Word: mekong
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...wide delta of the Mekong River last week, the swirling brown floodwaters stretched for miles. Bridges had been swept away, cattle drowned, the rice crop destroyed, villages inundated and their surviving inhabitants left starving...
...meaning Western retreat-is necessary in Laos because, should hostilities start again. Red China would enter the fray to ensure a Communist victory. For the West, it represents a Hobson's choice: surrender Laos by default, or be prepared to send in troops to hold at least the Mekong River line as a bulwark for what is left of free Southeast Asia...
Every night furtive little bands of Communist guerrillas, dressed in black peasant pajamas or faded khakis, splash through the marshes of the Mekong Delta or dart silently along jungle paths of South Viet Nam, pursuing their intent, murderous missions. On the road from Banmethuot last week, one band melted into the shadows as two members of the National Assembly approached in their Jeep. Then, at a signal from their leader, they raised their ancient rifles, clubs and swords and pounced with bloodcurdling cries. Seconds later, the two assemblymen lay dead, and the grim struggle to keep the Communists from winning...
...north are tiers of flat plains leading back to the highlands where 300,000 Moi hut dwellers search the thick forests for white elephants as good-luck charms. In the south are the hard-working Annamese peasants, squatting under conical hats of palm leaves in the brimming Mekong Delta marshes to plant the rice that is South Viet Nam's chief source of sustenance and a major export. The delta's deep black soil is some of the world's richest, could produce still more food if developed with roads, modern farming techniques. It is this great food potential that...
Splitting up, one Communist group fled north while another tried to escape south toward the Mekong River. Some guerrillas made it to the Cambodian border, and others simply disappeared in the South Vietnamese villages. But 167 Communists were dead, and dozens more lay wounded when the sun set over the Plaine des Jones...