◆ SpookStack

“On Jamiary 23,: 1968, ‘the Phoenix Phoenix f( Jed anchor 4i-rubble over the n may,; » Hong Kong and set sail for Ha: HaipuoOng, North Many people had bees. ocks, was also of bricks. etnam.: It was the third trip of the Phoenix tos raids. : I looked around, but could not make out 3 etnam= and the second to Haiphong. - She was. rrying "medical supplies: $5,000 worth of sur- ha¥ supplies, for the Red Cross Society of the hmocratic Republfe of Vietnam, and $2,500 worth fmédfoffiés for the Red Cross ‘Society 0 ‘of the N Liberation Fronte: 2 rfect, the wind followed us around Hainan Island that we.were able to saif most of the way. On ie morning of January 29, we were within sight the lghthouse of Haiphong, and received our lot and other Viemamese officials from a British eighter anchored outside of the-hardor. When xrkness fell, we were taken up the Cam River to @ port of Haiphong, where we were given a won- wrful welcome by a group of beactiful Vietnamese tls, each of whom had a bunch of flowers for us. e were then introduced to officials of the Red ross Society of the DRV, our liosts, and to of~ ‘iails of the Viemamese Peace Committee, some nom had come from Hanoi to be wiih us du 2 two-day borfibing pause. ng aS The next morning was spent in discussions with e Red Cross and Peace Committee officials, were we explained that we had brought cargo for os Red Cross of both the DAV and the NL. Then in the demon were of ¢ ~g at a formal but extremely f ‘et holiday foods traditionai to North Vietnam. On the morning of the 3ist, we were driven to ndly dinner of anything which seemed to be s ‘mnilitary target no railroads, no warehouses,;no military instal ations, It was clear that.the U; S.. bombers had wa;¢* simply bombed in the center oa @ residential area - Following this,-we swore | taken’ to ‘a civilian hos pital where we saw victims ofthe. ‘bombing.’ Among’ the victims were several children who had been injured by the cannister bomb,“ antipersonnel unit = weapons, One had been blinded permanently, one had had his chest riddled with pellets, and another had been paralyzed by a pellet in her spine, See- ing this and the residential area depressed me tremendously, and made me feel extremely em- barrassed to be an American who was not doing all he could to end the war. On the afternoon of January 31 we were taken to visit the Historical Museum of Haiphong. Here were displayed various items from Vietnamese history, including many different sorts of prim- itive weapons which we were told had been used to fight off the Chinese aggressors for centuries, Some of these, like the deadly punji spixes buried in pits in the ground, are s used today, Much of the museum is devoted to tie recent years of war with the United States and the U.S. supported government of South Vietnam. Various types of been shot do some by rifle ved with pride by the museum our own reaction was one of hor- Several ror ive ine ; dscuments ore than-twenty + years. Tt is cur whats anot! means our independence ?™ not support their military activities, help but feel sympathy for their cause. residential area which had been bombed by U.S.y_ Held up by bad weather on the return trip we lanes on January 3 and 4, 1968. The surround- ~w area was three-story brick buildings, and the finally arrived in Hong Kong o: safe and sound, mission accor Pebruary 13th, hed. , oe ‘illed ‘and wounded in ne