CONDITIONS IN LAOS DESCRIBED IN LETTER FROM FATHER MENGER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP66B00403R000200140046-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 2, 2005
• Sequence Number: 46
• Publication Date: March 5, 1964
• Content Type: OPEN

1964
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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - SENATE
86C1a1 democracy, within' reedom, is postu-
lating before the world and before Amer-
ice ille'ur ent need `of listening to the calls
which are the,fruits of misery, hunger, and
the despair ofsq many?men and women of
our continent. This is the task which we
must reduce to the simplest form, because
it is demanded by this new petition that hu-
manity live.
We will only consolidate the Government
of the people through more just, plans which
sei'Ve democracy And I 'am sure that our
Parliaments will know how to carry out, with
wiseness, the mission that our Constitu-
tions, juridical instruments of progress
and freedom, have entrusted them with.
I sincerely hope that the presence -of the
Legislators of my country, in that Repub-
lic, will contribute to the strengthening of
the indestructible ties which unite our peo-
ples, on the immovable base of common
ideals of progress. And I am formally in-
viting that Honorable Senate to send a
delegation of its members to visit Buenos
Aires next June.
They will honor, with their presence, our
Farliament [which is] beginning an intense
task whose object is the structurization of
juridical plans which will serve the coun-
try and defend democracy as an irrenunci-
ble system of living together for the Amer-
leas, based on the dignity of men and peo-
ples who want to live in "the atmosphere of
civilization, justice, and law.
With brotherly express_sions of demo-
cratic solidarity and faith in the empire of
liberty I am greeting the worthy President
and the honorable integrants of the Federal
Senate of that principal biatiori of Amer-
lea.
CARLO, PERETTE
PRO CIVIL RIGHTS MAIL HITS
NEW HIGH
Mr, JAVITS. Mr. President, this
being the end of April and the 44th day
ofr debate on the civil rights bill I would
like to report to the Senate, on tale mail I
have received on this issue from New
York State. We are not "mail comp-
tornetersf" here, and our job is to serve
"the national interest on this bill as we
see it, but the mail " question'hasbeen
invoked to allege a "white backlash" ' to
the, bill in the North, and when the facts
refute tiffs, they must be brought out.
The mail coming into my -office has
never been heavier than it was during
the past month. Much has been made
recently of the fact that many people in
the North have ben writing?in opposi-
tion to the civil =righ'ts bill. , T am glad
to report that that'trend appears to have
shifted iliatlcally. ''he count of_
"New York Mate 11 mail, during the month .11 of April-as of this morning-was 8,250
letters for the bill and 2,527 letters op-
posed. That indicates overwhelmingly
31/2-to-1 support'from my State for'tlie
enactment of the pending civil rights
bill. ,
believe this XS new eyldgne against
the so-called ;white backlsh, in; the
North hich is Said to lie havlrig an ad ~ 1J, w N.
'verse effect on_ support for the pending
civil rights bill.
It is interesting to me to note that
many of those writing in support of the
bill s&y that they did not write to the
previously because they were aware of
my Born ifiitment to the 1-1 passage of this
legislation. But " they `have decided to
write now to, give me assurance of their
support, _ an
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about letterwriting campaigns inspired
by segregationists and other elements.
It is most noteworthy that most of the
letterwriting in opposition to the legis-
lation continue to contain incredible
misinformation. In the hope that some
of these letterwriters will take the time
to learn the facts about this legislation,
I am sending every one of them a copy
of a booklet, "Some Questions and An-
swers on the Civil Rights Bill," produced
by the Leadership Conference on Civil
Rights. This excellent 24-page booklet
explains the key provisions of the bill,
answers the main questions that have
arisen in regard to it, and sets forth
the reasons this legislation should be en-
acted. I believe It will be helpful in
bringing some enlightenment to many
who have been misled by false fears and
inaccurate information. --
Mr. President, in order to show the
drastic change in the mail since last
February, when the mail from those
against civil rights was for the first time
running slightly in excess of those for it,
to the present time when it is 31/2 to 1 in
support of the bill, I ask unanimous con-
sent to have printed at this point in the
RECORD a chart showing the ratio of pro
and con civil rights mail from Septem-
ber 1963, to April 1964, from New York
State.
There being no objection, the chart
was ordered to be printed in the RECORD,
as follows:
Pro Con
September 1963-- ----------- 2,189 197
---- 1, 644 1'79
October I963_______
November 1963 ------------ 1,473 2079
X)ecQ=bv,r, 1963 --- 803 SSQ
January, 1964-------------- 1,635 '368
February 1964_____________ 2,594 2,712
March 1964________________ 4,802 3,290
April 1964_________________ 8,250 2,527
CIVIL RIGHTS $ILL-ANSWER TO
AN UNJUSTIFIED ATTACK ON
SECTION 302
Mr. JAVITS. Mr. President, one of
the unjustified attacks on the pending
civil rights bill which has recently been
circulated, is directed against section
302 of the bill. On behalf of the Sena-
tor from'Oregon [Mr. MORSE] and my-
Self, as the designated bipartisan "floor
captain" of title III, I would like to point
out the invalidity of that argument.
Section 302 authorizes the Attorney
General to intervene in actions insti-
tuted in the Federal courts seeking re-
lief from the denial of equal protection
of the laws on account of race, color,
religion, or national origin. This would
'permit the Federal Government to be-
come a party to privately brought suits
to enforce the equal protection 'clause
of the 14th amendment. It is consid
erably narrower than the traditional
part III proposal, which would have au'-
thorized the filing of such suits by the
Attorney General, not only intervention,
and would have authorized redress 60 11
of good will, irrespective of race, and answer-
rights, privileges, and immunities guar-
anteed by the 14th amendment, not only able both to conscience and the authority
equal otection of the laws. of law, can resolve it.
a America certainly does not oppose equality
The 14th amendment extends only to ."Qf_ justice under a government of law. That
State action, so that governmental of i is its structure, its format, its intent.
cials of the States and their subdivisions pg,~ ylled Wit, rights bill, now at
would be the defendants in' suits in which issue before Coe res~s, oes not enhance these.
the "Attorney General would be author-
ized to Intervene, not private individ-
uals. Thus the spectre of the "financial
and governmental might of the United
States" pitted against an individual is
In no way raised by section 302. At
present the financial and governmental
might of various States is often pitted
against individuals, claiming depriva-
tions of constitutional rights on account
of race, who are least able to main-
tain expensive litigation themselves.
This is the major reason for section 302,
which is a narrowly limited attempt to
even up the bglance by permitting the
Federal Government to appear before
the courts on the side of the individual
claiming a constitutional right, aaginst
State officials and State governments
which seek to deny him that-right.
Nor is there anything in section 302
which conceivably justifies the state-
ment that it would give the Attorney
General power to Intervene in suits
against public officials "for the. purpose
of making them conform to his desires."
Section 302 does not in any way enlarge
the relief obtainable now by an individ-
ual capable of litigating by himself for
redress of a breach of equal protection;
it adds not a single substantive right or
cause of action to what the courts have
repeatedly said constitutes such a de-
privation on account of race, color, re-
ligion, or national origin. It simply
permits the Attorney General to become
a party to such a suit so that he can rep-
resent the national interest in protect-
ing that existing constitutional right.
It seems to us the only objection anyone
can really mount against this is that
they do not wish to see the equal pro-
tection clause enforced.
"Mr. WALTERS.. Mr. President, I ask
unanimous consent to have printed at
this point in the RECORD an editorial en-
titled "America's Internal Threat," from
the Nashville Banner of April 28, 1964.
There being no objection, the editorial
was ordered to be printed in the RECORD,
as follows:
THE CRISIS Is HERE: AMERICA'S INTERNAL
THREAT
Those abetting America's hour of crisis,
with statements of open threat and appeals'
to conflict-with or without pious protesta-
tions of nonviolent intent-are tugging at
pillars whose collapse would demolish the
house. Ignorance of that fact, or willful
indifference to it, in pursuit of personal, par-
tisan, or ethnic aims, does not excuse the
offense, nor abate the catastrophe they are
inviting.
That is, the danger within, exploited by
demagogs playing on racial emotions, and
preaching lawlessness to achieve their own
ends. Intolerant of.reason, their ultimatum
is cracked like a whip-not for concessions
within the scope of uniform justice, but for
unconditional surrender.
The crisis is here; not an ocean's breadth
away. The exercise of responsibility by men
 a ,
-1322'
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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -SENATE April SD
It would emasculate them where the majority
is concerned.
When the unconstitutionalitles, other ille-
galities and proposed Injustices to businesses
and individuals are removed. Congress should
provide all the just protection of the rights
of Negroes, as well as those of every other
citizen of the United States, regardless of
race, religion, color or country of origin.
This is what the Negroes are entitled to;
no more, no less.
Anything else will continue the divisive
struggle which Is destroying reason, under-
standing, good will, and mutual respect
among Americans who must live in amity
and Concord, if this Republic Is to endure.
This is the time for politicjans to stop their
despicable exploitation of the Negro for We
vote. It is the time for the white citizens
to recognize the legitimate rights of the Ne-
gro under the law and provide them within
established constitutional boundaries.
It is also time for the Negro to rid him-
self of hysterical, fanatical leadership defiant
of law and order, provoking civil disobedi-
ence to the point of anarchy seriously dam-
aging, if not permanently destroying the In-
terest. the sinners sympathy and the support
of millions of Americans of good will, now
being alienated by the extreme folly of the
ADAM CLAYTON Powl .La, the Black, Muslims
and their fellow travelers preaching anar-
chy, sedition and open revolution.
It's time to get back to sanity, respect
for law, respect for the nag and the coun-
try for which It stands, and, above all, re-
spect for one another as human beings and
as American citizens with equal responsf-
biilties imposed by equal rights under the
law. Anything else Js the sheerest folly
which, if not soon checked. Is certain to lead
to the destruction of all law, all rights, even
this Government of freedom which is the
(
last best; l}aye of earth.
CONDITIONS IN LAOS DESCRIBED
IN LETTER FROM FATHER
MENGER
Mr. DODD, Mr. President, when I
was in Laos In May of 1962, I met an
American Oblate missionary by the name
of Father Matt J. Menger, who told
me some things about the situation in
the country that I did not get from
my Embassy briefing.
In his several years In Laos, Father
Menger had learned to speak the lan-
guage fluently and had traveled thou-
sands of miles on foot in the country,
even in territory that was supposed to
be under firm Communist control.
Recently I received a letter from Father
Menger which I consider significant be-
cause it answers a question that I have
heard asked with increased infrequency,
especially during the past several months.
On a trip from Saigon to Vientiane
by plane, Father Menger sat down beside
an American businessman. The Amer-
ican businessman said to him, "Father,
I know you are a priest and your job
is to save .souls. But frankly, why in
the hell are you missionaries staying in
Laos? Your churches and schools have
been sacked and burned by the Reds,
your priests have been killed; why don't
you get smart and go where you will have
a chance to build and grow? Laos is
gone, so Is Vietnam; why don't you get
out While you still have the chance?"
Father Menger In his letter tells the
story of Agnes, a member of the Meo
tribe of northern Laos, by way of re-
plying to the businessman, yes, and to
all those who have asked similar ques-
tions.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous con-
sent to have printed at this point in
the RzcoRw, the answer from Father
Menger.
There being no objection, the letter
was ordered to be printed in the ReCORD,
as follows;
INDOCHINA MISSION CRUSADZ,
March 5, 1964.
DEAR CausAmz: I visited Saigon a few
weeks ago-which, at the time. was "between
coup d'etats." The flight from Vientiane to
Saigon is a beautiful one with the plane
following the muddy Mekong and croessing
over the checkered rice paddies of the lush
Vietnamese delta.
Saigon. the "Paris of the Orient.' was as
beautiful as ever. My Vietnamese friends
cordial and friendly as always, outwardly
happy, living their normal everyday lives, but
something had changed. Walking the
streets of Saigon, seeing the tanks, heavy ar-
tillery. the soldiers patrolliing with their
rises and submachine guns. one realizes
that this is more than just the civil war of
a tiny Asian country. In my friends I
could see an anxiety that had never existed
before. an Inner tension resulting from the
nightly bombings and the terror of not
knowing who the enemy was.
During the 6-hour C-47 flight home to
Vientiane, I became Involved in a conversa-
tion with the man sitting next to me, an
American businessmen who had spent many
years traveling and working in Asia. I had
the feeling there was something he wanted
to ask me. Finally be found the courage,
for he suddenly blurted out, "Father. I know
you're a priest and your job is to save souls.
But frankly, why In the hell are you mis-
Aonaries staying In Lace? Your churches
and schools have been sacked and burned by
the Reds, your priests have beeen killed
? ? why don't you get smart and go where
you'll have a chance to build and grow?
Laos is gone, so Is Vietnam. Why don't you
get out while you still have the chance?"
For a moment. I was taken aback, as much
by his frankness as by the challenging ques-
tion. And then I thought of Agnes.
It was late one afternoon, just a few days
before Christmas. I was sitting in my office
in the rectory when I saw. walking past
the window, a ragged, tired, hollow-eyed
woman. A baby was strapped to her back.
Stumbling along beside her were three ex-
hausted little children, the eldest not more
than 5 years old.
We took Agnes, her husband, and the chil-
dren Into the rectory, gave them something
to eat and a chance to rest. That night I
heard one of the most Incredible stories of
courage and determination in all of my
career as a missionary.
Agnes Is a Meo, a member of that hardy
tribe which emigrated from Mongolia
through southern China Into Laos a hundred
years ago. She was born and raised in the
village of Sam Neua. 115 miles north of
Vientiane. When she was 18, she married
one of the boys from her village. For their
honeymoon, they not out on a walking trip
to Paksane In southern hews. During the
trip, they were accosted by robbers. The
young bridegroom, in trying to defend his
wife and their meager possessions, was
slashed with machetes and seriously wound-
ed. A few days later be died. Agnes was
alone in a strange village with no money, no
home, nothing but a still shining wedding
ring. Agnes came to the seminary, appealed
to the fathers for help, and was given a job
as a cook, For 10 years she worked at the
seminary In Paksane until she married again.
She and her new husband decided to return
to the mountainous villages the Meos love,
and so they moved back to Sam Neua. Dur-
ing the next 5 years. four children were born
and Agnes and her family lived the normal
life of our Catholic Meo families, attending
mass and regularly receiving the sacraments
in the village church, until the Communists
came, bringing with them their experts in
fear, torture, and persecution.
Twice her husband was arrested. Twice
he escaped, the last time fleeing 40 miles to
an anti-Communist guerrilla outpost. Agnes
and the children waited for word from him,
nightly attending the mandatory indoctrina-
tion lectures of the Reds. One day, while
shopping in the marketplace, a woman came
to Agnes and whispered, "your husband Is
safe. If you are to escape, it must be to-
night."
The family's bamboo hut was on the main
path of the village. Communist sentinels
regularly patrolled the street. At dusk,
Agnes put the children to bed, then pro-
ceeded to bore two tiny peepholes knee-
high through the wall of her hut. Clutching
her rosary, she knelt down, put her eyes
to the peepholes, and began her long vigil
of waiting and praying. -
The beads slipped through her fingers,
decade after decade the heavy boots paced
up and down in front of the hut. "Hail
Mary, pray for us sinners, now and at the
hour of our," Back and forth-back and
forth. At midnight, the footsteps stopped;
12:30, still no sentinel; 1 o'clock, Agnes
decided this was the time to go. She wak-
ened the three older children and whispered
to them, "If you make a sound, your father
will have no wife, and no children."
Strapping the still sleeping baby to her
back, she breathed a silent prayer and crept
out into the night. It was a moonless night,
a pitch-black night. Agnes and the children
got down on their hands and knees feeling
their way along the narrow path. On and
on they crawled, perhaps several hundred
yards. Suddenly Agnes and the children
stopped abruptly. They heard a sound. Was
it a patrol of sentinelscoming toward them?
Agnes listened. It was quiet, deathly quiet.
Then she began crawling again, quietly, the
slightest sound meant capture and death.
One false move and they would tumble to
their death down the steep cliff of the jagged
mountain. Finally they were out of the vil-
lage. Agnes recalled, "I don't know how
long we crawled, it Deemed forever. Sud-
denly two men jumped out of the thick
brush and grabbed my babies. Frightened,
I looked up and recognized the two faces In
the dim? light of their torch. We all started
to run."
Down the narrow, rocky path they ran,
through a small jungle-covered valley, then
up a steep, craggy path. Soon the first red
rays of the sunrise began to steal over the
tail mountains. A quick breakfast of rice
and water in a village, then off again. They
walked all that day, well into the following
night before they reached the village of an
anti-Communist guerrilla post where Agnes'
husband was waiting. Once again the fam-
ily was united. The following morning, a
small single-engined plane set down on the
dirt runway of the village and, minutes later,
Agnes, her husband, and four children were
on their way to Vietiane, to freedom and
safety.
Why does a missionary stay -in Laos to
fight what so many consider a losing battle?
Why does a missionary stay when the odds
are stacked against him? It is a life of
hardship, privation, danger, death. Recently
we were reminded of this.
Communist guerrillas in the Congo raided
the oblate mission stations. They captured
three priests, tortured them, and hacked
their bodies with machetes. leaving the pieces
to be buried by the nuns. Last Sunday
night, and again on Thursday, our priests at
Tha Ngon, which is only 15 miles north of
Vientiane, were visited by Communist guer-
rillas.
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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - SENATE
Today even though we are a hundred mis-
sionaries in Laos, at least 75' percent of the
natives have never even seen a missionary, or
heard of Jesus . Christ. These people are
primitive and illiterate, but they are children
of God. 'They have a right to know their
Creator and their Redeemer. They have a
,right to Heaven. 1`t is for them that we mis-
sionaries have left our homes and our fam-
ilies. It is for them that we stay on to fight
against tremendous odds, constant danger,
and even ,possible martyrdom. Perhaps our
accomplishments in the book of time will
seem,few and, to some, our attempts, ridi-
culous. Who but Almighty God would dare
to put into the battlefield a tiny army of
men against the maniacal savagery of com-
munism?
Yes, we've lost some of our churches, our
schools, our rectories; 10 percent of all of our
priests have been murdered, but souls are
never lost. And if our accomplishments are
Minute in this world of magnificent vic-
tories, perhaps martyrdom at the final mo-
ment of our lives,:will be the display of faith
and courage needed to convert one more soul.
For the sake of that one soul; if for no other
reason, we have our justification for being
here, knd for staying:
As you kneel in the comfortable, magnifi-
cent churches of America, please pray for us.
Whisper a prayer for the missionaries and
the, Agneses of Laos. Rest assured that I,
and all of the other oblate missionaries scat-
tered throughout the mountains and jungles
to the douse proposal, printed at this
point in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the 'letter
was ordered to be printed in the RECORD,
as follows:
MANUFACTURING CHEMIST'S
AssoclATloN, . INC.,
Washington, D.C., March 20, 1964.
Hon. JOHN L. MCCLELLAN,
Chairman, Subcommittee on Patents, Trade-
marks and Copyrights, Committee on
the Judiciary, U.S. Senate,
Washington, D.C.
DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: The Manufacturing
Chemists' Association, Inc., would like to take
this means of submitting its-views on H.R.
8190 and S. 2547 for consideration by your
subcommittee and inclusion in the record
of the hearings held on these bills on Feb-
tuary' 27 and 28, 1964. With certain dif-
ferences, both bills have for their purpose
the increase of fees payable to the Patent
Office.
In this connection, it may be of interest
that the Manufacturing Chemists' Associa-
tion, Inc., founded in 1872, is the country's
oldest national chemical trade association,
with 186 U.S. members, and represents more
than 90 percent of the productive capacity
of the U.S. chemical industry. The chemical
industry spends more of its own money on
research than any other single industry in
the Nation. In 1960 some 10,200 chemical
patents were issued, representing about 20
percent of all patents issued during the year.
Thus, the chemical industry has a vital con-
cial manner for you and your loved ones. tern in any legislation affecting patents.
With my blessing, Our association realizes that over 30 years
L
FR. MATT J. MENCER, 1 have passed since the fees for filing applica-
San Francisco, Calif. _J tions and Issuing patents were last revised.
FEES PAYABLE TO GOMMTSSIONER
OF. PATENTS
Mr. DODD. Mr. President, on Feb -
Teary 25, I introduced S. 2541, as an al-
ternative to 11.R.'8100, which was ap-
proved by the House earlier this year, to
fix certain fees payable to the Commis-
sioner of Patents.,
The- bfll;i will produce slightly over
$22 million a year in revenue, making
'the Patent Office more nearly self-sus-
taining than it is at present.
At the time I introduced it, T stated
that my bill had been endorsed by the
Connecticut Bar Association, as well as
by individual patent attorneys and busi-
nessmen.
I learned a few days ago. that the
Manufacturing Chemists' Association,
:Since that time, salaries and other costs
have increased substantially. Inventors and
their assignees should pay a fair share of the
Patent Office costs and it is for this reason
that our association in the. ,past has sup-
ported a reasonable increase In Patent Office
fees. In our letter of September 4, 1963 to
the'House Judiciary Committee we so stated
our position. We were, therefore, quite
pleased to see the introduction of S.,2547 by
Senator Donn, the provisions of which would
increase Patent Office fees, making it more
nearly self-sustaining. According to Senator
DODD, when he introduced his bill S. 2547 the
proposed schedule of fees would produce
slightly over $22 million in revenue each
year. This is about the same amount which
would be produced by H.R. 8190 after sched-
uled maintenance fees become fully effective.
By far the most objectionable feature of
H.R. 8190, and the one to which we Most
strongly object, is the, provision authorizing
the imposition of maintenance fees for
patents. The imposition of maintenance fees
Inc., which represents 186 member com would, in our opinion, also have the unde-
panies with 90 percent of the productive sirable effect of lessening the protection
capacity of the U.S. chemical industry,
has also endorsed my bill.
The association did this in a letter
which it filed with the Senate Judiciary
Subcommittee on Patents, Trademarks,
and Copyrights commenting on both S.
2547 and MR, 8160.
This endorsement is ,,of particular- in-
terest, I think, since the chemical in-
dustry spends more of its own money on
research than any other single industry
in the United States. These research
efforts are reflected in the-patent activity
of the industry. For example, in 1960
approximately 20 percent of all the pat-
ents issued. were chemical patents.
I apk unanimoi s cdnpent.to liavQ this
letter, which is an expert and able argu-
ment in support' of my bill in preference
and encouragement now given to inventive
efforts by our patent system. The Acting
Commissioner of Patents, in his testimony,
indicated that the Patent Office expected that
at the end of the 5th, 9th, and 13th year a
large number of patents would become in-
valid for failure to pay the maintenance fees.
It was estimated that on the 13th anniversary
date of the issuance of the patent only 15
percent of the patents would be continued in
force. Thus, it appears to us that mainte-
nance fees will have the effect of reducing the
life of patents, thereby seriously weakening
our patent system.
The philosophy behind the attempts to re-
duce the life of the patent seems to,be that
the patents then will go into the public
domain and will be utilized fully by a large
number of manufacturers. We do not be-
lieve this would be the case. Let us consider
a situation where a patent is allowed to
lapse by failure to pay maintenance fees and
9323
later it is discovered that the Item covered
could be utilized. There are very few manu-
facturers who would expend the considerable
amount usually involved in the commercial
development and marketing of a new prod-
uct without patent protection. The public,
thus, would be deprived of the benefits of
many new developments.
In the House floor discussion on H.R. 8190,
the assertion was frequently made that
maintenance fees would save the Patent Of-
fice money by cutting out so-called dead-
wood, a term apparently used to indicate
patents not being utilized commercially.
The lapsing of a patent does not- eliminate
it as a reference by the Patent Office. In
its consideration of new patent applications,
such a lapsed patent is treated by the Patent
Office in the same manner as is an article
in a journal, or as is a foreign patent. Being
a disclosure, it forms part of the art which
has to be searched to determine if a later
applicant has a "new" invention. The issued
patent has to be searched, whether it is used
or unused, valid or invalid, still alive or
expired.
Another reason why we strongly object to
the imposition of maintenance fees is be-
cause of the administrative burdens which
will be placed on both industry and the
Patent Office. To impose the maintenance
fees provided by H.R. 8190, it will be neces-
sary for the Patent Office to keep accurate
records of the status of many thousands of
issued patents, to send out many thousands
of notices of maintenance fees due (sec. 6e),
process requests for deferment (sec. Of), and
publish lists of patents expired for nonpay-
ment of maintenance fees.
The imposition of maintenance fees also
seems to be an effort to eliminate so-called
defensive patents. There are. very few
actually defensive patent applications filed.
To-call a large number of patent applications
"defensive" indicates a lack of understanding
of the way research. Is conducted and prod-
ucts often developed, especially in the chem-
ical industry. Many times new chemical
compounds are discovered for which no im-
mediate use is apparent. With additional
experiments, sometimes taking many years, a
use for the compound is discovered. Thus,
if the attempt is being made by the use of
maintenance fees to eliminate the filing of
patent applications of this type, the result
will only be greater secrecy.
There are several other provisions in H.R.
8190 which we view with concern and
strongly oppose. Sections 1, 2, 3, and 4 of
H.R. 8190 provide for increased fees for filing,
prosecuting, issuing, and reissuing patents,
and for recording assignments. We are
somewhat apprehensive that the extra filing
fee in H.R. 8190 for each independent claim
beyond one may deter inventors from ade-
quately claiming their inventions, and that
the fees for printing the patents and draw-
ings may deter inventors from fully disclos-
ing their Inventions.
As a matter of fact, Assistant Secretary of
Commerce Hollomon and Acting Commis-
sioner of Patents Reynolds emphasized in
their testimony before your subcommittee
on H.R. 8190-that the bill was drafted with
provision for only one claim for the filing
fee of $50 to encourage the submission of
"dependent" claims, rather than a large
number of independent claims. Patent at-
torneys today, in general, believe that for
most inventions . a series of independent
claims are necessary to adequately spell out
the area of discovery. The reason for this is
that in case one claim in a patent is declared
invalid by the courts, other claims will still
be valid, protecting the invention.
The fee schedule of H.R. 8190 would be
especially heavy on independent inventors.
The independent inventor makes very im-
portant contributions to our, society. The
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Impact of this bill on the independent in-
ventor would be considerably softened if he
could present several Independent claims for
his filing fee instead of just one, and if for
his issue fee he could have several pages
printed without additional printing fees.
Today an inventor may file 20 or less Inde-
pendent claims for a filing fee of $30. H.R.
8190 would provide for a filing fee of $60 and
$10 for each independent claim in excess of
one and $2 for each clam (independent or
dependent) in excess of 10. It has been
estimated that the average patent applica-
tion today contains about 15 or 16 inde-
pendent claims. Thus, the filing fee, rather
than being increased from $30 to $50. would
be Increased from $30 to about $200. It
would appear to us to be better to provide.
as Senator DODD has in S. 2547, a filing fee of
$70 and $5 for each claim in excess of 10.
The Manufacturing Chemists' Association,
Inc., appreciates this opportunity of present-
ing our views on S. 2547 and H.R. 8190. In
summary, it is apparent that S. 2547 does
not contain the objectionable features which
are found in H.R. 8190. Also, S. 2547 would
produce some $22 million in annual revenue
making the Patent Office more nearly self-
sustaining. We would, therefore, like to go-
on record formally as endorsing S. 2547 and
we respectfully urge that this bill be reported
favorably and that H.R. 8190 be rejected.
Sincerely,
G. H. Dacxea.
FATHER ROA, THE FIGHTING
PRIEST OF SO7T'H VIETNAM
Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I am
deeply distressed by the report In Tues-
day's press that Father Hoa, the "fight-
Ing priest of South Vietnam" who has
made this region in the Camau Peninsula
a bastion of popular resistance to com-
munism, may be relieved of his command
and perhaps obliged to leave the country.
The report In the New York Times im-
plied that there was some reason for
doubting that the initiative for this ac-
tion had come from General Khanh
himself, and, some reason for believing
that it originated at a lower level in the
Vietnamese Government. The report
further stated that American military
sources fear that the area will fall to
the Vietcong In 6 months if Father Hoa
is obliged to leave. It said that the em-
bassy was prepared to intercede at the
highest level if it turns out that the new
military commander appointed to the
area attempts to dispel the influence of
Father Hoa.
I earnestly hope that General Khanh
and the other Vietnamese leaders will
give this matter the closest attention.
The destruction of Father Hoa's in-
fluence must Inevitably undermine the
effectiveness of the peasant resistance
movement that he has built up around
him. This would be a tragedy for the
people of the area. But much more than
this, It would have a disastrous influence
on Vietnamese-American relations and
would play Into the hands of those who
have been urging American withdrawal
from Vietnam.
Father Hoa, who came to South Viet-
nam in 1959 with a group of Chinese
refugees, has succeeded In setting up
what is generally considered to be the
most effectively organized regional-popu-
lar defense against communism to be
found anywhere in Vietnam. With a
force of 1,200 men, he Is defending a
population of some 18,000 villagers, and
his influence has extended far beyond
the region he himself commands. His
achievement Is all the more remarkable
because the Camau Peninsula Is per-
haps the most heavily Commurdst-
infested area In South Vietnam, and the
territory he now holds had to be freed
from Communist control by hard fight-
ing.
Every American military man and
every cot-respondent who has seen the
operation has been tremendously im-
pressed by It. President Kennedy him-
self, when he read his first report on
Father Hoa, wrote a memorandum to the
Saturday Evening Post urging that they
print the story. The story was. in fact,
printed In the May 20, 1961, issue of the
Post under the caption "The Report the
President Wanted Published." Sub-
sequently, there were many more articles
about Father Hoa, including another
article in the Saturday Evening Post and
an article In Reader's Digest.
I was one of the first to urge that we
give unconditional support to General
Khanh. But General Khanh inherited
an exceedingly difficult situation. The
war Is still not going well for our side In
South Vietnam; and each fresh report of
Communist victories or of disorganiza-
tion on the Government side is made the
excuse for renewed demands that we get
out of Vietnam.
Against this background. I do not
think the Vietnamese Government can
afford the luxury of removing Father Hoa
and risking the loss of the Hai Yen area.
Their enemies, I am sure, will welcome
this move. Their friends will all be dis-
mayed by it.
I hope that the Vietnamese Govern-
ment will not delay too long before con-
firming to the public that the appoint-
ment of a military commander for the
Hal Yen sector does not mean that
Father Hoa is being removed or that he
Is being deprived of his authority.
Mr. President, I ask 1ous con-
sent to have printed at this point in the
Rxcoiw, the New York Times article of
April 28, 1964, entitled "Saigon Replaces
'Fighting Priest"'; the Saturday Evening
Post article of May 20, 1961, entitled
"The Report the President Wanted Pub-
lished": and the Reader's Digest article
of July 1963, entitled "The Fighting
Priest of South Vietnam."
There being no objection, the articles
were ordered to be printed in the Rzcoiln,
as follows:
(From the New York Times, Apr. 28. 1964)
SAIGON REPLACSs FIGHTING PRIEST-FATHER
HOA's PRIVATE ARMY Pox UNDER NEW COM-
MAND
(By Peter Grose)
SAIGON, South Vietnam, April 27.-A Ro-
man Catholic priest whose Irregular military
methods have carved out a safe haven for his
followers in the Communist-dominated
Cam au Peninsula, has been deprived of the
command of his private army.
A major of the South Vietnamese Army has
been named commander of Father Hao's area,
called the Hal You or Sea Swallows sector.
The sector, near the Gulf of Slam, has long
been a showplace, an example of what high-
ly motivated counterinsurgent operations
could accomplish against the Communist
guerrillas.
The appointment of the commander, Maj.
Chuong Chinh Quay, came quietly about 10
days ago. Father Boa confirmed today that
he had in effect been supplanted and might
have to leave Vietnam.
American officials who have strongly sup-
ported the priest's antiguerrilla activities ex-
pressed deep concern at what might happen
If his army was broken up.
Father Boa 'has made two trips to Saigon
to try to clarify the Government's intentions.
He said in an interview that he planned to
return to Hai Yen this week in hope of reach-
ing a working agreement with the new com-
mander.
Father Augustin Nguyen lac-Hoa holds no
formal military title or position at Hai Yen.
But in the absence of a regular army com-
mander, he has been military leader as well
as parish priest. His hope now is that, even
though an official commander is to be on the
spot, his unusual counterguerrilla tactics
and the strong loyalties he has established
will not be lost.
The Influence of Father Boa extends be-
yond his small sector. -Hal Yen, 15 miles
square, has 1,200 men under arms to defend
a population of 18.000. Most of the troops
are Chinese of the Nung tribe of North Viet-
nam, but two companies are completely Viet-
namese.
American military sources fear Hai Yen
would fall to the Vietcong in 6 months if
Father Hoa left.
FLED CHINA IN 1951
The husky 58-year-old priest has become
a symbol to Roman Catholics In Vietnam
and abroad. He fled Communist China with
several hundred followers in 1951, establish-
ing a home first in North Vietnam, then In
Cambodia and finally in 1959 in South Viet-
nam.
Poorly armed and led only by the priest,
who had commanded a battalion in the
Chinese Army, the immigrants cleared the
Vietcong from the sector and gradually won
the support of Vietnamese villagers.
With increasing publicity, the priest be-
came a controversial figure. There were
many who questioned his military skill-
he follows few traditional practices in fight-
ing the guerrillas. He also was supported
and admired by Ngo Dinh Diem when he was
President, which made him suspect by the
forces that opposed the Diem regime.
With the downfall and death of President
Diem last November, the priest's position be-
came shaky outside Hai Yen although the
people of the sector remained almost fanati-
cally loyal. In November, one of his fighting
companies was taken from his control and
in February, a second. Father Hoa retained
command of five companies.
UNCLEAR ON MOTIVES
Father Hoa is unclear about the reason
for and the intent of the-new government di-
rective. It conflicts with all organized groups
across the country.
Father Boa saw Premier Khanh 2 weeks
ago and was reported to have received full
assurance of support. Then came the ap-
pointment of an army major as battalion
commander, which Father Hoa had favored,
but with it a second appointment-the nam-
ing of another major as sector commander,
the post the priest had held in practice.
Some Americans believe- the order orig-
inated well below Premier Khanh, perhaps
with army commanders who have been hos-
tile.
American diplomats have been following
the situation closely and are said to be ready
to intercede at the highest level with the
Vietnamese Government if the new com-
mander attempts dispel the influence Father
Hoe wields in Hai Yen.
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From the Saturday Evening Post, May 20, caches and a forceful guerrila organization. Vietcong attack that would catch the village
iooij Vietnamese authorities recently estimated by surprise during midnight mass in the
THE REPORT THE igaESIDENT' W ANTED PUB- that 500 loyal villagers are killed every month town's small church, Quietly the self-
- in the fight against these guerrillas. But defense corps prepared a lure. They set up
(By an American officer) they say guerrilla casualties are even higher. generators and extra, lights to illuminate the
President Kennedy If other villages are resourceful as Binh church. Meanwhile, scouts moved out along
(A few weeks after Hung, this is probably true. the approaches to watch for the dreaded
took office, a report from an American Air Binh Hung is not an old village. After Vietcong.
Force officer in Vietnam crossed his White leading his flock of Christian refugees out While Father Boa sang the mass in the
of China and spending 7 difficult years fight- brightly lighted church, scouts scurried in
House disk. Ti was one of the dozens of
of vial documents the President reads every ing off jungle pirates and Communist guer- with reports of the approaching guerrillas.
day. The President picked it up, intend- rillas in Cambodia, Father Hoa got permis- Father Hoa paused to give the firing order.
lug to glance through it hurriedly-and sion from the Vietnamese Government to Mortar fire commenced. It was right on
settle on the. Camau Peninsula in 1959, target. The Vietcong fled with their
found himself reading with absorbed atten-
do officer-whose name, for professional When the refugees arrived with their house- wounded. A prisoner later said the guerrillas
(The hold goods, pigs, ducks, and seedlings, they believed the accuracy of the midnight mortar
reasons cannot be used-had visited a little wept at what they saw. "It is like a visit to fire achieved by sorcery.
village "in South Vietnam. The region he the moon," one of them said. In a rainy The villagers rarely wait so patiently to
visited has for years been controlled by Com- season the Camau area is a vast mud swamp be attacked. Self-defense soldiers move out
monist guerrillas. Yet the people of the tangled with mangrove and laced by a com- into the surrounding area to strike the guer-
village, determined to live their own lives in nlex of rivers, streams, and canals. In the rillas when Vietcong troop concentrations are
ai
t the i h
l
i
h
t d
ns
had held out ag
their own way, Communists despite heavy and continual
casualties.
(When it came to the President's desk, the
report was" classified. But behind the official
language of the report, the President saw a
story of human valor and dedication to free-
dom, a reminder that communism is not the
wave of the future. It was a story, he felt,
that many people ought to read, and he
wrote .a memorandum suggesting that the
report would make "an excellent article for
a magazine like the Saturday Evening Post.
I would like to see this type-of material have
good distribution, as'it shows -what can be
done," ,,The substance of the report is pub-
lished herewith.-THE EDITORS.}
The adage, "Eternal vigilance is the price
df liberty," is just practical realism to the
free, people of Binh Hung Village. These
1,200 settlers, most of them expatriates
from Communist China who have wandered
for years through southeast Asia In search
of a haven, are in daily combat with Com-
munist Vietcong guerrillas. It is a deadly
little war.
Last January, President Ngo Dinh Diem of
South Vietnam arranged for me to visit the
village. When I arrived, members of the
small self-defense corps, which protects Binh
.Hung from the guerrilla raiders, were drawn
up smartly in military formation. I was
startled and deeply touched. Many of them
raised their hands in a familiar three-fingered
salute. They . were former. Soy scouts,
and.-It was the only military gesture they
knew., Something else about them was far
more impressive. These volunteer soldiers
were cheerful, despite the certain knowledge
that before, another year is out two-thirds of
them probably will be killed in action.
The leader of Binh Hung village is' the
Rev. Nguyen Loc Hoa, a stocky, bespectacled
Catliloic, priest who was once a lieutenant
colonel in the Chinese Nationalist Army. He
led the group-originally 375 settlers--out of
South China, into Cambodia and finally to
the mud flats and mangrove' swamps of
South Vietnam, where their settlement has
more than tripled in size. When I asked
Father 116a why his self-defense soldiers vol-
unteered for so bleak a life andalmost cer-
tain death, he smiled warmly and replied,
"Man was born to do something."
While this is only'a tiny facet of the fight
of free men against communism, perhaps
Some of the things I heard and s-aw at Binh
Hung will interest other men who may some-
day face Communist guerrillas in combat.
The village is located near the southern tip
of Vietnam on the Camau Peninsula. This,
area, nominally governed by the pro-West
ern, democratic government of South Viet-
nam, ,.. _
nam, has been domi.natect'by Communist
,
guerrillas for more ' than 15 years. When
Vietnam was divided under the Geneva
Agreement of 1054, the Communist Viet Mix}h
forces in the south chose the Camau region
as their regroupment and departure area.
Reportedly they left behind large. arms
cracked clay makes the whole area look like
a dried-up mud puddle. But the waterways
teem with fish, and rice grows profusely. So
the refugees erected Binh Hung village.
They wanted to build their houses in a
long, thin line strung out along a canal.
But the battle-wise Father Hoa, with an
eye on the threat of guerrilla attack from
strongholds in the surrounding mangrove
forests, planned the settlement in a com-
pact, defendable square, bisected by the
canal. Around it he put a low mud wall
dotted with lookout points which are
manned night and day. Beside each lookout
post hangs a decativated artillery shell to be
hammered as an alarm signal when the Viet-
cong attack.
For 3 months in 1959 Binh Hung was
peaceful. Then the Vietcong guerrillas at-
tacked. Lacking weapons, the settlers fought
back with Boy Scout staves and knives. It
seems almost incredible, but when the Viet-
cong struck, the weapon-poor villagers
promptly counterattacked. They had to
close with the enemy quickly to make their
knives and staves effective. The Binh Hung
villagers lost a few men, but they captured
several American-made M-1 rifles and a
Browning automatic rifle from the guerrilas.
From that time on, the attacks were in-
cessant. Father Hoa knew that knives and
staves supplemented by a few rifles and a
BAR were no match for guerrilla firepower.
He appealed to President Ngo Dinh Diem and
got funds-$12 per month per man-and a
scattering of . weapons for a 300-man self-
defense force. The weapons, some of them
predating World War I and as varied as the
armies of the world, were left over from
stockpiles taken from the Binh Xuyen, a
private army of racketeers and adventurers
which the government disarmed in 1955.
Father Hoa would have liked American weap-
ons, but U.S. military aid cannot be given
legally to such an irregular force,
Father Boa searched throughout free Viet-
nam for experienced guerrilla fighters. He
promised them a life of hardship with fre-
quent combat, little pay and probable death.
Gradually he recruited 300, Officers and
men received the same pay. When I visited
Binh Hung, the force had grown to 340 "reg-
ulars" and 80 recruits in training. Father
Hoa pays the extra 40 "regulars" out of his
own pocket. The 80 recruits get nothing,
only food from the village.
Friends of Father Hoa told me he is deeply
in debt for the pay and supplies he gives the
self-defense corps.
Although they get virtually nothing in re-
turn for defending Binh Hung, the corpsmen
are tough and canny fighters. And they
make the most of their limited wapons.
The heaviest of these are 2 mortars,_ a 60
millimeter and an 81-millimeter, which have
been calibrated to zero-in all the approaches
an attacker can use against the village.
Last `L"liristmas-Eve the Binh Hung villag-
ers received intelligence reports predicting a
n sears
a
y
discovered. Patrols pus
ou
of the Communist forces.
. While watching one patrol move out from
the village into the surrounding mud, I was
struck by their strange shuffling gait. In-
stead of walking they moved forward with a
sliding motion, as if they were ice-skating.
A villager explained. The men were literally
feeling with their toes for a simple but ef-
fective weapon-the common nail-planted
in the mud by the Vietcong. Most of the
self-defense corps casualties are foot wounds
caused by these barbed, 6-inch iron nails,
clustered in flat boards and buried, point up,
beneath the surface of the mud. They are
a modern version of the sharpened bamboo
stakes used for centuries in Asia to trap un-
wary enemy soldiers. Thousands of these
nail boards are planted as crude "mine fields"
around Vietcong positions, When attacked,
the guerrillas try to direct their fire' in such
a way as to force their attackers into the nail
fields. A favorite guerrilla trick is to make
footprints in molds of mud, dry them and
plant them in the nail fields to make at-
tackers tackers think they have found a safe path-
way.
Lucky members of the self-defense corps
have rubber-soled sneakers which they equip
with inner soles of thin iron sheeting to
guard against nail wounds. But with con-
stant wear In the sometimes waist-deep mud,
the canvas and rubber shoes last only about
a month. Most of the troops go barefoot.
Not long ago the self-defense corps of Binh
Hung village attacked a Vietcong village in
the mangrove forest 4 miles to the south.
There they captured kegs containing some
30,000 nails. Now they have their own "nail
fields" around Binh Hung. Some of the nail
boards are boobytrapped. The villagers
leave a corner of the board sticking up, as if
it were buried too hastily. When a thought-
less guerrilla picks it up, he pulls the pin of
an attached hand grenade.
The nails played a part in another Christ-
mas Eve battle. Binh Hung soldiers had
gone out to intercept 100 Vietcong guer-
rillas reported to be in a nearby village. As
they approached the enemy group, eight of
of the Binh Hung men stepped on nails. Out
of action, they passed all weapons except
knives to their comrades, then lay down in
the swamp to wait until the fighting ended.
The battle 'surged back and forth across the
area. Finally some Vietcong guerrillas came
across the eight men lying in the swamp.
Since the eight were dressed in black like
local peasants, the guerrillas mistook them
for some of their own wounded and ap-
proached closely. The eight jumped the
mistaken Vietcong and killed them all, cap-
turing their weapons.
As they recounted this story to me later,
the Binh Hung men showed pride. "In a
war," one of them said, "you don't get many
Stories like this."
Both sides use an odd assortment of weap-
ons, in this smoldering guerrilla war. The
most prized gun on. either side is the Amer-
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scan BAR, and the next best Is the U.S. M-1
rifle. The guerrillas apparently get theirs
by ambushing regular South Vietnam Army
troops equipped under the U.S. military-aid
program. The Irregular defense forces, such
as that at Binh Hung village, get their Amer-
lean weapons by ambushing the Vietcong
guerrillas. In addition, both sides have old
French Lebel rifles, homemade rifles and pis-
tols, hand-forged long knives and crude gre-
nades.
Jungle arsenals turn out some of these
homemade weapons for the Vietcong. They
are tiny gun shops, usually only a but
equipped with anvil and forge, run by a
blacksmith and two helpers Who produce
about five weapons a day. Cast-iron mines
are made In earth molds, then fitted with
homemade detonators. Some of the weap-
ons are Ingenious. I saw one landmine made
of three mortar shells. A .60-caliber rifle
was made of a bamboo tube which had been
salt-hardened. In one rifle the firing pin
was activated by rubber bands, like the zip
gun of a young gangster. The barrel of one
normally useless flare pistol had been stuffed
with iron filings, then rebored to fire a .38-
dkliber bullet. The long knives used on both
sides are two-handed machetes, like Japa-
nese samurari swords fashioned out of old
automobile or truck springs. They are kept
razor sharp. Vietcong guerrillas, armed with
these vicious knives, usually carry two hand
grenades as well. In an attack they throw
the grenades, then close in quickly with the
knives for hand-to-hand combat. The guer-
rillas also make dummy weapons, such as
imitation U.S. carbines, with which to fright-
en villagers or give an Illusion of greater
strength in combat.
In battle the Vietcong have the traditional
aggressor's advantage. They know the ter-
rain of the Camau Peninsula intimately and
cleverly use it for their favorite tactic, the
ambush. Father Hoa told me that when
ambushed his soldiers have been taught
never to take defensive positions. By doing
as they would only be playing the enemy's
game. The Vietcong choose their ambush
ground so carefully that any retreat or de-
fensive stance inevitably puts you in a poor
position. An Immediate counterattack on
the ambushers is the smartest tactic. Father
Boa says he got the Idea from Japanese
operations against Chinese guerrillas in Can-
ton in 1943. The Japanese sent cavalry along
with their infantry units. When the in-
fantry was ambushed. the cavalry im-
mediately attacked.
A favorite ambush technique of the Com-
munists is to permit a Binh Hung patrol to
go through their territory and then, when
the patrol turns back relaxed and confident,
jump them. The self-defense soldiers were
fresh from one such ambush on January
3. They drew a map to diagram It for me.
A company of Binh Hung men had fanned
out along both sides of the river to escort a
boat taking Father Boa to the village of
Camau so that he could catch a bus for
Saigon. After dropping Father Hoa, the
homeward-bound boat sailed straight into
an ambush. Guerrillas, concealed in mud
and swampland on either side of the river
north of Binh Hung, opened fire with three
machineguns. Everyone aboard was killed
But the Communists had failed to notice the
nearby escort company of self-defense
troops. As soon as the machinegun firing
began, the Binh Hung men attacked the
ambushers. The surprised enemy fled, leav-
ing behind 60 dead, including an officer who
wore a U.S. steel helmet and carried an
American carbine and a Red flag. The Binh
Hung force lost 17 killed and 7 wounded.
To keep track of the elusive guerrillas in
the dense- mangrove forests, the Binh Hung
villagers have set up a small but first-rate
Intelligence system. Four self-defense corps
agents have managed to slip into the forest
and feed back a steady stream of fairly ac-
curate information on locations of Commu-
nist movements. One agent even managed
a complete tour of the Vietcong area and
can pinpoint locations of Vietcong bases and
armories. Daily intelligence reports are
passed along by the Binh Hung villagers to
the Vietnamese Government's Fifth Military
Region In Cantho. All such communica-
tions are transmitted in Morse code over
crude, homemade radio sets. The villagers
think voice radio sets are foolish in guer-
rilla warfare. One of them demonstrated
for my benefit by imitating a soldier sbout-
ing, "alto, 'alto" into a microphone, then
getting shot by the Vietcong because his
voice gave away his position.
The radio reports sometimes help reg-
ular Vietnamese military forces to coordi-
nate attacks against the guerrillas. Not long
ago when a Vietcong base was spotted, the
Vietnamese Air Force was called in to co-
ordinate an air-ground attack with the Binh
Hung village defense force. Lacking gro-and-
to-air radios, the villagers fired a signal flare
to tell the air force planes when they were
ready to launch the attack. As the planes
swooped In to bomb and strafe the guerrilla
base, the Binh Hung ground soldiers struck
hard and successfully. This was the raid
in which they captured the hoard of 80,000
nails. The coordinated attack made them
feel like part - of a big team. It was - a tre-
mendous morale booster.
Not all of the Binh Hung defense force's
Intelligence comes from planted agents in
the forest. Like big-game hunters, they
sometimes stake out bait as a lure to the
Vietcong guerrillas, who must rely on what
they capture and on occasional visits by
Communist smugglers for their supplies.
Penicillin. eureomycin and kerosene are in
constant demand among guerrilla units.
Knowing this. the Binh clung self-defense
corps recently "staked out" a supply of
aureomycin with a friendly storekeeper in a
nearby village. Vietcong troops, posing as
Innocent peasants. came out of the forests to
buy it. When they returned to their secret
bases, Binh Hung men trailed them.
Although it seems incongruous for a vil-
lage of 1,200 people to, have its own army.
Binh Hung is In the process of stretching
the Incongruity still further by creating its
own navy and marine corps. The villagers
worried for some months over the unguarded
coast of the Gulf of Siam nearby. With typi-
cal resourcefulness Father Hoa got the finan-
cial backing of patriotic merchants in Cholon
and acquired two 88-ton fishing trawlers.
Former Chinese marines and sailors who are
now Vietnamese citizens have been recruited
to serve without pay on the two boats, which
will be armed for coastal patrol. When the
boats are not patrolling, they will fish com-
mercially. The volunteer sailers and marines
will get their pay by sharing in the profits
from the fish they catch.
The extraordinary spirit which shapes such
ventures is reflected In the morale of the
Binh Hung self-defense troops. It is ex-
tremely high. And although one thinks of
remote villagers In a primitive land as dwell-
Ing behind a natural curtain of ignorance,
the self-defense troopers are remarkably well
informed. They like to see USIA fllm, al-
though when I visited them they were dis-
appointed because the village movie projec-
tor was broken. A steadier flow of informa-
tion comes to them from daily Voice of Amer-
ica broadcasts and from the Free Pacific
Press, which beams Vietnamese-language
broadcasts and publishes newspapers and
magazines In English, Chinese and Vietnam-
ese from Cholon. The troops spend 2 hours
every day discussing the meaning of the
news. Afterward there is a lively discussion
of a single political subject.
Two months before my visit the troops
started talking about "What Freedom Means
to Me." They were still going strong on the
subject when I left. The light in their eyes
April 30
when they talked about freedom showed that
it was not mere oratory. Freedom is precious
to them, a personal thing. This apparently
is what gives themconfidence that they will
defeat the Vietcong guerrillas. and a greater
confidence that free men everywhere will win
out against communism. Repeatedly they
asked me for assurance that the United States
would stand firm In its policy in Asia, and
particularly in Laos.
In an attempt to combat this spirit, the
Vietcong aim a steady drumfire of Commu-
nist propaganda at Binh Hung village.
Barges carrying portable loudspeakers are
floated close to the village to broadcast that
communism to the "wave of the future" and
that the "corrupt" government of Ngo Dinh
Diem will soon be overthrown. A few
months ago the Binh Hung villagers captured
one of these floating propaganda barges.
Much to the consternation of the Vietcong,
they relndoctrinated the captive propagan-
dist, put him back on his barge and now
have him broadcasting anti-Communist mes-
sages to the Vietcong guerrillas.
The villagers have turned another Com-
munist propaganda trick back upon, the
guerrillas with the same forcefulness. One
of the Vietcong's favorite calling cards is a
propaganda poster affixed to a stick and
propped up In the mudflat near the village.
To underscore their message, the guerrillas
frequently boobytrap these propaganda post-
ers by planting explosives in the mud be-
neath the stick. The Binh Hung people
clear out the propaganda posters occasion-
ally, but never do the dangerous job them-
selves.
Instead, they march the 60 Communist
guerrillas they have captured out of the cen-
tral stockade in which they are imprisoned.
After a lecture on the evil minds of the Viet-
cong leaders, the prisoners are warned about
the particularly vicious habit of boobytrap-
ping propaganda posters. Then they are
sent out to the mudflats to clear away the
possibly lethal posters. The lesson Is some-
times cruel, but it has a noticeable effect on
the political outlook of Dome of the prisoners.
The maximum-security compound where
the male prisoners are kept-two women
prisoners are held separately-is surrounded
by part of the self-defense corps' bivouac.
This provides the Binh Hung soldiers with
another occasion for getting political les-
sons across to their captives. Each day when
the soldiers have their daily news discus-
sions they speak in loud voices so the pris-
oners can hear, too. The soldiers grin and
say this "brainwashing" is good for their
captives.
When I was preparing to leave Binh Hung,
these same grinning soldiers clustered around
the village helicopter landing pad to say
goodby. They predicted that with the dry
season starting, the Vietcong guerrillas
would be able to move about more freely.
"It will really be war now," one of them said.
Another hoped the Vietcong would need
help and would send for Chinese Communist
cadres to bolster the guerrilla forces. "It
would be good to get them in our sights,"
he said. We shook hands In parting. "Next
year," said one of the smiling troopers, "you
will see somebody else here. Two hundred
of us will be dead then."
They drew up in a smart military forma-
tion as the helicopter's blades started rotat-
ing. Then they saluted. It was the three-
fingered Boy Scout salute again.
{From Reader's Digest, July 19631
THE FIGHTING PRIEST OF SOUTH VIETNAM
(By Dickey Chapelle)
(Reporter-photographer Dickey Chapelle
has been covering the world's hottest trou-
ble spots since World War II. In 1962 she
received the Overseas Press Club's George
Polk Memorial Award, "for her coverage of
the fighting in Vietnam, during which she
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rhWr_, l`FCCTONAT. RF.CoR1 - SENATE
mane several parachute 'jumps into enemy
territory.")
It was from a handful of American pro-
fessional fightin , men that T first heard the
priest's name. 'On' 'that night in 1961, a dy-
ing campfire deep in a South Vietnam jungle
flickered on their sunburned faces as they
discussed a subsject that interested all of
ahem: to fine. mho was the toughest
man they had esver`known7 Names were sug-
gested and discussed. Finally, a veteran
paratrooper said, "Nobody is tougher than
rather Boa!'
They all nodded. I was puzzled. A man
of the cloth, spoken of in this way? Later,
when I came to know this soldier-priest of
South Vietnam, I could only agree.
My first `glimpse of Father' Augustin Ngu-
yen lac-Tina was from a Vietnamese air-force
helicopter. We were on our way to the vil-
lage of Binh Hung, at the southernmost tip
of South Vietnam; and we had been lost in
monsoon Clouds for an hour. The ricefields
below &,ffered, a landing, but this area, we
knew, was a stronghold of Vietcong (COm-
nlilnist)' terrorists. 'At last a shred of mist
slipped away, and there in the distance was
a wall-enclosed "village. On. the brown-
earth patch beside it'we saw a tall figure en-
ergetically waving a white wind sock. Be-
hind, him green-clad soldiers stood motion-
less in straight ranks
As soon as we, touched down the tall man
ran toward us 'fhia was Father Hoa, Be
was almost 6 feet tail,' and his- shoulders
reached.two eye-jumps across His wide
sanootll face with gently slanted gray eyes
beamed.
"Where did you think you were going?"
he shouted in fi 'epc,h to te pilot. As the
flier climbed down, the tall priest embraced
him and pounded delightedly on his back.
Orinniog, he wrung the arm of another pas-
songer,` to whom he spoke in Vietnamese.
Then as I was Introduced he tucked "both
Iny hands into one of his and boomed in
English, "Welcome, my daughter. It is good
that you come to see our army."
At twilight the helicopter took off for
Saigon, some 590 miles north, But I did not
go with it. Father IIIoa had 'given me per-
mission to stay for 'a time. In the next 5
Weeks I got to know-Binh Hung and its peo-
ple, the vigilante army, the enemy, and
Father. H the soldier-priest.
Father oa-the name is pronounced Wah
and means "to make happy"-was born in
China, the eldest son of a Cantonese fisher-
man, ` Handling little boats iii the'turbulent
East China`"Sea was the first skill he ac-
quired.. But he also earned the rare chance
,to finish the provincial high school, and de-
clded to become a Catholic priest.
In the fall of 1937,. when he was 20 he
was given" a parish in the district ruled by
Wong to Tsai, most infamous river pirate in
south China. No priest`' lasted long there.
Father Boa's first act was to present himself
boldly at Wong's stronghold and offer to
teach his five sons. , The pirate's reply was
to order his henchmen to guarantee the
priest's safety. In time he extended protec-
tion to three new village schools founded
and run by Father Hoa.
Like many other Chinese clergymen who
had to move unarmed through countryside
alive with cutthroats, Faer Hoa had
learned certain jujitsu tricks of self-defense.
He taught these to the sons of" "the bandit
chief to gain their confidence, and went
on to teach them other things-while gain-
ing from them some knowledge of weapons
anti informal military tactics.-
In 1939 China drafted all the eldest sons
in the,,. province of Canton to fight Japan.
Since the Chinese Army had no chaplain sys-11 tem, priests went into uniform as combat
soldiers, Father Boa among them. It was
10 years before he took off his uniform-
then it bore the lotus-blossom insignia' of
a colonel. He put on his cassock again, but
he wasn't given much time to preach in
peace.
In 1949 the Red tide overran Canton.
Priests were a special target, and the local
Communist commander sent an ultimatum
to Father Hoa: flee or die. From this arose
a crisis of character in the priest's life. He
tasted cowardice, and fled. Taking the train
to Haiphong, nearest city in French Indo-
china, he presented himself to his ecclesias-
tical superior.
"What are you doing here?" the bishop
asked. "Why are you not among your peo-
ple?"
"I would hardly be useful to my people
dead," the priest said.
"Nor are you useful to them here," came
the answer. "And they have never needed
you more than in this hour. Your place is
with them."
Shame scalded Father Boa. He could not
raise his eyes, until he felt the bishop's hand
on his shoulder. "My son, never fear death.
Since man has lived, who has not died?"
It was a different Father Hoa who returned
to his parish-a man ready to die. But the
Communist commander did not kill him; he
arrested and confined him. From that year's
imprisonment was born the man who today
captures the imagination of all who know
him.
In prison Father Hoa developed a plan for
his people. Then he escaped, making his way
in a small fishing craft to Indochina. There
he set to work on his plan. To assure that
he remained among his parishioners as the
bishop had ordered, be would help them
escape out of Red China to him. By 1951
more than 200 families from his old parish
had been ferried in junks across the China
Sea to non-Communist soil.
But now, as the cloud of war against
France shadowed this new land, Father Boa
led his parishioners down the length of the
Indochinese peninsula-the distance from
New York to Miami-into Cambodia, where
he found work for them tapping rubber
trees. Still, peace eluded them. After Dien
Bien Phu fell, Communists began to infil-
trate Cambodia. When the local government
recognized Red China, in late 1956, the legal
position of these escapees grew precarious.
Searching desperately for a place to settle
his people, Father Hoa appealed to Saigon,
where the fledgling anti-Red government of
South Vietnam was in the throes of a nation-
wide land reform. President Ngo Dinh Diem
asked the priest if his people would clear and
work unused land in a remote area. And so,
on March 17, 1959, the wanderers reached the
site of Binh Hung.
The land lay under a foot of water, and
hordes of mosquitoes swarmed over its fetid
surface. The negt morning Father Boa sent
the young men to the village of Tan Hung
Tay, 6 miles distant, to find out how habita-
tions could be built in this trackless swamp.
Just after sundown the young men returned
with this message: To raise a plot above
water level, a block of the clay beneath the
water must be cut out, lifted up and set in
place where the worker had stood to dig.
Then a second block is cut and piled on the
first, and so on.
It was backbreaking labor; but in a dozen
weeks, with each man, woman, and child
working in water almost every hour of day-
light, Binh Hung village was raised from the
mud. Two hundred houses of bamboo and
jungle reed stood in four parallel rows; a
canal spanned by a wooden bridge served
as the central thoroughfare. One festive
twilight a great gold banner, the flag of
South Vietnam, was unfurled from the bridge
to signalize the end of the trek. After
years of statelessness, these peasants again
had a place of their own, beyond the reach
of the organized Chinese communism they
had fled.
The proud people of Binh Hung planned
to seal their new allegiance by voting for the
9327
anti-Communist government. Balloting In
the national election was to be held the
next day in Tan Hung Tay. Vietcong agents
warned them not to make the journey, but
they could not believe that these local Reds
were as evil as those in Canton-and in any
case wasn't it the duty of free people to vote?
In the morning every adult of Binh Hung
set out for the polls with Father Hoa at their
head. The older children were left to look
after the younger ones. A few hours later,
is the villagers gathered at Tan Hung Tay,
a man came running, shouting, "The Com-
munists have murdered a child in Binh
Hung."
Father Hoa's people started in a rush for
home, but the priest's voice thundered:
"Stop. Whatever has happened has hap-
pened. The Communists have done their
evil. Now let us not do their bidding. Each
of you will return only after you have cast
your vote." As a woman sobbed, he added,
"It is the fear of death in our hearts that
gives the enemy his strength. Never fear
death. Since man has lived, who has not
died?"
His people voted, then made their way
back to their village. The body of Ah Fong,
an 11-year-old boy, hung from a bamboo
cross in front of his home. A placard on it
read: "This can happen to all your chil-
dren." It was in this way that Father Hoa's
people learned that their new land, too, was
infested with Red terrorists.
The men of Binh Hung set up their first
defenses, with logs for obstacles and fish-
ing knives for weapons. The Vietnamese
county chief, Capt. Nguyen Khue, "lent"
them six old French rifles; later he agreed
to serve as tactical commander. President
Diem acknowledged the little vigilante army
and gave it a name: the Army of the
Sea Swallow, after a black heron of the
delta. The force was supplied with old
rifles, confiscated from disbanded pirate
gangs.
Outwardly, the Sea Swallows are no dif-
ferent from hundreds of other vigilante
forces fighting the Vietcong. But there is
something in the spirit of this little band
which has made it a legend in embattled
South Vietnam. The thing that sets the
Sea Swallows apart is that they are fully on
the offensive. They are through with run-
ning, and their new spirit and new tactics
are giving them the taste of victory. Father
Boa has taught them that no one can hope
to win by standing still. He drills into them
the necessity for foraying out, always out,
night and day in any weather, waylaying
and counterambushing Red raiders in field
and jungle. By the time I arrived in
Binh Hung, every man in the village had
become a full-time aggressive fighting man.
The original few hundred Chinese-born
Sea Swallows are constantly being augmented
by Vietnamese from all over the country-
mountaineers from the central highlands,
rice farmers from other delta provinces, es-
capees from Red-ruled North Vietnam. One
day I heard Father Boa address 74 newly en-
listed fighters. "You have joined us, my
sons, and you will not live 3 years. But your
death will be a hallowed thing, unlike the
death of cowards, for it will be for the free-
dom of all peoples. And before it comes,
you will have the chance to kill many of the
enemy."
Next morning, Sea Swallows who had just
finished their 8-week training were ordered
out on their first operation. I went with
them. Eventually, I accompanied nine Sea
Swallow operations. One moonlit night I
was with a unit which surprised a Vietcong
raiding party. The Communists fled in a hail
of bullets, carrying four dead. Another
night it was an around-the-clock ambush to
cut off Vietcong "tax collectors" coming to
loot a coastal hamlet. Often there were
casualties, but always there were more enemy
dead, wounded or taken prisoner than we
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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - SENATE April 30
lost. And always the safe area around the munication which I feel should not be per-
village was a little bigger than before. mitted to stand unchallenged.
This is what Father Hoa and his Sea Swal- A large part of your memorandum is con-
lows ae doing. They have tasted slavery ' cerned with the legal and conetltutlona: In-
and found it bitter. Now they are enlarging tricacies of the conflict between the two
the area of freedom in the world. Who can Serbian Orthodox groups in this country.
serve a greater cause? Another portion of your memorandum Is de-
ACTIVITY IN THIS COUNTRY BY
CLERGYMEN FROM IRON CUR-
TAIN COUNTRIES
Mr. DODD. Mr. President, as my col-
leagues will recall, I took the floor in
July 1963 to announce that I had asked
the Senate Subcommittee on Internal
Security to look into the increasing rash
of activity in this country by clergymen
from the Iron Curtain countries. Among
other things, I said that there was rea-
son for concern over the obvious efforts
that were being made by the Orthodox
Church authorities in the Soviet Union,
Rumania, Bulgaria, Albania, and Yugo-
slavia, to enhance the degree of hier-
archical control that they exercise at
present over the corresponding national
communities of the Orthodox faith in
this country.
The preliminary staff investigation has
already uncovered evidence which I con-
sider to be most significant, and it is
my earnest expectation and my earnest
hope that the subcommittee would
shortly be able to embark on hearings
so that this evidence may be made pub-
lic.
In the case of the Serbian Orthodox
Church, a split has developed between
those who favor accepting the hierarchi-
cal Jurisdiction of the Belgrade Synod
and those who telleve that the Serbian
Orthodox Church communities in the
free world should not be under the hier-
archical control of the Belgrade Synod.
Certain of those who favor retaining re-
lations with the Belgrade Synod have
issued statements to the effect that I
have been unfair to them or that I have
prejudged them. I felt thatsome of the
statements that have been circulated so
seriously misrepresent by own position
and are so far from the facts that an
answer was warranted.
'Mr. President, I ask unanimous con-
sent to have printed in 'the RECORD at
the conclusion of my remarks, the text
of a reply I have recently written to Mr.
Robert Stone of Pittsburgh, and- the text
of the long letter which Mr. Stone had
circulated in many thousands of copies
around the country, which I felt seri-
ously misrepresented my position on a
number of points.
There being no objection, the letters
were ordered to be printed in the RECORD,
as follows:
Mr. ROBERT It. STONE,
509 Plaza Building,
Pittsburgh, Pa.
DEAR Ma. STONE: I wish to acknowledge
receipt of your letter of January 28. to which
you attached a memorandum dated January
24, commenting on my remarks re the situ-
atton in the Serbian Orthodox Church. I
understand that this memorandum had been
reproduced and circulated throughout the
country before it reached my office. The
pressure of Senate activities has prevented
me from replying before this, but there are
several statements contained in your com-
voted to attacks on certain personalities be-
longing to the side which you oppose. With
these matters, I do not intend to concern
myself for I believe that they are not the
concern of the Senate subcommittee.
The purpose of this letter Is limited to set-
ting the record straight on my conversation
with the three bishops and with you.
(I) To avoid the possibility of any misun-
derstanding. I had prepared a written reply
to the communication I had received from
the three bishops This reply I gave to them
In your presence. In doing so, I made It
emphatically clear that this was the only
statement I was authorizing for publication.
You may correct me on this point If my In-
formation Is Inaccurate but I have been in-
formed from a number of sources that, to this
day, those associated with you have nowhere
reprinted the entire text of my reply to the
three bishops, but have confined themselves
to quoting a few passages that they consid-
ered favorable to their own point of view.
(2) Your letter again repeats the assertion
that our investigation appears to be directed
in the first Instance against the Serbian
Orthodox Church. Not only Is this state-
ment false, but It files in the face of my
written reply to the three bishops and of
my oral reaffirmation In the course of our
conference, that our Investigation would not
be limited to the Serbian Orthodox Church,
but will delve deeply into the entire question
of church and state In the Communist coun-
tries and into the accumulating evidence,
that the Communists have been seeking to
use the ties that exist between religious
denominations In their own countries and
the corresponding religious denominations in
the United States as an Instrument for in-
fluencing American public opinion or, more
crudely, as an instrument of propaganda.
Let me quote what I said In reply to the
three bishops:
"The contemplated Investigation will not
be confined to the Serbian Orthodox commu-
nity. There Is a larger problem here that
Involves the entire relationship between
church and state in the Soviet Union and
In the Communist bloc countries. Prelim-
inary documentation and evidence strongly
suggests that these churches function to a
very large degree under the control of their
Communist governments: and It establishes
beyond any doubt that many ranking clergy-
men of these countries have taken political
positions on Cuba, on the peace movement.
etc. that can only be construed as supporting
Moscow. One of the matters that we shall
endeavor to assess is bow pervasive this con-
trol is. We are also Interested in determin-
Ing the significance for America, from a secu-
rity standpoint, when religious authorities
who themselves must function under the
control of partial control of Communist gov-
ernments, in turn exercise direct hlerarchi-
cal control over church communities in this
count"..,
I know that all religions are persecuted in
Communist countries. including the Ortho-
dox religion. I know that within each reli-
gion there are marytrs and collaborators, and
a much larger body of religious faithful who
have been obliged to make compromise that
are distasteful to them in a desperate effort
to keep their religion alive.
I do not presume to judge those who have
felt obliged to make such compromises. But
I question whether the beat Interests of the
United States are served when clerical au-
thorities who must somehow accommodate
themselves to the Communist state as a con-
dition of survival, tour the United states,
systematically visiting all the parishes of
their respective national religious commu-
nities.
I question whether the beat interests of
the United States are served when a Czecho-
slol'ak cleric informs an ecumenical confer-
ence in the United States that "The essence
of communism Is to build up the classless
society to where people are all equal. The
Christian should agree with this, Thus we
Christians greatly support communism"
I also have serious doubts whether hier-
archical control of American church com-
munities exercised from any Communist
country does not contain an element of
risk --end I say this without in any way,
reflecting on the patriotism of the many
Americans of the orthodox faith who still ac-
cept the hierarchial jurisdiction of their
traditional patriarchates in Moscow or Bu-
charest or Sofa or Tirana or Belgrade.
Not only will the Serbian Orthodox Church
not be the sole object of our investigation,
but, because of the status of our preliminary
research, the chances are at this juncture
that the first Investigation will relate to the
churches of another Comm un tat-controlled
nation.
(3) Your letter states: "All three bishops
without reservation were prepared at that
moment to be questioned by Senator DODD
or his staff. This was not done." The clear
implication of this statement is that I re-
fused to give the bishops a hearing.
The fact is, on the contrary, that I as-
sured the bishops In my letter to them that
they "will be given every opportunity to
present their point of view to the Senate
Subcomittee on Internal Security." The
fact is, further, that I assured them that Mr.
David Martin, Investigations analyst for the
Senate Subcommittee on Internal 'Security
would, in the early future, meet them In
Chicago or elsewhere, to receive preliminary
depositions from them and such documents
as they might wish to submit for the consid-
eration of the Senate Subcommittee on In-
ternal Security.
Mr. Martin has thus far been unable to
make the trip because of other duties but
It is my expectation that he will be able
to visit Chicago and the West Coast within
the coming 2 weeks.
(4) Your letter strongly implies that I
have instigated an investigation of the Ser-
bian Orthodox Church because I am a Catho-
lic and prejudiced against the orthodox
faith. I resent this Implication particular-
ly. I believe this groundless insinuation is
completely negated by my entire record of
public life and by my consistant opposition
to all forms of bigotry whether racial, na-
tional or religious.
You seek to draw a parallel between the
hierarchical jurisdiction exercised by religi-
ous authorities In Communist countries over
religious communities in the disapora and
the, hierarchical control exercised by the
Vatican over Catholic cardinals and bishops.
I believe that any reasonable person, irre-
spective of their religious beliefs, should Im-
mediately we the difference between these
two situations. The hierarchical control
exercised by the Greek Patriarch over the
Greek Orthodox community in this coun-
try, for example, poses absolutely no prob-
lem from a security standpoint because
Greece is a free country, free of communist
control. Conversely, although such a sup-
position Is completely hypothetical, if the
Yugoslav Catholic Church were organized in
such a manner that It retained hierarchical
control over Yugoslav Catholic communities
in this country, I would have precisely the
same reservations about such a setup as I
have. expressed In the case of the various
orthodox church communities.
(5) Your letter ostensibly quoting Sena-
tor HUGH Score's office states that "the Sub-
committee on Internal Security has never
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