 This is the face of Vietnam, after 25 years of war, 25 years of continuous terror, famine, pestilence, and death. Many of the living envy the dead, for the dead no longer suffer. For many others, dead are dreams, hopes, and trust of years gone by. Only one thing keeps many going. From a marine on patrol, headed for some village whose name you don't even remember. This is V.C. country, a region seized and under the control of the Viet Cong. Somewhere out there, in the dense jungle growth, they may be hiding. At any moment, you may come across them. Viet Cong or refugees. If Viet Cong, you know what to do. But if refugees, what? What do you do with these people who want out? Refugees who've had enough of the enemy from within. Your job when you encounter them? Where possible to take care of these refugees? To bring them to a place where they can be safe, where they can learn to believe in life again. There are more than 500,000 refugees here in a high core alone. Nearly a million and a half in all of Vietnam. And each week the total swells by hundreds. With each passing day, the odds go up that you will encounter refugees. The Marine Corps expects you and your buddies to help through the Civic Action Program. As part of this program, you will provide assistance, protection and transportation for the refugees until they are safely relocated. Marines on patrol are usually the first to encounter refugees. Greet them with compassion, with warmth and respect. As a Marine, show them that you are there to help. This simple act of kindness has its practical aspect. Each refugee is one less source of intelligence, food or shelter to the Viet Cong. One more potential ally. The five northern provinces of South Vietnam are called the Eye Corps because the South Vietnamese First Corps operates there. In Eye Corps, hundreds of peasants each week freely seek allied protection from the Viet Cong. An example of inter-service cooperation shown by the U.S. Army helicopters resulted when a call was received to lift out a large group of refugees who were caught in the middle of a fierce firefight between the Marines and the Viet Cong forces. They have hidden during the fighting and now during a lull, they run for assistance. It is your job, the job of the Marines, to bring these people to collection centers where the government of the Republic of Vietnam will provide for their immediate needs food, medical care, shelter and start them off on the road to a new life. Why do these refugees leave? Why do they run the risk of getting killed by the VC to come out and meet you? The answer is simple. They have seen too much. A village headman and his family shot to death. A school teacher beheaded. Their rice stolen at gunpoint. Their young men kidnapped. Such is the Viet Cong liberation. Such is Ho Chi Minh's people's democracy. As the Viet Cong become more and more desperate and take it out on the innocent people in the villages they control more and more villagers will flee their homes to escape the terror and the brutality. You will find very few able-bodied men among them. The majority are women with babies, children and older people. They are weary, disillusioned, bitter and lost. There was a time when their world ended at the village gate when life centered around the rice paddy and the family. There was a time when home was a self-contained universe governed by ancient laws of harmony with man and nature. Happy, serene and peaceful. But that life died when the first Viet Cong tax collector appeared. When the first Viet Cong agitator, backed by guns brought a new world through the village gate. The villagers tried to be neutral and not take sides. But not taking sides is a luxury in Viet Cong. A luxury the rice farmer is automatically denied because he is the prize in this war. A mother worries about her children and about the old ones. Will the whole family ever be together again? These refugees are now strangers in their own land. Most have never traveled as far as five miles from their homes. Left behind now is a part of their souls. The ancestral home and the lands killed by the countless generations before them. But there are some things that are even stronger than war. And in Vietnam, the most important of these is the family. If families are separated by the fortunes of war they do not rest until they are reunited. The government knows this cohesive spirit exists and attempts to keep the family intact and also to assist in locating lost relatives and loved ones when possible. This is a powerful means of both winning the trust of the refugees and of giving them new hope. For the refugees move in family, hamlet and village groups. The Viet Cong claim that the Republic of Viet Nam government does not care what happens to its people. If this is true, why then does it commit so much of its resources to providing for the needs of the refugees? Is this only a political objective? No. The very reason that the free world has sent troops to Viet Nam is to give the people security, peace and a chance for a better future. The United States government supports the refugee program through the Agency for International Development and many American volunteer agencies. There is constant planning and activity to prepare the refugees for movement to secure locations. One of the first is the taking of a census and the bringing together again of family groups. The Republic of Viet Nam government sponsors programs of resettlement, vocational training, agricultural education and technical assistance in the fields of health, education, public works, public safety and the re-establishment of local civil government. The refugees are taken from the collection centers and moved by truck to secure areas where the next phase of the refugee program continues. Upon their arrival in the secure area, the refugees are placed in temporary quarters where they will live until they can construct permanent housing of their own and the materials provided by the various relief agencies. Next on the agenda is the distribution of food. The role of American voluntary agencies is significant. Here, the People to People program is welcomed as an answer to prayers. Blankets, oil, salt, soap, the daily staples and dried fish. The refugees are given physical examinations and medical aid when necessary. For this man, it was absolutely necessary. AID, the Agency for International Development coordinates contributions by the American community to assure maximum effectiveness. Food, medical assistance and tools of self-reliance come through voluntary relief agencies, missions, foundations and other nonprofit and governmental organizations. The goal is to rehabilitate the refugees. Besides giving them initial money allowance and materials for housing construction and a subsistence garden plot, the Republic of Vietnam government tries to teach them new skills. It teaches them how to grow new crops which they can sell on the open market. It encourages the refugees to open small businesses. The Vietnamese government also runs schools for the refugees' children and teaches their elders new profitable crafts in vocational training programs such as woodworking, carpentry and life manufacturing. As a Marine, you have a very practical interest in the rehabilitation of these refugees. Mao Zedong once said that gorillas are like fish because the people are the sea that sustains them. As more and more refugees flee the Viet Cong, the sea slowly dries up and the Viet Cong fish slowly suffocate and die. A time will come when these youngsters will understand what all the fuss was about. Meanwhile, they and their parents live in a safe area in better health. They are also learning something new, the concept of individual freedom. Most of these people will resume a normal life in their new villages. Some may decide to return to their old homes. Whatever they do, it will be the choice of free men. More important, if they ever encounter the VC again, they will listen more skeptically than before because of what they've learned. Perhaps they'll hide that grain from Charlie or tell you where he is when you pass through. Some will thank you openly, others with a smile and still others by the look on a freshly scrubbed face. Some will show it with action as they build their villages and toil in the fields and paddies, where they know that you only want to help and that they that sow in tears shall reap in joy.