Sunday, May 7, 1972
Deny Viet Deserters Loot Hue
DA NANG, Vietnam --A high-ranking American adviser Thursday denied reports that leaderless bands of ARVN soldiers were looting Hue and turning the city into a lawless shambles.Scoffing at reports of a "complete breakdown of law and order," the spokesman said he knew of only one incident that occurred late Tuesday. A small band of ARVN soldiers who had been drinking and were probably deserters, he said, walked into the city's large, new market place and began grabbing at goods in the stalls.The vendors resisted and shots were fired, he said. Some of these ignited gasoline and started a fire that badly damaged but did not destroy the market place."I know of no other incident," he said. "If anything, the city is very quiet -almost a ghost town."The adviser, who works for the civil operations and rural development support (CORDS), said he had walked through and flown over Hue Thursday morning."Everything is deserted," he said. "Most of the shops and cafes are closed, there's no traffic downtown. Not a soul on the streets."He said refugees were slowly moving down Highway One toward Da Nang -many of these sleepless migrants who fled to Hue when the North Vietnamese invaded Quang Tri province and were now leaving Hue. The North Vietnamese are expected to hit Hue soon.The adviser discounted reports that the North Vietnamese were massed in force only six miles from Hue."Perhaps an isolated patrol got that close, but certainly nothing else. Otherwise, there would be a lot of shelling and there had not been any."He added that Maj. Gen. Frederick J. Kroesen, senior advisor to the I Corps Area, had moved his headquarters to Hue with South Vietnamese Lt. Gen. Ngo Quan Truong.Truong took over command of I Corps Wednesday night from Hoang Xuang Lam, who was relieved after Quang Tri fell."Deny Vet Deserters Loot Hue", by S&S Vietnam Bureau and published in the Pacific Stars and Stripes on Sunday, May 7, 1972 and reprinted from European and Pacific Stars and Stripes, a Department of Defense publication copyright, 2002 European and Pacific Stars and Stripes.