April 30, 1975: The Day of Return - Part 1: Con Dao Prison and Our 20s

Return - Victory Day - Photo archive

I was imprisoned many times during the period 1970-1975 by the Republic of Vietnam government under President Nguyen Van Thieu, who arrested me and charged me with "disturbing public order". In fact, I participated in the Saigon youth - student - pupil movement fighting for democracy, freedom, restoration of peace, and demanding the withdrawal of US troops...

Historic night

My final destination in exile was Con Dao, the oldest prison in Vietnam, built by the French colonialists in 1862, specializing in holding political prisoners. By 1975, Con Dao was 113 years old, with 53 generations of island lords. In April 1975, Con Dao had many unusual phenomena, especially on April 29 and 30, when all the prison guards, including the provincial governor Lam Huu Phuong, had left, and planes roared continuously in the sky above Con Dao.

From midnight on April 30 to 1:30 a.m. on May 1, 1975, starting from Camp 7, thousands of political prisoners broke out of prison by lifting each other up to pry open the iron bars. After that, the group went out, used large wooden sticks to break the iron doors of their cells, then found the prison guards, asked them to bring keys to open the doors of other prisons, and one by one freed themselves from the stone walls.

On the morning of May 1, representatives of the prison camps met and elected a Party Committee to lead the entire island, with Mr. Trinh Van Tu as secretary and Mr. Phan Huy Van (Tran Trong Tan) as deputy secretary and 10 others...

On the same day, the Con Dao government was established and armed forces were organized to occupy the Binh Dinh Vuong military camp, Loran station and airport, and 27 intact aircraft of various types were captured.

Most of these planes were left behind by Saigon officials and generals who flew from the mainland before boarding ships to the US 7th Fleet.

After taking over the telecommunications agency, Mr. Hai Tan immediately ordered a telegram: "Political prisoners have established a revolutionary government in Con Dao since the morning of May 1. We request the direction of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam."

At 2:00 p.m. on May 2, there was a telegram from Mr. Vu Hong from the Saigon City Party Committee requesting to speak directly with comrade Hai Tan: "Received the telegram, reported to the Central Bureau...".

At 10pm on May 3, the island's military command captured three frogmen. Through discussion, we learned that they were frogmen sent from our warship offshore for reconnaissance.

Former Liberation Army Lieutenant Colonel Le Cau used a motorboat to take him and his fellow frogmen to the ship to meet the command board and then brought representatives of the ship's command board to the meeting at the committee headquarters located at the old Provincial Governor's Palace.

The flotilla command said: The General Staff has dispatched the 445th local army battalion of Ba Ria province and a squad of the Sao Vang division to the V.609 and V.683 naval ships to Con Dao, departing from the afternoon of May 1... We are very grateful to our comrades for liberating and preserving the island intact, without shedding a drop of blood. We are very happy!"

On the morning of May 4, 1975, soldiers from warships landed on the island amid the loud shouts of former prisoners: "Welcome the Southern Liberation Army, welcome the Vietnamese Navy, Long live General Vo Nguyen Giap, Long live President Nguyen Huu Tho...".

At 3:00 p.m. on May 4, a ceremony was held to celebrate the complete liberation of Con Dao with the participation of 4,334 political prisoners, including 494 women and 31 death row inmates, and a number of island residents gathered in the central area.

The red flag with a yellow star and the flag of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam with two colors of red and blue and a yellow star in the middle were raised by the two women. Everyone sang together with voices choked with tears.

Con Dao prisoners returning to meet leaders (from left to right): Le Quang Vinh, Le Hong Tu, Huynh Tan Mam, Le Minh Chau (wearing a checkered scarf), Hoang Quoc Viet (chairman of the General Confederation of Labor), Nguyen Van De (secretary of the Central Youth Union) and Le Van Nuoi - Photo archive

Revolutionary government on the island

On May 3, the Party Committee and the Military Management Committee of Con Dao announced that they needed two people who knew how to type, had a good voice, and had to be party members to be radio announcers. I joined the Party at the age of 18 and was good at typing, so I offered my hand.

So I put my backpack on my shoulder and went to the Con Dao Command Office to work as a typist and announcer. Every day I ate meals cooked by my aunts and sisters for more than 3,300 former political prisoners.

Meals usually consisted of brown rice with sesame salt, dried sea fish and fish sauce. Green vegetables were scarce on the island. I slept at my workplace, on a wooden bed in the corner of this makeshift "office".

Sometimes, we young men would go swimming together in the sea. The water was so clear that we could see fish swimming around and the sparkling seaweed and coral at the bottom of the sea was very beautiful. We also tried to catch fish and bring them back to the ladies to "improve" their meals together.

But only the farmers dare to row their boats out to sea, net and catch a lot of shrimp and fish. As for students like me... we are left empty-handed.

Every day, after waiting for the bosses to sign off on the documents and radio news, Le Than and I carried loudspeakers to announce to all seven political prison camps. On the island, at the beginning of each broadcast, Than always introduced himself: We are the radio team of the Party Committee and the Military Management Committee of Con Dao, including Le Than and Le Van Nuoi, ​​respectfully sending you the daily news about Con Dao activities and the situation of the country...".

The first day I arrived at the female political prisoner camp, I suddenly heard someone calling: "Is that Le Van Nuoi? We've heard your name for a long time, but now we finally know your face! Oh my gosh, so cute! Come over here and have some mung bean sweet soup, honey!"

Entering the women's camp, suddenly a woman about 30 years old, quite beautiful with big eyes and a charming smile revealing her crooked teeth, came up and held my hand: "Em Nuoi! I am Bach Cuc, Xuan Binh's older sister!". Pham Xuan Binh, alias Hai Hoa, was a comrade of mine in the Thanh Doan.

Around May 4, the Con Dao Party Committee, with Mr. Tran Trong Tan (1926-2014) as secretary (Mr. Tan operated secretly in Saigon, was exiled to Con Dao in 1969 until April 30, 1975) and Mr. Le Cau, lieutenant colonel of the Southern Liberation Army, as chairman of the Con Dao Provisional Military Management Committee (Mr. Le Cau was also a political prisoner imprisoned in Con Dao) issued an announcement:

"Currently, there are very few revolutionary naval ships going to Con Dao to pick up political prisoners, because the naval force still has to march to occupy many other archipelagos! Therefore, the Party Committee and the Military Management Committee of Con Dao call on the young brothers and sisters to let the older uncles, aunts, and children board the ship to the mainland first. At the same time, call on the young brothers and sisters to register to volunteer to stay and guard Con Dao until a revolutionary government is established to manage Con Dao."

From around May 4, 1975, there were only naval ships transporting prisoners from Con Dao to Saigon. By May 10, we had waited for a long time but still had not heard the name of the group of more than 40 students on the list to board the ship. The brothers gathered on the beach, many of them suggested going to the office of the Con Dao Military Management Committee to ask to leave early, citing the reason: "Students are intellectuals, they need to leave early to participate in building Saigon...".

It was my turn to speak: "I think that students like us are not yet intellectuals, so we don't need to be given priority to return first to build Saigon. You see, Con Dao still has thousands of elderly uncles and aunts who have been in prison for decades, and thousands of women, aunts, sisters, and children born in prison are still here. Therefore, I suggest that we should calmly wait for the last trip back."

One day, while carrying a loudspeaker through the winding sandy roads from one camp to another to broadcast news, I suddenly met two girls wearing floral ao dai. I approached them and asked, "What do you do on the island?" The beauty replied, "We are teachers from Kien Giang who were sent to the island to teach for three years."

The appearance of two young women, both beautiful and brave enough to dare to teach on this isolated island in the middle of the ocean, immediately became a hot topic of discussion among students aged 20-25. Everyone found an excuse to pass by the small primary school with a red tiled roof to... look at the two teachers.

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>> Next: Crossing the ocean back to Saigon

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