At the age of 102, General Giap outlived just about all the soldiers served in his army. Millions of the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) soldiers did not have a fortune to live this long. Their lives were brutally cut short most before their 20th birthdays:
- Remember a NVA officer whose body was blown into pieces by carpet- bombing from B52 flying fortress in Khe Sand in late 1967.
- Remember a young NVA private killed inside Hue Citadel during the 1968 Tet offense with his leg chained to his machine gun.
- Remember the young tank crew of 203rd Tank Regiment whose bodies were burned to ashes in their T72 on the street of An Loc during 1972 Eastern offense.
The passing of General Giap brought back tears from many North Vietnamese who never served under General Giap:
- Remember a widow of a NVA young soldier to whom she waved her last goodbye in the early morning after their honeymoon.
- Remember an old mother who gave General Giap all 5 of her sons for the worthless title of “Mother of Heroes” and today barely survives selling veritable on the streets of Hai Phong.
- Remember a son who grew up without a father and a broken dream of Communist heaven.
- Remember a granddaughter who only knows of her heroic grandfather through his pictures and stories from her grandma. This granddaughter is today making her living by selling her body to Chinese men in a brothel in the small city of Anping.
The passing of General Giap also brought back the memory of incredible suffering by the Southern civilian population:
- Remember the massacre in Hue city during 1968 Tet Offense
- Remember the fear of undiscriminating shelling every night over the sky of Saigon and many large cities in the South in mid-1960’s. Saying “goodnight” to your loved ones could easily turns into “I see you in heaven” in the afterlife.
- Remember the sound of the bomb explosions in at coffee shops and the sound of the sirens from the ambulances and fire trucks followed. The images of dead bodies and blood-covered people with their limbs missing are hard to erase from the memory.
- Remember the corpse of a mother holding her dead baby in her arms. They were killed by General Giap’s army, along with many refugees who sought safety down South on the Highway of Death (Đại Lộ Kinh Hoàng) during 1972 Eastern Offense.
In the names of freedom, independence and happiness, Giap’s brilliant military strategy brought uncountable sacrifices and hardship upon his army and senseless suffering on the non-combat civilian population from both sides. What General Giap really brought to the Vietnamese people?
- General Giap brought independence from French Colonist and US Imperialist to the people and turned Vietnam into the vassal state of China. French and US soldiers have been long gone but China soldiers are still occupying Vietnam territories and the borders between China and Vietnam have been redrawn in China’s favor. Vietnam natural resources have been robbed by the Chinese. Vietnam environment have been destroyed. Vietnam economy and domestic business have been undercut and rendered uncompetitive with Chinese products with poor quality and being sold below cost. Is this the kind of independence we are looking for? No sir! General Giap! What our people longing for is the independence from tyranny whether from foreign or domestic. The people yearn for a true right to determine the form and the shape of their government. Anything less is the betrayal of their sacrifice.
- General Giap’s victory brought to the country a social class change. Gone seeking refuge from Communists is millions of freedom seeking people. Came is the proletarian, undereducated class that cares only to become rich overnight by stealing, robbing, bribing to the top of the society. This class produces a kind of the idiotic government leader who embarrassed the entire country by stating the obvious: “France, a country in Europe and in the world”. Thanks God that this leader did not mention the solar system and the Milky Way!!!
- General Giap’s victory also brought to country a government that so afraid of its people. This government spent hundred millions on its secure force to suppress internal dissidents. General Giap’s army seems to be no match against words of poet Nguyen Chi Thien, a voice of Nguyen Phuong Uyen, music of Viet Khang, etc.
To many, General Giap is no military genius. To history, General Vo Nguyen Giap will be remembered:
- As a general who do not value the human life. Just like other generals from Communist countries, General Giap is willing to scarify millions of his soldiers for the glory of his own and the causes of Communism.
- Except Dien Bien Phu, General Giap never won any major battles. On the contrary, his army suffered disastrous losses at all major battles, noticeably, at Khe Sanh, Tet 1968 and Eastern 1972. The South was defeated mainly due to the imbalance in materiel support between the Communist bloc (unlimited from Soviet, China) and US (unpopularity at home).
- That he is not General MacArthur. General MacArthur rebuilt Japan by working with the losing side and turned into one of the richest countries today. General Giap’s victorious government sent soldiers, civilian officers of the losing South to the labor camp. Many died in captivity. Those who survived become discards of the society. How can it be any reconciliation when the victors treated the defeated like this?
General Giap and those spilled the blood of the Vietnamese people to impose the Communism will be judge harshly by history.
