Chapter 6: Chapter 6 – The VC Recruit Kids to Serve as Their Spies

Hoa and I are on the way to the "World's Greatest Yard Sale." From the back of my house, we cross the field full of swaying red poppies and get on Highway 1, keep walking on the highway, and take the first exit ramp. At the bottom of the ramp, we get on Khe Sanh road, which leads to Cu Chi City, and walk a half mile down the road. We come up to a sign saying "Good Choice Flea Market."

The market is situated about 50 meters back from the right side of the road. The dirt causeway running from the roadside to the flea market is spread over with straw. The moving footsteps are pressing the straw into the muddy earth.

We stop by a table carrying cooking tools and trinkets. It turns out the table belongs to the old woman. She says, "Hi Mai! And Mai's friend! Did you find anything fun today? You know, there is the main attraction of The Monkeys rock 'n roll band performing on stage over there."

Hoa looks toward the outdoor concert stage. "OK, we'll go over there and watch it."

Before we walk away, I spot a metal wedge with an interesting design on the table. "Where in the world did this come from?"

The old woman says, "Well, I found the wedge in a hole in the Skyscraper Tree trunk. I thought I could sell it today. All right, you can have it." 

"Thanks, how much do I owe you for it?" I say.

"Why, I would not think of taking any money," she says.

I drop a quarter into a ceramic bowl on the table. Then Hoa and I run to the music stage.

I hand the wedge to Hoa, and buy three bags of spun sugar cotton candy. I give her the pink candy bag, save the blue one for Mom, and keep the rainbow color one for me.

Hoa looks at the wedge. "Mai, let's go to the Skyscraper Tree. We should find more interesting things in its trunk. We can come back here afterward.

There are holes laid at random spots along the Gold Nuggets River's banks. We come up to a boy banging a hammer on the end of a metal wedge, to drive it in the ground. As we stand watching him, he stands up, running his fingers through his hair. He wears truck tire sandals.

"Hey, what are you doing?" I say. 

He says, "Punching Trap Holes in the ground for the VCs. They set booby traps attached to rolling and falling mechanisms in some holes, to capture American and Vietnamese soldiers. The VCs also rig other holes with trip wires that would overturn buckets of live scorpions in such a way that the buckets land upside down to fit neatly over the heads of their enemy soldiers."

Hoa says, "Oh, you must be kidding! How can the VCs be so ruthless? By the way, you wear truck tire sandals, so you're a VC?"

"A reluctant VC," the boy says.

"What's your name?" I say.

"My name is Tin," the boy says.

"My name is Mai," I say.

Hoa scrunches up her nose, saying, "My name is Hoa. Where are you living?"

The boy keeps glancing around. "I'm living underground."

Hoa and I run away. Turning her face over her shoulder toward Tin, she shouts, "You are doing bad things, but you talk about them in an unconcerned manner."

He runs after us, and once he gets near us, he says, "The VCs have kidnaped people, including children, house them in the Cu Chi tunnels, put them to work, and train them to fight against the American and Vietnamese soldiers. I'm a kidnapped kid. I need your help to get the kidnapped people free. Please come back, I want to talk to you." 

I say, "But you are out of the tunnels now. Why don't you run away to freedom, and help get other kidnapped people free?"

Tin says, "They also have my mom, but I don't know where she is now. They told me that if I ran away, they would take her away to where I would never see her again."

Hoa says, "But you said there are other kidnapped people who must be freed. Aren't you concerned for them?" 

Tin says, "The VCs often move the kidnapped people around. It's very difficult to find out their exact locations in the tunnel mess."

Hoa turns to look at me, pushing her hair out of her eyes, saying, "I don't believe him. He may be trying to stall us until the VCs arrive and capture us." 

"It sounds like he's telling the truth," I say.

Hoa says, "Then we must get help to get them free. The kids shouldn't do hard labor, but they should be able to play freely."

Tin leads us to come up to a bush, and the three of us sit down beside it, eating the cotton candy from Hoa's and my bags, chatting very pleasantly.

Tin stuffs a handful of cotton candy into his mouth, saying, "Yummy yummy cotton candy!"

Hoa points to the very small holes dug all over the place along the riverbank. "What are those holes for?"

Tin says, "They're VC Communication Holes, and I've also dug them. They go up from the roofs of the tunnels to the riverbanks' surface. The VCs give candies to kids who act as their spies."

Hoa says, "Ah, I know. Upon seeing American soldiers coming, the kid spies scatter to the Communication Holes, with each kid crouching down beside a hole. The kids form hollow tubes with their hands, with two hands put together to form a tube. They place the hand tubes on the holes, put their mouths on the hand tubes, and speak into them, 'American soldiers are coming.'

"The VCs immediately pop out of the ground, and climb up the tree and take up position to attack the American soldiers."

I giggle. "Kids prefer to act as spies for the American soldiers, because they get fresher candies. When the American soldiers are coming, they hold bags full of candies in front of them.

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"The kid spies quickly poke stick markers with mini flags into the edge of the holes. A marker, with a lemon-yellow flag with the word 'Suspected' written on it, indicates the VCs may not be in the tunnels underneath the hole. A marker, with a red flag with the word 'Confirmed' written on it, indicates the VCs are surely in the tunnels underneath the hole."

Tin plucks a grass blade poking out of barbed wire, saying, "U.S. forces have trained some American soldiers to function as so-called "Tunnel Rats." They would navigate the cramped tunnels to scout for the VCs.

"Most American soldiers are too big to fit into the tunnel entrances. To become Tunnel Rats, the American soldiers must go on a diet, and train until their muscles are slack but tough like leather, and their bones are pliable, and they must exercise to get enduring strength, so that they can wiggle down the twisting tunnel entrances." 

I say, "I know. When the Tunnel Rats see only a few VCs in the tunnels, the Tunnel Rats pull the VCs out of the tunnels and capture them.

"But when there are way too many VCs, the Tunnel Rats wiggle back up to get back outside, and inform their leader of the VCs' locations in the tunnels. The leader radios for the Marine from the U.S. 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit to come and round up the VCs."

Tin says, "The 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit would throw red smoke bombs into the confirmed holes, to make the tunnels under the holes hazy so that the VCs can't see their way around to get away into the network of undisturbed tunnels.

"The red smoke routs out the VCs from the targeted tunnels, stains the VCs red so that they come out glowing red like ruby in the sun. Then the kids remove the markers and collect their candies."

Hoa says, "What's so special about the Skyscraper Tree for the soldiers?"

Tin says, "Fighting often takes place in the area surrounding the tree. You can see the grass there look trampled, and the bark on the tree is splintered by bullets.

"The VCs ambush the American soldiers walking to the mess hall in the area to eat. Both sides struggle to take over the tree, because they can snack on its juicy Inrimanna fruits during break from fighting." 

I say, "Sometimes, Kids throw the Inrimana fruits at one another while playing on the tree. By the way, why is there smoke smelled of cooking food coming out of some holes?"

Tin says, "Some tunnels are actually the living quarters for the VCs. They must cook food, and the cooking smoke would give away the area in which the tunnels are currently inhabited.

"The VCs must prevent the smoke from giving away the inhabited tunnels, so they install range hoods in the cooking areas in the tunnels. The hoods are fitted with vertical ducts, which are connected to horizontal ducts that extend at least two miles away from the inhabited tunnels.

"The horizontal ducts come out of the ground, and the smoke is vented onto farms, into food stalls at markets, and even into civilian homes."

I say, "No wonder. There is an unaccounted-for vent coming out of the wall by the head of my bed. One time at around 2:00 a.m., I saw smoke smelled of cooking frog legs and spider plants coming out of the vent, when I tossed and turned trying to fall asleep."

Tin says, "The American troops go after the ventilation holes with suspicious smoke coming out of them, to hunt for the VCs."

Hoa says, "The American Marines won the Battle of Saigon against the VCs. They celebrated their victory by grilling hamburgers on the Hamburger Hill, which was named for having wild fat cows roaming on it, and the meat came from the cows.

"Lieutenant General Melvin Stilwell saw smoke wafting out of a ground hole. He chopped down a tree branch, and cut all the twigs off it to make a long pole. He poked the pole into the hole, and the pole went in clear all the way down the hole. He shouted into the radio, 'Airlift a bulldozer to Hamburger Hill.'"

Tin says, "The American Marines excavated a crater at the hole with the bulldozer, but found no VCs underneath."

"Oh, you know the story, Tin?" I say.

"Of course, Lieutenant General Melvin Stilwell is my dad," Tin says. 

"What! So your name is Tin Stilwell?" Hoa says.

Tin nods, looking sad. "But don't tell anyone else about this, OK? By the way, the rain fills up the crater, and the VCs have installed pipes running from the crater to the tunnels, to draw water from the crater into the tunnels."

"Oh, now I see," I say. "Sometimes I come home after dark after peddling food, and spot the VCs sneaking out to the crater to take a bath."

Tin says, "Do you know that Hamburger Hill is located near the Skyscraper Tree? When darkness falls, unexplained incidents occur around that area.

"Don't prowl around there after the midnight curfew. If you're still out past the curfew, the American Military Police will take you to a holding jail, but the VCs will put you into a camouflaged truck, and take you to the Cu Chi tunnels for a long stay."

Hoa says, "Without a regular job, the VCs make their living by pilfering everything in a guerilla manner. They pilfer food, pigs, cows, chickens, and kitchen utensils from the local inhabitants. They take fruits and vegetables, and whatever the farmers grow in the fields."

Tin says, "I know what the VCs do with the pilfered items. They sell them at roadside markets. You can see peddlers wearing truck tire sandals tend stalls piled high with stolen goods. When the VCs see American Military Police patrolling the market to scout for the VCs, they kick their truck tire sandals under the stalls and stand barefoot."

At the sound of coming footsteps, Tin grabs at the bush beside us and pulls the twigs aside, revealing a hole under the roots. "Get in, Mai and Hoa. I dug the hole for hiding."

After Hoa and I have gotten in the hole, Tin covers it back up with the twigs.

A man's voice says, "Why are you not working, boy?"

Tin says, "I heard the sound of a helicopter. I've been watching to see if it's an U.S. ARMY helicopter, to inform you guys."

A woman's voice says, "He's become suspicious. Take him away from this area, and put him in an isolated tunnel, where the cooking smoke vents out of the well-concealed ventilation hole set directly on the tunnel wall, which is actually the retaining wall for the Gold Nuggets River's bank."

We stay silent and waiting in the hole. When it's quiet outside, I say, "Hoa, I think they're all gone away. Let's get out and go find Tin."

We run past the hole that Tin was digging. The hammer still lies beside the metal wedge lodged in the hole. I try to pull the wedge out, but it sticks fast in the hole.

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