Prior
to this U.S. embassy meeting the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) had cut
SVN in half which effectively put the Central
Highlands and northern part of the country behind enemy
lines. Although the communists had captured a number key cities
along their attack routes, they
were not
consolidating gains/holding ground rather preparing
to turn south and march on Saigon. Thus many Montagnard units in
small Highland towns still manned defensive
positions, remained combat ready, and had radio contact with
their leaders.
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As a result of the April
4th embassy
meeting approximately 10,000 mostly FULRO Montagnards volunteered
to mount a guerrilla resistance to the North Vietnamese takeover.
Many were from standing military units while others were civilian
members of FULRO. Mixed among them were
combat veterans from U.S. Special Forces (USSF) units. Aside
from the availability of weapons and ammunition discarded by fleeing
SVN Army
units, each garrison had a small stockpile plus
there were secret FULRO caches built up over the years.
The
Montagnard guerrillas began attacking the NVA rear areas in the
Highlands but within days SVN surrendered. Already committed they
kept fighting against overwhelming odds.
With only pockets of SVN resistance elsewhere in the country, the NVA
generals
massed their forces in the Central Highlands to wipe them out.
Entire villages were razed and many Montagnard civilians were
slaughtered.
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Photo courtesy of Hoa Mlo, pictured.
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By
1977 the Montagnards had suffered huge losses, casualties from disease
were mounting, ammunition was low, and food
becoming more scarce. There were no places to hide large units
which confined the
guerrillas
to the jungles in small and widely dispersed groups.
The severity
of
the situation forced the Montagnard leadership to withdraw their
fighting units from the
Highlands
to a jungle base in Mondolkiri Province, Cambodia. From here
they launched cross-border raids against the NVA in the
Highlands.
Meanwhile
a
delegation of their non military leaders and their families began
the year-long trek across the Killing Fields of Cambodia for
Thailand.
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Their
mission was to find Americans
and the war supplies promised at the U.S.
embassy meeting of April
4, 1975.
Once
underway they had no contact with their Highlands headquarters. Reaching
the Thai border they were denied
entry and interned in a border refugee camp for Cambodians fleeing the
Khmer Rouge. Months later and no word or U.S. help, the
Montagnard leadership dispatched a second delegation across Cambodia to
Thailand. They plus three successive delegations, a total of
five taking similar routes, ended
up in the same refugee camp.
In
1980 the cumulative total of those interned by Thailand was 212.
They languished in the refugee camp year after year. The cross
border raids by their young fighters in Mondolkiri dwindled to
quests for
food and survival essentials. In both the Thai refugee camp and
the Mondolkiri jungle base, a few babies were born, they
held regular church services, and prayed for American support.
In 1985 two retired U.S. Special Forces soldiers got word of those in
the Thai border refugee camp and mounted a campaign to get them
out. President Ronald Regan granted them political asylum
and in 1986 they were resettled in North Carolina. Once
in the USA
they tried to muster U.S. support for their cause but their pleas fell
on deaf ears.
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The Forgotten Army
leaders, Thai border, 1982. Photo courtesy of TFA leader.
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