[[[
Following
is an email from Mr. Jerry Harlowe, an U.S. veteran who visited Vietnam in October, in which he is telling his experience in Pleiku, a small
city in the Central Highlands, Vietnam.
Our best thanks to Mr. Harlowe.
VQ
Home Page
]]]
From: jharlowe@......
Sent: Thursday, November 28, 2002 8:38 AM
To: webmaster@vietquoc.com
Subject: A Little More Information
My name is Jerry Harlowe. I was in the USAF and served at
Pleiku Air Base from November 1968 - July 1970. Today I live in the Baltimore,
Maryland area.
My buddy, Joseph M. of New Jersey was traveling with me. He too served a
tour of duty at Pleiku Air Base which was in 1969.
We returned to Vietnam to see the country and, in Joe's case, to determine if
he could find some people, Vietnamese nationals, that he had a close
relationship with during 1969.
We entered Vietnam via Hanoi and our tour included Hanoi, Ha Long Bay, Hue,
DaNang, Pleiku/Kontum and HCM City.
Beyond being referred to as "invaders", we had no problem until
Saturday, October 13th when we arrived in Pleiku. We had landed in Pleiku on
the prior day but went directly to our hotel(?) in Kontum for the rest of the
day and the evening.
Our guide, Mr. T. was well aware that we wanted to find some people from the
past and he assured us that he had helped other GI's in the past and that there
would be no problem. Of course we though there would be no problems either.
Using an envelope with an address over 30 years old, and some photographs, we
started about 9am in Pleiku City asking about the street talking with people on
the corners, driving around and asking again and going to the post office in
Pleiku to look up some names in the phone book. Our guide made a call and said
he thought he had located a relative.
We proceeded to a little alley house in Pleiku City and we were invited in by
the owners. Joe discussed with the people his quest and showed the photos and
the letter. We got an address in Boston, Mass. that may have been a relative.
We thanked them and were on our way.
We were stopped by a lady on a motorbike who said she had a connection with the
last family and may have another lead for us. She departed, asking for us to
wait. We were waiting on the road close to a hotel in Pleiku City where we had
tea and coffeeduring our wait.
The next thing we knew several officers approached the empty car, and
they called over Mr. T. and the driver. A minute later we were off to the
Police Station with an armed officer in the car, front seat passenger side.
We arrived at the Police station and proceeded to buildings in the rear of the
main building and were ushered into a small office. It was a little before
noon.
The driver and Mr. T. were separated. Joe and I were seated in the small office
and Mr. T. was seated in front of the desk. Over the next three hours the guide
and the driver were grilled, forced to write statements, had the statements
compared and then had to re-write their statements. This was done all the while
with conversation and shouting. A man in civilian clothes
kept popping in and out of the office as the male and female uniformed officers
worked on Mr. T.
The police officer in charge(three stars on his shoulder boards, green uniform)
had spent a half hour or so going through a large binder he had retrieved from
a file cabinet before starting his "interview" with Mr. T. He had
made several notes, I assume as to sections and paragraphs, and used these in
his interview.
Our passports were gone over with a fine toothed comb, notes were made and
email addresses taken from the guide who I had given two of my email contact
addresses.
I was not physically mistreated. We were offered tea. The second officer, a
female with two stars on her shoulder boards, told us after about an hour or a
little more, in her limited English, "You are not in trouble".
But we were not free to go and we were further detained without explanation and
it was quite evident that we were not free to leave. I believe our presence was
as a captive audience, being forced to watch a Vietnamese Police Opera. As with
any opera we did not need to understand the language to have an
understanding of what was going on. My suspicion then, and now, was that we
were being "re-educated" to the realities of Vietnam today and given
fair warning.
We were not allowed to depart until 3pm.
We were asked by the police, through the guide, to leave Pleiku and not come
back.
By that time the driver and the guide had their statements correct. Both of
these men had their identification papers and their work permits confiscated by
the police to assure their return Monday morning at 9am for further interviews.
Mr. T showed us an "invitation" for his company director to return
with him on Monday for the follow-up interview. Mr. T. also indicated their may
be a hefty fine involved but would not know until Monday.
I don't know what happened at the follow-up session that Monday. We were dumped
off at the Pleiku airport at 8 am and Mr. T and the driver made their way into
Pleiku City to continued their "interview" at the police
station.
***
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