Saturday, May 6, 1972
Weary Little Girl Refugee Walks & Wonders
HUE, Vietnam (UPI) --The little girl moved slowly down the long road, her feet dragging with weariness.Six years old, this was her second trip by foot down the 35-mile stretch in the past month.She was bent with fatigue. Her eyes had seen too much she didn't understand and her long black hair glistened with sweat.Nguyen Thi Thanh is one of thousands who fled south in the past two days -one of 235,000 South Vietnamese who left homes and moved south since the Communist launched their offensive one month ago.She first came south when the Communists attacked Dong Ha, just below the Demilitarized Zone, with artillery fire three weeks ago.Her parents thought it best to leave their home in Quang Tri city -although at that time it wasn't threatened -and move to the safer environs of Hue, 40 miles south.The family took rice and cooking pots and made the long trek southward. Here they were housed and fed in one of 70 refugee camps set up by the government.But after a week, it appeared government troops had stopped the Communist threat at the Cua Viet River, eight miles north of Quang Tri city.Thanh's parents decided it would be wise to return and reclaim their possessions before they were looted. They spent most of their remaining money for bus tickets.A week after Thanh's return, North Vietnamese troops moved on Quang Tri city and began shelling the outskirts with artillery and rockets.Thanh and her family again fled toward the safety of Hue. After 30 miles on foot, they were picked up Sunday by a jeep.Thanh was moving slowly, her bare feet sore from the hard roadway. She carried a small bag of rice -her only possession.She was asleep almost before the jeep was in motion.Once again, Thanh and her family moved into a refugee camp. But the haven they sought no longer exists in Hue. Communist troops are now within rocket and artillery range of this city as well. Hue, now jammed with at least 130,000 refugees, is starting to accommodate the influx.The government is doing its best to relieve conditions. It is moving 2,000 to 3,000 refugees a day to Da Nang by ship from Tan My, a port seven miles northeast of Hue. The ships carry ammunition north in the morning and refugees south in the afternoon.The government also is flying 300 people a day to resettlement camps in Phuoc Tuy Province southeast of Saigon from the Phu Bai Air Base, eight miles south of Hue.But enough ships and transport planes cannot be spared from the war effort to do the job adequately.And to those who see in Hue another Dong Ha or Quang Tri, it is not enough. More than 3,000 people a day are moving 100 miles to Da Nang by road.The wealthy drive private cars. The fortunate ride on buses and trucks. The poor -like Thanh and her family -walk.Thanh's family does not want to mover farther south. They want to return home.But if the Communists begin shelling Hue, Thanh will start another long journey -this time toward Da Nang."Weary Little Girl Refugee Walks & Wonders", by Chad Huntley and published in the Pacific Stars and Stripes on Saturday, May 6, 1972 and reprinted from European and Pacific Stars and Stripes, a Department of Defense publication copyright, 2002 European and Pacific Stars and Stripes.