By the year of 1978 ,war broke out along Vietnam-Cambodia border ,Cambodian Army attacked and occupied the borders between Vietnam and Cambodia ,to avoid aftermath due to the political prisoners were forced labor among the deep forests along the boundary of both counties ,moreover ,to employ their Army forces to the border to fight against Cambodian Army ,The new ruling circles had to move all of us to many various concentration Camps around the country ,For me, I had been moved to Tan Hiep prison to brainwash .

( continuing )

It was too hard to erase awful feelings in my mind even though time had passed more than twenty six years since that bad luck happened .
I didn't think almost officers and officials who served in Saigon Government had been cheated so easy that they had volunteered themselves to focus into concentration places .But it was really that new ruling circles had cheated us by delivered a notice in which Who were Lieutenant will be focussed into the so called " re-education camps" for three days and Majors only 5 days ,so there were lots of people had been cheated by them because almost of us thought that three or five days we would pass very fast and easy ,But finally all of us had dropped into the traps that they set up to focus all officers and officials of Saigon Army and Government into the big concentration camps all over the country to avoid consequence .
For me ,after a long time of thinking ,I went to the focus place when the deadline was over ,the last day of deadline ,then next day I had been moved to Trang Lon Camp ,the former 25th Division Headquarter
where I was detained for a short time then once more I had been moved to Ka Tum Concentration camp ,It was located among the jungle ,where we had been forced to go into the deep jungle to cut down trees and carried to a site that it so called " Headquarter " to set up camps .Ka Tum bordered with Cambodia's boundary ,where day by day we had to carried the trunks of trees that were bigger and longer than our body many times after we had cut them down from deep jungle to build their headquarter ,month after month we lived together with marsh fever ,leeches ,snake and insect of all kinds .We had no enough food to eat ,everyday we had to eat some pieces of boiled cassava and sometimes we had offered a small bowl of Job's tears ,a strange kind of food that we have never seen ,It was very hard thus we didn't know how to eat on the first days so there were lots of political prisoners had been fallen with serious sickness Every day political prisoners had to face with minefields that were set up by them during wartime ,because it was their former secret war zones ,besides applied a forced labor policy they also propagandized their policies by political topics to brain-wash .But It seemed that they didn't get to any success !!!
Fortunately ,Cambodian Army suddenly attacked along the borders ,to avoid the prisoners escaped from concentration camps they had to move us to Tan Hiep prison in Bien Hoa ,where political prisoners had been managed by police forces instead of Army .At Tan Hiep prison almost of the time we had been studied political topics day by day and month after month we had nothing to do instead of old political topics had been spoken again and again to brain-washed us .
Ka Tum concentration camp ,a forced labor working site we shall never forget ,where everyday we stared death in the face ,we had to work very hard but there weren't enough food to eat ,no clean water to drink ,on the other hand we had to live together with malaria but had no medicine to prevent it .we also had to make friend with snakes ,and wild animals around us ,they were ready to attack us at anytime and wherever during we had been detained in this forced labor camp .
Thanks Cambodian Army so much for attacking along the borders ,due to your attack we had been moved from KaTum forced labor concentration camp ,the Hell on earth ,where there were lots of political prisoners had been sacrificed their lives by dirty revenge where former officers and officials of Saigon Government had been detained without judgment forever and ever in wicked concentration camps all over the deep forests since that bad luck of the country ,KaTum concentration camp where human had been treated as animals ,where human right had been trampled on ...!

Remind old memories

September 5th ,2008

It was in May of the year 2006 ,twenty six years since I was released from A20 Xuan Phuoc Prison ,the year the HO program was continued again under HR program,I decided to re-submit my document to leave here once more for the country ,where we can live without discrimination , my daughter can get equality of opportunity and develop her talent and capacity , I discussed with my wife that I had to return to my last concentration camp to ask for sub- released -certificate .After some days to prepare ,one day I went to Bien Hoa train station to get ticket for La Hay train station in Quy Nhon ,Phu Yen province .
The train started in Saigon and got to Bien Hoa station at 11:45 a.m .I got on the train and sat in the seat that they wrote on the ticket ,It was a local train so it was very dirty and noisy with all kind of passengers ,almost of them were retail businesspeople .According to the schedule ,the train will get to La Hay station at midnight ,that means It took me about 12 hours from Bien Hoa to La Hay station ,It was a long trip and I had to face with the dark about six hours and I didn't know if what would happen to me during the dark ,because robbery had happened on the train very often specially at night . My eyes were opened widely to look at anyone who appeared in front of my face to react against if bad luck occurred or bad people attacked me suddenly all the time .
I looked at my dirt cheap watch by my gas light ,21:00 o'clock ... 22:00 then finally the train stopped at La Hay Station at 23:45 .I left the seat to go out to the door then wait for the train halted I got down the train and under the dark I went to the office of La Hay station to ask some information regarding to A20 Xuan Phuoc Camp ,the staff answered me It was about 15 km from La Hay station so I had to wait until daytime to get motorbike-taxi ( xe om ) to get there .But the most important thing was where I could stay overnight to wait .I looked around ,there were some houses scattered along the railway but all of them closed ,there weren't any light ,Around me dark was covering all the landscape .I felt nervous and embarrassed .Finally I decided sitting at the unique bench they put at the station ground .Time went too slow ,I lost my impatience ,mosquito stung all over my body specially my face ,legs and arms I had to go along the railway under the dark to avoid mosquito ... I felt tired after a long trip so I decided lying on the bench to have a short rest even mosquito stung
all over the body ...At last after six hours of suffering ,the morning came ...I asked some local residents to collect information exactly how to get to A20 Xuan Phuoc Prison and finally I took a motorbike taxi to go there .
The road to A20 Xuan Phuoc Camp was very rough ,and small ,motorbike rider couldn't run fast ,He took me around the poor villages then at last get to a road straight to the Camp ,along both sides of the one -way -road some small paddy fields without residents ,It seemed the camp separated from local residents so we had to pass a long distance without local people ,only the rider and me on the road made me to have a strange feeling during the trip ...
A range of mountain appeared in front of us ,in my mind old memories have been relived ,in this mountain range there were many people were killed due to they couldn't suffer hardships so they had to scape from the Camp but because they didn't know how to go out of the jungle as well as there weren't enough food so they had to be arrested again and killed on their way ... What a pity !!!
Finally we got to the camp ,It looked very new and larger than before ,may be it has just been enlarged .the motorbike rider stopped at a long distance from the Camp I had to walk quite a long time to get to the main gate and dropped at check point ,the guard had no right to answer me so he called his commander ,he was a second lieutenant ,after asked me some words he answered that they didn't resolve any circumstance came here to ask for sub-released- certificate .Then he asked me to leave the Camp at once .I was very disappointed and returned to town of La Hay to ask some more people and fortunately ,I met a woman ,who introduced me to an official of the Camp ,he told me that all files they had sent to Security Service at Ministry of Police in Saigon thus if I want to have the sub-released- certificate or any document I had to submit an application form to Security Department for solving .After knowing how to apply for my document I hurried to return to Saigon then wrote application form that had to be confirmed by local police where you lived after than I submitted to Security Department at Ministry of Police .
A20 Xuan Phuoc Prison was located separately from local residents and under the foot of a mountain ranges where had detained almost former officers and officials of Saigon government after it had been collapsed ,specially whom they felt hard to be brain-washed from other camps would be sent here to detain ,I had been moved to A20 Xuan Phuoc Camp in the year of 1979 from Tan Hiep camp due to I had took part in the celebration of Christmas at Tan Hiep prison on Christmas night December 24th,1978 and some months later they moved me to there in 1979 until I had been released on December 24th ,1980 .
A20 Xuan Phuoc Camp ,the Hell on earth ,where detained and killed so many people by strict discipline ,where human had been treated as animals ,where human right had been trampled on ,it hadn't enough food to eat so we had to have boiled cassava all the time instead job's tears ... and where I once more returned again with hope to obtain a sub-released-certificate, but during two days I was here I felt many sad memories appeared in heart and mind .I left my last concentration camp - The Hell On Earth - in a hurry of a prison-breaker ....

September 3rd 2008

Old day memories

I have just come back from my morning tutoring classes ,the old laptop was waiting for me to write something for relaxing as usual when I have free time ,suddenly my cell phone rang ,Looking at number on the phone I recognized that it was a strange number ,the caller was in Saigon ,I replied the call politely" Hello " . A female voice asked me " is this Mr Nguyen xuan Tung's phone number ?" I answered politely " yes " and in my heart a happy feeling appeared ,"could I speak to Mr Tung ?" the female voice continued " Here I am " I answered the voice ." I am calling you from the US General Consulate in Ho chi Minh city " Yes ,I answered " We invite your family ,consist of Mr Nguyen xuan Tung ,Mrs Phan thi Thu ,and Nguyen Phan quynh Thao ,come to the office of the US General Consulate at number 34 Le Duan Street ,8th floor at 8:00 a.m on September 10th ,2008 to be interviewed " Yes " I answered happily ," please repeat my words " The voice continued .I repeated her words very easy because I wrote them down on the board that I used to teach my students at my apartment ,"Besides the call we also send you an invitation so please confirm your home address again " the voice continued . I read my mother's home address . Can I asked a sentence ,Miss ?" Come on ,she answered me , " We still come to your office on that day if We don't receive your invitation until that day miss ?" I asked . She answered me "yes, because this call is our invitation so you must come to our office on time even you won't receive our invitation " Do you have any more question " she asked me ,I answered politely "That's enough ,Thank you very much miss " her soft voice answered me by the word "Good bye " and I also said good bye to her ,Good news ended by my glance to my daughter who was standing next me to hear the conversation since my first voice answered the female voice ,she smiled happily to welcome my glance ,both of us ,each person had our own feelings ...!
I was hurried to mail to my sponsor Mr Thang and my old classmate Mr Kinh at once if they have any more help ,besides The man whom I sent to next was my Buddy of course ,the Guy lived in the same village since we were young people ,now he was living In Pennsyl !
Finally ,happiness came after a very long time we awaited ,It has been fourteen years since we had been failed the first interview by unrighteous reason ,the corruption of Foreign Affair Department Officials ! I was very angry with them but in my plight at that time I couldn't do anything to improve my fate .I had been shocked and sick by their corruption ! I was very happy to submit my document once more due to my old classmates' help ,who were graduated from Political warfare College at Dalat .During nearly one year with my classmates' help my document has been improved day by day and until now everything seems to develop up to the best and get to a wonderful end to resolve my family and my unfair circumstance that we had been suffered much hardship for fourteen years !
By the way I would like to send to my classmates our gratitude for your enthusiasm helps ,due to your helps My family circumstance has been getting to a fair end even we had to be suffered unexpectedly for a long time This victory belonged to all of you my dear classmates !Please accept our gratitude for your enthusiasm helps .God Bless all of you ! God Bless all of us ! God Bless them ,who have caused this unfair deed due to their bad heart ,and their narrow mind !!!!
Here happiness came after we had to be suffered an unfair behavior
of the corruption .Our success defeated their dark hearts ,narrow minds and their corruption policy !!!!

September 1st ,2008

It was the first day of the last week of August ,the month almost schools and Universities received the enter document for their new school year .My daughter ,who has just passed the University enter examination of Banking University in Ho cho Minh city ,also has to come her University to submit her enter documents .
Since the early morning we had to get up to prepare riding to Her University that's about 15 kilometers from where we were living ,the weather in the morning was mild and we felt happy during our road to the University .We didn't take much time to find it because I knew the location where the University was located even it wasn't one hundred percent exactly .We got there half an hour earlier than the regulated working hour ,but there were lots of others had come before us .My daughter seemed very happy when she looked at her University's facilities .It looked very beautiful with the nice landscaps around it
After taking my daughter to the booking desk to get ordinary number ,we came to the area where the board of Directors work .While My daughter was waiting the starting time ,I went around to have a look the site and facilities of the University .It was a spacy and fresh University ,trees and grasses were grown very pretty around the University made the landscape very lovely .
It was time to start work ,my daughter was in the second group to come into the first room to submit her document, then step by step went into next rooms ,we had to work with total of 6 rooms .
The first feelings came with us was the friendship climate and polite attitude of old students and staffs of the University ,their behavior were very lovely ,they were very kind and warm when they worked with new students ,they instructed everything very careful ,moreover friendship attitude and scientific working method made all things have been completed very quickly and it seemed every new students was very happy and excited ,even though it was the first time they contacted with the strange environment of the University !
We finished our submitting enter document procerdure with happy and exciting mood .In my mind and heart still appreciate and admire the scientific working methods of the Banking University's staffs so far

Feelings came from submitting enter document at Banking University at Thu Duc

August 28th ,2008