South Vietnamese Air Force pilot Chieu Le recalls the night a fellow soldier shared a secret, one that would change their friendship forever.
“We had a talk from the wing commander. He came to the officer’s club and he said, “We are going to defend Can Tho!”
“Can Tho at that time was still in good shape and sometimes called the West Capitol. So he said, “We were going to defend the West Capitol!” We were 20 – 25 years old at that time, so we agreed, that was the thing to do.”
“That night we got shelled heavily, so we ran out to the trenches.”
You’ll be safe if you come home with me.
“I happen to be right next to my friend from the squadron and we were talking back and forth. He told me he knew the attack was coming and he said, “I think you can go home with me.”
He lived in Sa Đéc, a town not too far away. So he said, ” You come home with me!” I asked, “I’m going to go with you? What for?” He said, “You’ll be safe if you come home with me. My father is there. It’s a district with some officials who say they will guarantee your safety.” That was a hard moment, to be in that situation.”
Chieu Le’s friend had exposed himself as a VC infiltrator.
“I think to myself, I have my P38 and it’s dark. If I pull the pistol out he wouldn’t know. But, he’s sitting right next to me! I could just put the gun to his head and pull the trigger and he’ll be gone. But how do I answer in the morning? If the others in the squad know that the guy who jumped down in the trench with me was killed by me and if I say he’s an infiltrator, who’s going to believe me?”
if he moves to pull the trigger, I have to do it first
“Now if I tell him, no, I don’t want to go home with you because I don’t feel that is safe. He could do the same thing I thought I could do to him. He has his own P38, just like mine. He can put it to my head and pull the trigger. Maybe it’s easier for him, because tomorrow when he says he’s killed a pilot in our squadron, he’ll a get reward, because the VC are coming.”
“I thought for a while, still watching him, because if he moves to pull the trigger then I have to do it first. But then I thought of something…”
“I asked, can you go home at this hour? And he said yes, but wanted to know why. I said I’ll tell you why. We are friends right now. Even if I know you are VC, I cannot do anything to you because we are friends. Now, at least I can do something not dangerous, so I release you. I mean I won’t say anything. You just get your on your Honda. Then you go to Sa Đéc and say I send my regards to your dad. But, you have to leave now, because if you don’t, in five minutes…and I have my P38 out at this point…in five minutes, if you don’t leave this trench, I have to do what I must do.
So he jumped up, and it was lucky for me because I didn’t want to fight him.
He got on his Honda and he left. I haven’t heard from him since.