SONGMY INFORMANT BACK IN VIETNAM AS A REPORTER

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP11M01338R000400340076-0
Release Decision: 
RIFPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
1
Document Creation Date: 
December 23, 2016
Document Release Date: 
September 17, 2013
Sequence Number: 
76
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
September 28, 1970
Content Type: 
OPEN SOURCE
File: 
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PDF icon CIA-RDP11M01338R000400340076-0.pdf130.81 KB
Body: 
? /1/YY"a c-4 Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/09/17 : CIA-RDP11M01338R000400340076-0 UL Ltjifty I E LCK :tary region not surprising. !in me e.mc.lical DIViS1011.5 Mill1 "If something is not reported, t : ? in Vietnam as a It.ei :1,.accer then the Army takes the. view. n - ? . . ?-' it did not happen," Mr. Eiden- ..-:: ? ..'e hour said. "To them Mylar ? ? !- - .- never oceured?until it was ? .. Ily GLOIIIA. EMERSON, '' ? ... .. freported.". . . - ? ?? Epectal to Th I New itec Times ' - if A typical attitude of some ? tHULAI, South Vietnam, Dispatch News Service. It wasl,career officers in the America! . Mr. Ridenhour:Division was shown, in Chulai.? Sept. 19?"There are a !lot of the letters that by , the I?eputy Prevost Marshal.. people in the Army who would sent last year to the Army. and .. ? like to get you, Ron," Maj. to people in Congress and in '?'1.e3* 11?5e:rt. 117?1111)1aY In a V . liam Gabella, information offi- :conversation with. 2.::!ither car-, the executive branch that led to ? cer- for the America! Division, investigation of the massacre respondent who lvd accein-: . an ?? said. in 19SS of Vietnamese civilia.nsi 13anieci Mr. Ridenhour,?the major: 7 ? -His warning was for:24-year- said that disclosures -of the . a site called Songmy and some- 'old Ronald Ridenhour, a Viet Songmy killings 11;:.(1 been oam veteran- who returned in times MYlai? ' for the army:" He inquired, The men in the infantry unit August as correspondent for about Mr. PidcnIfour's politicali a accused of the killings were affiliations -end questioned what I from Company A in the Ameri-lhis motives were in writing the cal Division. Its headquarters -letters. are at Chulai. ? 11 Mr. Ride.ribour, who was Mr. Ridenhour protested tha.? !soldier in ' Vietnam from De- Major Gabella, in an at.tcmpt .to!ce:nber, 1967, to December, ? have him watched, assigned alvICSS, was not present at the officer to escort him last 1-riday?:r-,s;acre. He knew some men when he joined a line company:M- the unit that was at Songmy near Ducpho. His escort w.as.b.c,ca ._? us they had trained to- 1 Lieut. John Peterson, w,lo 7, ether in Hawaii. Mr. Riden- . works in the information certer, hour heard of the massacre in 1 at Ducpho, site of the AmcricaApril, is, He wrote a letter fire support base narne.dBr.onco., and mailed 30 copies of it in. On the night before, their de-:March, 1969, from his home in parture Mr. Thodennour was'Phoenix,.. Ariz. Ronald Itidenhour, who tokl of deaths at Sonv. ? ? , v?isit Declassified and Approved For Release 2913/09/17: CIA-RDP11M01338R000400340076-0 warned by Lieutenant Peterson that he would have to listen; during any conversation ? be.-1 twee him and G.I.'s in the' line! company. .t Shook Off Escort When they -joined the line company, however, about six miles away frem Ducpho, Mr. Ridenhour shook off the lieu- tenant. Since the line company did not move out on operations, the two men returned to Due- pho. The. presence of an officer is considered by many corres- pondents in Vietnam to be a form of censorship. Enlisted. men, who often have different version of how the war is go- ing from the one given in offi- cial briefings, do not often talk freely when an officer is listening. There .are no fixed rules on the question of escorts. The decision depends on the individ- ual information officer in each division. Correspondents are not normally accompanied in the field when they request otherwise. Mr. Ridenhour went to Chu- lai and Ducpho for a series of articles he is writing on front- line infantrymen for Dispatch News Service. He was again assigned an officer to escort him when on . Saturday he visited a base camp called Bayonet, near Chulai, again on the orders of Major Gabella. Mr. Ridenhour had asked that he not be escorted. "They certainly paid more attention to me as a journalist that I merited," Mr. Ridenhour said, with sarcasm. He found the nervousness