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~ 720th Military Police Battalion Reunion Association Vietnam History Project ~ |
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Establishing a Prisoner of War Program and POW Camps |
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27 November 1965 the joint Military Committee proposed a workable plan for application of the Geneva Prisoner of War Conventions by the U.S., Vietnamese, and Free World forces. The plan called for the construction of five prisoner of war camps, one in each corps tactical zone and one in the Capital Military Region (Saigon), each having an initial capacity of 1,000 prisoners. |
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Each camp would be staffed by Vietnamese military police, with U.S. military police prisoner of war advisers also assigned to each stockade. These camps were permanent housing facilities with all the amenities guaranteed under the Geneva Conventions. Many other temporary enemy POW holding facilities referred to as POW cages were used by field commands to collect and temporarily hold suspected enemy POW's until initial field interrogations could be conducted to sort out innocent civilians that were caught up in operations. Once the detainees were identified as enemy combatants or sympathizers they would be transferred to a more permanent facility for further disposition. |
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December 1965 The plan was approved and a temporary prisoner of war camp was to be established at Bien Hoa in early January 1966, with permanent prisoner of war camps to follow. |
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1966 Prisoner of war camp construction continued to receive priority command attention. |
Bien Hoa Camp (Ho Nai) in III Corps was opened in May 1966. Pleiku Camp in II Corps was completed in August 1966. Da Nang camp in I Corps was opened in November 1966. Can Tho Camp in IV Corps started construction late in 1966. Phu Quoc Island Camp off the coast of Cambodia was constructed in 1968. Qui Nhon Camp for female prisoners of war was established March 1968. |
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1967 The objectives for the prisoner of war program were ambitious: to identify and transfer prisoners of war in civilian jails and prisons to Vietnamese Army prisoner of war camps; to establish a program of repatriation of prisoners of war; to promulgate the provisions of the Geneva Conventions of 1949; to establish effective prisoner of war accountability procedures and maintain records for the identification and handling of prisoners of war; to construct additional prisoner of war camps as required; to establish prisoner of war labor and educational programs; to adhere to the Geneva Prisoner of War Conventions as closely as possible with respect to mail, medical attention, Red Cross visits, visiting privileges, and health and welfare. By the end of the year the prisoner of war camp capacity had increased from 3,000 to 13,000. In April steps were taken to concentrate all Viet Cong prisoners of war under age eighteen at the Bien Hoa camp, where they received special rehabilitation, education, and vocational training. |
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1968 By the end of the year the prisoner of war camps could house a population of 21,000 normally, and a total of 32,000 on an emergency or short-range basis. All gradually expanded until by 11 December 1971 the Vietnamese government held 35,665 prisoners of war in six camps. Of these, 13,365 had been captured by U.S. forces. |
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The material on this page was edited by the Viet Nam Project from, VIETNAM STUDIES ~ LAW AT WAR: VIETNAM 1964-1973 by, Major General George S. Prugh Department of The Army, Washington, D.C., 1975 |
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