Luong Bang, North
Vietnam's vice president since
1969.
The largely ceremonial post
of president went to 88-year-old
Ton Duc Thang, formerly North
Vietnam's head of state. Pham
Van Dong, a skilled and suave
administrator and diplomat, re-
tained his title of premier.
Truong Chinh, a hardliner and
reputedly pro-Chinese, will be
chairman of the standing com-
mittee of the assembly.
THERE WAS no initial indica-
tion that changes would occur
in the highest ranks of Viet-
nam's Communist party, the
Lao Dong, where all major de-
cisions are made and where
real power lies.
Most Vietnam watchers say
the top five men in the party's
11-man Politburo are First Sec-
retary Le Duan, followed by
Chinh, Dong, Southerner Phan
Hung and Nguyen Vo Giap, the
general who routed the French
at Dien Bien Phu.
The top leadership is compos-
ed of aging veterans, most of
them in their late 60s. Almost
all helped found the Communist
party, fought the Japanese and
the French and finally directed
the struggle against the United
States and the Saigon govern-
ments it backed during the last
war.
Vietnam was divided by the
1954 Geneva agreement that fol-
lowed the French defeat at Dien
Bien Phu. The last Americans
were withdrawn from the South
on April 30, 1975, following the
Communist victory.
Since then, the U.S. has re-
fused to recognize either Viet-
namese government and has
vetoed their applications for
membership in the U.N.
Rescued
balloonist
looked
'halfdead'
MOSCOW (UPI) - Ballsonsi,
Karl Thomas was cut, bruised
and looked "half dead" when
Soviet ship picked him up on
a raft in storosy, shark infe,-
ed waters, according to ih
ship's captain.
Thomas, in an attempt toi
noteriety as the first person t
cross the Atlantic Ocean
balloon, jumped from his -
dola early Sunday duri i
lent thunderstorm and drifi
in a life raft for four ,
without fosd or water.
THE NEWSPAPER lii-i
published a report Friday iioi
Capt. V. Egorov, of the cargo
ship Dekabrist, who picked np
Thomas 375 miles northweot f
Bermuda late Wednesday nigh
as the ship was en route to
Rotterdam from Savannah, Ga
Izvestia said the ship spotted
a flare and decided to send out
a launch despite heavy seas,
rain and poor visibility. They
quickly located the raft, bobbing
in the ocean.
"tn the raft the rescuers
found a half-dead person," Iz-
vestia said. "The person was
Karl Thomas."
ACCORDING to the captain's
report, the 27-year-old balloon-
ist from Tiny, 8Mb., said his
balloon had been caught in the
gale and started falling toward
the sea. At a height of approx-
imately 20 feet, the life raft
was ejected automatically. Then
the balloon suddenly began to
rise again.
"At an altitude of 60 meters
(200 feet) he decided to jump,"
Izvestia said. "Once in the
water he used his remaining
strength. to swim to the raft
and haul himself aboard."
He was bleeding from his in-
juries and this attracted sharks,
-the newspaper said.
"According to a medical cer-
tificate, Thomas injured ten
ribs, injured his left shoulder
and has a deterioration of his
eyesight. He also suffered se-
vere facial and body cuts," Iz-
vestia said. "But now he is
feeling better."
It was the 13th unsuccessful
attempt to cross the Atlantic in
a balloon. Six persons died in
prior efforts.
When someone drinks too
much and then driVes, it's the silence
that kills. Your silence.
It kills your friends, your
relatives, and people you don't even
know. But they're all people you
could save.
If you knew what to say,.
maybe you'd be less quiet. Maybe
fewer people would die.
What you should say is, "I'l
coffee never made anyone sober.
Maybe it would keep him awake
long enough to have an accident;
But that's about all.
The best way to prevent a
drunk from becoming a dead drunk
is to stop him from driving.
Speak up. Don't let silence be
the last sound he hears.
driveyouhome."Or, "Let me calla r- ----------------1
cab." Or, "Sleep on my couch yDRU DIVER, DEPT.Y A-1t
tonight." I BOX 2345
.ROCKVLL, MARYLAND 20852 #
Don't hesitate because your I Idon't want to remain silent.
friend may have been drinking only tell me what else I can do.
beer. Beer and wine can be just as ,
intoxicating as mixed drinks. I Hny oaeis I
And don't think that black Addre _
coffee will make him sober. Black y .t S ..
FRIENDS DONT LE MIENDS DRIVE DRUNK.