Vietnam War 1959-75
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continued from History to 1958

From 1955 through 1958 South Vietnamese (SVN) president Diem used harsh tactics to assimlate the ethnic minority  Montagnards and extend his authority into their ancestral domain, the Central Highlands.  In response the four major Montagnard tribes united under Y Bham Enuol in 1958 and formed the BAJARAKA movement to  peacefully achieve self governance.  Diem jailed Enuol and his following.

In 1959 through the Viet Cong insurgency, communist North Vietnam (NVN) launched its war to conquer SVN and reunify the two countries.  The USA began providing advisors and war materials to SVN.   

Due to the strategic significance of the Central Highlands, NVN sought Montagnard allegiance with promises of autonomy once SVN was defeated.  As a freedom loving people, primarily Christians, and not trusting any Vietnamese the Montagnards rejected it.  With their Highlands becoming a battlefield of opposing ideologies, allying with the Americans provided hope for self determination. 

At this time the Montagnard population was 1.5 million.

To counter the Viet Cong insurgency in the Highlands, Diem allowed U.S. Special Forces (USSF) teams or “Green Berets” under the direction of the CIA to begin training and arming them for village defense and border patrolling. 

USSF quickly earned the respect of the Montagnards and intense bonds developed. 

 

Approaching 1964 the BAJARAKA movement was turning more militant and the Dega Highlands Liberation Front (FLHPM, acronym from the French name) came into being.  On September 20, 1964 the FLHPM revolted in the Highlands and killed many SVN officials.  Although their safety was never threatened, sympathizing USSF personnel were taken "hostage" to serve as negotiators.  SVN made concessions and released Y Bham Enuol and the BAJARAKA leaders from prison.


At US insistence the SVN Government (now under President Nguyen Khanh after the overthrow of Diem) initiated earnest reforms to resolve a number of Montagnard issues and gain their loyalty.  The Ministry of Ethnic Minorities was created and Montagnards were appointed as officials in many highland government posts.

Realizing SVN President Khanh may not stay in power long and his successor could be as bad as Diem, Montagnards quietly set about to strengthen their position.  Their 1964 uprising inspired the Cham ethnic minority's Champa Liberation Front (FLC) to ally with BAJARAKA and soon the Khmer ethnic minority's Kampuchea Krom Liberation Front (FLKK) joined.  The three fronts created the umbrella organization Front Unifie De Lutte Des Races Opprimees (FULRO) with Y Bham Enuol as chairman (the French FULRO name translates as the United Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races). 

The immediate objective of both the SVN Government and the ethnic minorities was to win the war.   As it escalated the relationship between the government and minorities was rocky at times but overall steadily improved.  FULRO remained in the background while its forces gained training and combat experience to leverage or fight for political equity after the communists were defeated.



Photo courtesy of Howard Sugar, pictured.
 In 1967 Nguyen Van Thieu was elected SVN President and brought a large measure of political stability to the country. 

The ethnic minorities provided the overwhelming majority of soldiers for the hazardous USSF SOG strategic reconnaissance and Mike Force light infantry units.   Montagnards, Khmer, and Chinese Nungs served magnificently in these two programs under the direct leadership of our Green Berets. 

The "Vietnamization" phase began in early 1969.  It was designed to extricate the U.S. from the war by shifting the burden of battle from American to indigenous forces.  However the SVN military (Army of Vietnam - ARVN) was not prepared for this rude awakening.  For nearly two years the most formidable objectives were assigned to the USSF Mike Force Montagnards and Khmer.

By early 1971 USSF was largely phased out of the war and most of its indigenous forces were converted to ARVN.   On January 27, 1973 a peace agreement ending the war was signed, American and other foreign allied forces withdrew, and prisoners were exchanged. 

However once the formalities were complete, the communists quickly resumed hostilities and fighting continued.  In March, 1975 the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) launched its final campaign and swept through the Central Highlands.   The SVN general in command of the Highlands fled and most of his 100,000 troops followed in panic-stricken, marauding bands.   A few SVN units however stood their ground and fought bravely.
The Central Highlands seaport of Nha Trang offered the only mass escape route for non combatants behind enemy lines.  There was also a U.S. Consulate Office in Nha Trang.  The Senior U.S. State Department Advisor to Montagnards, a retired USSF soldier turned Foreign Service Officer, was assigned to muster our Montagnard intelligence agents and families and other VIPs on the beach for U.S. Navy boat lift to a safe area.  Gathering approximately 1,000 and completing his assignment, he made his way to the airfield just in time for the last flight evacuating U.S. Consulate employees to Saigon. 

Arriving at the U.S. embassy in Saigon he learned the boat lift had been canceled.  Enraged, he confronted the Ambassador who told him there were "other priorities" and the Montagnards would not be evacuated.  Left to the enemy, some were able to evade inland but many perhaps most were captured and met terrible fates.

SVN President Thieu sought emergency U.S. aid but was rebuffed by the US Congress.   Shortly thereafter he  abandoned the Central Highlands and northern part of the country to the communists.   SVN's military folded altogether and on April 30, 1975 the victorious NVA marched into Saigon.

One third of the Montagnard population died and 85% of their villages were destroyed in the Vietnam War.   Following the NVN victory many of our SVN and ethnic minority allies were executed and countless others incarcerated for years in prisons and "reeducation camps."   Led to believe the USG would support them, approximately 10,000 Montagnards refused to surrender and kept fighting, some until 1992. 


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