Page 44 of Cry Havoc

“He recruited Ho Chi Minh to spy for the OSS.”

CHAPTER 11

“WHAT?” QUINN ASKED, ALMOSTspitting out a mouthful of beer.

“It was late winter of ’45. By that point my dad had been in the OSS for a year or so.”

“Back in the good ol’ days.”

“I did a little research on my own, as my dad never talked about the war. In fact, he hardly talked at all. The Japanese occupied Vietnam in 1941, but they essentially left the French in control until March 1945. The Japanese turning on the French that late in the war came as a surprise. Vietnam was a logistics base for the Japanese for their operations in China and Burma. The OSS put together a group of commandos they called the Deer Team and parachuted operatives into Vietnam to arm and train the Viet Minh.”

“Your dad jumped in?”

“He did. He spoke French, was jump qualified, and was already working for the OSS.”

“So, without much time to plan they recruit Uncle Ho?”

“Essentially. His real name is Nguy?n Sinh Cung, though. He started using Ho Chi Minh in the late thirties. It translates as ‘he who enlightens’ or ‘bringer of light.’ He was born here but spent time in France, China, and the Soviet Union. He had rescued an American pilot years earlier and escorted him to China. That put him on our radar.”

“How do you know all this?”

“A former OSS agent named Charles Fenn visited us when I was a kid. Strange accent. I think he was in the process of moving from Hong Kong to England at the time but wanted to see my father. He’s a writer now. He told me the story. He wanted me to know what my dad had done. Granted, this is all well before Ho Chi Minh and Viet Minh were our enemy. Fenn and my father recruited him. Gave him the code name Lucius.”

“Why Lucius?”

“I don’t know.”

“So your dad trained and equipped the people we are fighting now?”

“To an extent. I saw a picture once. He was out of town, and I was going through boxes of his things in our attic. I didn’t know who it was at the time, but now I have no doubt. It’s him and Fenn with Ho Chi Minh and Vo Nguyen Giap.”

“You realize that if you get killed over here, he’d never forgive himself.”

“I’m not sure he thinks that way.”

“All dads think that way.”

“They were not in-country for long. The war ended in August. With the French ousted by the Japanese, the Viet Minh filled the void.”

“You are telling me the OSS, the precursor to the CIA, created the Viet Minh and Viet Cong?”

“Well, they certainly helped set the conditions.”

“I think I need something stronger than beer,” Quinn said, swirling what was left in the bottom of his can. “What happened next?”

“Things deteriorated from there. The Viet Minh, French, and Americans were all trying to figure it out in the wake of the Second World War. We decided to get out and leave it to the French and Viet Minh. Have you heard of Peter Dewey?”

“Can’t say the name rings a bell.”

“He was OSS. Like a lot of these guys, he was born to it: son of acongressman, boarding school in Switzerland, Yale, UVA law, became a journalist. He was recruited by none other than Wild Bill Donovan himself.”

“How did your dad get mixed up in all that?”

“Not exactly sure. Dewey jumped into southern France as part of an OSS team reporting on German troop movements. I don’t think my dad was there, but I can’t be certain. Dewey eventually became the point man for OSS operations in ’Nam. He was a lieutenant colonel, though positionally he was what we would call a CIA chief of station today.”

“How does he play in?”

“He was shot and killed on his final day in-country. My dad was with him. He was the first casualty of the war in Vietnam. That was September 1945.”