Bửu Đồng
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- This is a Vietnamese name; the family name is Nguyễn, but is often simplified as Nguyen in English-language text. According to Vietnamese custom, this person properly should be referred to by the given name Bửu Đồng.
Father John-Baptiste Bửu Đồng (surname Nguyen) was a prestiguous Vietnamese Roman Catholic priest from the city of Huế who was executed by the Viet Cong during the Tet Offensive of 1968.
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[edit] Life
Dong was a popular parish priest of Su Lo An, a village east of the city of Huế. As the area was inhabited by many Viet Cong, Father Dong worked hard to stay on good terms with both them and the Army of Vietnam (ARVN) during the war. In 1967, he invited Vietcong and government soldiers to sit together for Christmas dinner. He also was rumored to keep a picture of Ho Chi Minh in his room, telling parishioners that he prayed for Ho because, "He is our friend, too." At the same time, he accepted sewing machines for his parishioners from American USAID programs.
[edit] Death
On the first day of the Offensive, January 30, 1968, Viet Cong troops led Dong to a nearby pagoda for questioning. He was later released after a passionate appeal by elders of his parish. Five days later, the Viet Cong troops returned and searched his rectory. Seizing his binoculars, camera, typewriter and picture of Ho Chi Minh, the troops led Father Dong and two seminarians away.
The remains of Dong's body were found twenty-two months later in a shallow grave in the costal sand flats of the city, along with the remains of three hundred other victims of the Viet Cong. In Dong's eyeglass case were found three letters. One was to his aged parents, another to his brothers, sisters, and cousins. The third letter was to his parishioners.
The letter read:
"My dearly beloved children, This is my last chance to write to you my children and remind you of the lesson of St. Peter on the boat in the storm (three words illegible) the faith. My words of greeting at this beginning of Spring are a hope that my works in the faith among you will make you remember (two words illegible) as my life is about to end by the will of God. Love one another and forgive my wrongs, thanking God with me. Ask God to forgive all my sins and remember to love and pray for me that I will live in belief and patience during difficulties to bring about the peace of Christ and serve the spirit of God and the interests of everyone in Mother Mary. Please pray that I will be serene and clear-headed and brave in every adversity of the spirit and of the body and will send my life to God through the hands of the Blessed Mother. With a promise to meet again in Heaven, I hope for grace for all of you, my children."
Dong's remains and the lack of visible wounds to his body indicated that he had been buried alive by the Viet Cong.[citation needed]
[edit] See also
[edit] Sources
Don Oberdorfer, Tet!: The Turning Point In The Vietnam War, (Garden City, New York, Doubleday and Company, 1971), p. 205-216
