Vietnamese Commandos Stage Protest at Memorial

About 80 Vietnamese commandos from Orange County and elsewhere who ran secret intelligence missions for the United States but were denied veteran status by the Pentagon protested Thursday at the Vietnam Memorial.

Dressed in fatigues and green berets, the former commandos--many of whom spent 20 years in prisoner-of-war camps in North Vietnam--lined a walkway near the memorial on Veterans Day. Their banners read, “20 years as POWs but not veterans . . . Why?” and “Why Not Us?”

“I was in service for the whole United States and the whole world for freedom,” said Nong Hinh, 63, of Garden Grove, who lost the tops of three fingers in battle and spent 18 years in prison. He said his arm aches whenever it rains.

The commandos infiltrated North Vietnam, often by parachuting in after dark. Captured by North Vietnamese forces tipped off to their mission, the commandos were declared dead by the U.S. government. Of the roughly 500 who were recruited, about 160 are living in the U.S.

In 1996, Congress earmarked $20 million for the commandos, enough to pay each man or his survivors $40,000. That was $2,000 for every year of captivity, on average. Those imprisoned for more than 20 years could receive up to $50,000.

But the men want something else: acknowledgment that they fought for the United States. Some also want specialized health care.

Earlier this year, Air Force Secretary F. Whitten Peters, acting on behalf of the Pentagon, said the commandos could not be considered U.S. veterans because they were not in active service. Peters concurred with an earlier finding that the commandos--although on U.S.-run and U.S.-funded missions--were really contracted to the government of the former South Vietnam.