Buddhist Tribulation » Dharma Tribulation 1963: Did the army attack temples? VIETNAMESE TRANSLATE ENGLISH BY=VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=THE WOMEN OF THE SAKYA CLAN CHAN TANH. Lieutenant General Tran Van Don, acting Chief of the General Staff of the ARVN under Mr. Diem, in his memoirs “Witnesses of Vietnam”, Xuan Thu, USA, 1989, pages 171 to 179, he wrote at a time when almost every general , ARVN soldiers are still alive and mostly present in the United States: “General Le Van Ty (Commander of the General Staff of the ARVN - tqd) went to the US for medical treatment. On August 19, 1963, Mr. Diem appointed me as Acting Chief of the General Staff, and then Mr. Nhu ordered an attack on the pagoda to hold me and the army responsible. Of course, that incident caused public opinion at home and abroad to condemn the army, and I was the one who was in charge." On the afternoon of August 20, Mr. Ngo Dinh Nhu invited me, Acting Chief of General Staff, Major General Tran Thien Khiem, Chief of Staff, Major General Ton That Dinh, Saigon Army and Colonel Nguyen Van Y, General Director of the Company. An Police, to the Independence Palace ordered: "Tonight will arrest Communist monks". On the night of August 20, taking advantage of the curfew, the Independence Palace gave a private order to Colonel Le Quang Tung, the commander of the Special Forces, and Duong Van Hieu's Special Police, his Secret Service and Combat Police. Tran Van Tu, Director of the Do Thanh Police surrounded and attacked the pagodas in the city to arrest the Venerables, Venerables, Monks and Buddhists. Special Forces is an organization of the military, established in 1956, consisting of nearly 10 companies (120 people each), armed with the most advanced guns, well trained such as skydiving, swimming, raiding the enemy's back... A few of these Special Forces soldiers have ever parachuted to the North to operate, so they should be selected very carefully, requiring many standards. Colonel Le Quang Tung commanded this force. Hearing such an order to attack the temple, we knew that this would further degrade the regime, but we could not intervene. That night, Tran Thien Khiem and I watched at the General Staff on the police's own Motorola phone, so we knew this attack was under the general command of Colonel Le Quang Tung. Mr. Khiem and I took the car to Xa Loi Pagoda at about 1 o'clock at night. When I got to the place I saw the lights were still on, the police were still passing by. Entering the main hall, I took off my hat, and Mr. Khiem also took it off. The policemen, seeing this, also took off their hats and stood still. I ask: - Where are all the teachers? They said they led to Phu Nhuan, and the Most Venerable Thich Tinh Khiet was taken to Colonel Nguyen Van Y's intelligence agency. I ordered them to turn off the lights and close the door, so as not to desecrate the place of worship. After instructing us to leave, we went to Colonel Y's office. Mr. Y said that the Venerable Master was very tired, and had to be admitted to the Republic military hospital tomorrow morning. We left and went straight to Gia Long Palace. It was about 3 am. Meeting with Mr. Nhu, he ordered martial law. This order is intended to blame the army for attacking the temple, I understand what Mr. Nhu means but silently execute it. At 5 a.m., Mr. Diem gathered the Government Cabinet to present the matter. Right at that meeting, Foreign Minister Vu Van Mau resigned to protest the persecution of Buddhism by the Diem brothers. This resignation of Mother Mother caused a stir in the world, moved Buddhists, and people admired a man who had frankly renounced his position to protest against the unjust and brutal act. At that time, Mr. Tran Van Chuong was Ambassador of the Republic of Vietnam to the US, Ms. Chuong was an Observer for the Republic of Vietnam at the United Nations, noticing that the Ngo Dinh Diem brothers suppressed Buddhism, her daughter abetted. insolent statements that I could not dissuade, so both grandparents resigned. The resignation of Mr. Mau and Mr. and Mrs. Tran Van Chuong was a painful blow to the Ngo brothers. A curfew is to restrict night traffic, and martial law is to send troops out to guard the streets. Each is suitable for a situation, which martial law only applies when it is really dangerous for the country. Therefore, hearing the order of the Military Law, the generals were bewildered. On August 21, VOA reported that the army obeyed the President's orders to attack the temple. I didn't know how to correct the news with VOA, so I sent Captain Le Van Kham, my attaché, to invite Mr. Conein, a CIA officer who had known me since 1946 in Hanoi and was now on the corner of Cong Ly Street. and Nguyen Dinh Chieu came to the General Staff to meet me that night. Mr. Conein was afraid that I would set a trap, so he brought his own gun. At nine o'clock in the evening, Mr. Conein again, we said that the military was not involved in the attack on the temples as VOA had reported so that Mr. Conein would return to the US Ambassador. Mr. Conein asked: "Are the Vietnamese generals planning a coup?" I replied, "This is very important, I will talk about it later." Then Mr. Conein left. Two days later, VOA corrected it, stating that the Vietnamese army did not attack the pagoda. Mr. Nhu heard the news of this rectification and was very angry, forced the generals to gather (this is indeed a nepotist dictatorship, what else? - tqd), declared that he was behind the President and I had to go out. Nhat Linh said that the military was involved in that. I must obey. Obeying orders to call on the military to tighten ranks behind President Ngo's back is fine, but how can the soldiers and compatriots understand that they are trying to bring down a government that is being hated by the people! I ordered Captain Pham Van Tuy, a Christian who was working in my office, to draw up a daily order. With the same sentiment as me and understanding what I meant, Captain Tuy wrote the last paragraph that I was very satisfied with: The fight was very arduous, testing our sacrifices for the cause and the country. We must resolutely maintain our will and take the initiative in all areas of struggle. I (“I” here is Lieutenant General Acting Chief of General Staff Tran Van Don – tqd) have always been by your side. Have absolute confidence in the final victory. The press at that time was displeased with the actions of Mr. Ngo Dinh Diem and Ngo Dinh Nhu and his wife. There were a few pages in bold in the last sentence of the order, so many attentive readers would understand the sentence: "Have absolute confidence in the final victory. .” – oOo – The fact that a schoolgirl (Quoc Thi Trang - tqd) was shot to death (in the morning of August 25, 1963 in front of Ben Thanh market, Saigon - tqd) made us ashamed to the public when wearing military uniforms on the street. Being imprisoned by Buddhists makes me feel guilty. How can people understand that we do not do that repression, we do not advocate killing nonviolent protesters, we do not agree to arrest people like that? But we bow our heads patiently waiting for the day when we will respond to everyone with actions. On August 22, I visited Most Venerable Thich Tinh Khiet. With a tired voice he asked: - Why beat us? I'm so sorry to hear that, but I don't know how to answer! Because of martial law, we stayed in the camp and didn't go home, many brothers like me received phone calls from their wives, not only Buddhist families but also women of other religions. who blamed her husband for taking part in the persecution of Buddhism… Colonel Tran Ngoc Huyen, a Christian, who wholeheartedly supported Diem also opposed the issue of the Diem brothers' persecution of Buddhism. What we have been cooking since the early 1960s has now come to an end. The dictators, injustices and oppressions of the government that we have complained about for many years now have to explode. The long-standing preparations are now coming to fruition. (equal to 1:30 pm on November 1, 1963 – tqd). TQD Excerpt from the memoir "Witness of Vietnam" – TRAN VAN DON.END=NAM MO SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA.( 3 TIMES ).WORLD VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST ORDER=BUDDHIST DHARMA WHEEL GOLDEN .MONASTERY=VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=THE WOMEN OF THE SAKYA CLAN CHAN TANH.AUSTRALIA,SYDNEY.30/10/2021.