The Montagnard people, so daring and bold, Fights for freedom, not riches or gold… Primitive weapons, they brought to bear, Swift, silent death, the Communist aggressors still fear…
Our Special Forces, taught them well, Together, many an onslaught, they did quell… Our faithful ally, from the Central Highlands of Vietnam, Still loves America, despite our enemy's cruel and deadly harm…
To you, my brothers and sisters, I spread the alarm, In Communist rice paddies, they’ll not farm… Under the North Vietnamese flag, they’ll be gunned, Fodder, for loving America, they will become…
Under our flag of red, white and blue, They still fight and die, forever, faithful and true… Now, they need us, more than ever, The Communist manifesto, so vicious and clever…
Total annihilation, in Vietnam, the Communists do seek, THE DEGA HEART, forever, to stop it’s beat… So I say to you, lets keep America’s solemn promise, For, the eve of destruction, is falling fast upon us…
Veterans and citizens alike, lets rush to their aid, For we all know, the price, they already have paid… THE DEGA HEART, stilled, must never be, Together, with us, they deserve to be free…
SAVE THE MONTAGNARD PEOPLE, to God I pray, Tis up to us, to light and pave the way… Join them now, in their perilous plight, They fought with us, through America’s darkest nights…
In America, THE DEGA HEART, working, so hard and fast, For unknown, how long, their loved ones can last… The Montagnard’s final victory in Vietnam, we can achieve, Together, one last time, lets bring Victor Charlie to his knees!
Dear American Friends, It has been twenty six years since the end of the Vietnam War. However, 1975 only brought an end to the war for American Armed Forces who were defending freedom in South Vietnam. Unfortunately, the war continues for the Montagnard and Montagnards still die, the North Vietnamese Communist regime has a “Long Memory” about the war and treated the Montagnard people as an enemy.
After they defeated South Vietnam and established military control over the area in 1975, the Vietnamese government immediately carried out a policy of punishment and discrimination against the Montagnards during the Indochina and the Vietnam War. Many Montagnard leaders were imprisoned and killed. The Montagnard lives in the Highlands have become worse than ever in our history.
To avoid imprisonment, twelve thousand Montagnards fled into the jungle after the Hanoi victory. We recognized and sustained a Montagnard resistance force and continued fighting for freedom and independence from the Hanoi regime for seventeen years. We were alone and empty-handed receiving no help from the outside world.
My friends, truly we waited for 17 years for your support that you promised. Because we were as shadow, still hoping our hearts and minds, trying to hang on in hope that you would come back and help us someday. But our dreams did not true. Finally, we faced starvation. Disease and constant military attack; therefore, we could not defeat the Vietnamese Communist. As result, nearly ten thousand Montagnards died in their resistance army from 1975-1992.
Hanoi revealed in our suffering, and asked us “Where are your American friends? Call them come save you”, but you were all gone.
Maybe some of you have forgotten the Montagnard people who fought alongside you and were your friends and allies during the Vietnam War. The Montagnard people will never forget their brothers and Special Forces. We will walk together from the past to the future and you always have the external friendship of the Montagnard people. We will never forget your courage, sacrifice and loyalty. You stood by us when the world turned away.
During the Vietnam War, you had trained us well how to use the weapons of war to fight against our enemy in order to protect our property, freedom, and our people. Every time we used a rifle to fight for our survival in the jungle, we always remembered you. The bond that we had together during the war, the way we expressed our love, care, trust, loyalty, and promise for one another.
Even thought your government has abandoned us, we surely believed that you would never desert us.
We have been crying out for help from the mountaintop, but our voices fade away in the air. Not a nation in the world will pay attention to our plight. Instead, many countries aid the Hanoi government financially, trade and this empowers them to speed up their program of genocide toward the Montagnard people.
We thank God for bringing a thousand of us to the U.S. of America so that we can continue to cry out to the world, especially to the American people to help us to stop the extinction of our people by the Hanoi government.
We have been in the U.S. since 1986, we have found very few of our old American friends who know what happened to the Montagnard people. We are so thankful for what they have been doing for us. But we do not stop looking for some more American friends who still remember us and who would like to join hands with us crying out to the world for restoring the basic Human Rights, freedom and peace for the Montagnard people in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.
On behalf of the Montagnard people, we humbly ask you, please do not turn your back on us because we do not have other friends in this world that would understand and care for us more than you do. Would you please help in any way you can stop the Vietnamese Communist from exterminating our innocent Montagnard race and help us to restore the basic human rights for the Montagnard people so that they can live freely and peacefully like the rest of the people in the free world?
We do not say that you owe us anything because as friends we do not owe one another, but we do return favors and help one another with true friendly love. Now we are not asking you to train us to fight our enemy with gun, but we are asking you to help us fight with political pressure, and pressure for Human Rights. These are strong weapons, and we need your support and recognition of the free world countries, especially the government of the United States and the American people.
During the Vietnam War you were our closest friends and our most intelligent advisors. Now, we would like very much for you to our advisors again because the Montagnard people are not yet free from the hands of the Vietnamese Communist.
Today, the situation in the Central Highlands of Vietnam has become serious and dangerous to the Montagnards. After 20,000 Montagnard people staged peaceful demonstrations on February 2, 2001. The Hanoi governement security is keeping very tight grip on the Montagnard people. No U.S. official, foreign journalists and NGOs were permitted to visit the Central Highlands. The Hanoi government reinforced into the Central Highlands five military divisions, these forces have been taking position in every Montagnard family and deployed along the Cambodia border to search and destroy of thousands of the Montagnards people who crossed the border. As a result, 400 people only reached the Mondulkiri and Ratanakiri camps and under protection of the UN.
The Central Highlands is now a prison area of the Montagnard people and totally isolated from the outside world. “Ethnic cleansing” is on the way for the Montagnard people, no one in the world would know that Hanoi government intentionally do it, but this is being done in secretly. We do not know how many Montagnard people has been devastated. We are politically oppressed, and we suffer in property. Our culture is being destroyed. Everyday, the Vietnamese killers who occupy our land threaten the Montagnard people with enmity and hatred.
According to some estimates, in just a few more years the ancestral name of the Montagnard people will be wiped off the land of the Central Highlands forever. “PLEASE SAVE US.” You can help us to educate the American public and the world of the plight of the Montagnard people by writing letter to congressmen, magazine, newspapers and TV show, and by contributing to the “MONTAGNARD HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATION” organized by a group of former leaders for the Montagnard people. It is a non-profit corporation based in North Carolina, U.S. and has been granted federal tax-exempt status. This is a source of financial Assistance and humanitarian aid to the Montagnard people in the Central Highlands of Vietnam (Plan of Operation of MHRO).
We the Montagnard people, would like to ask you to help us achieve the following goals that must be accomplished immediately for the Montagnard people to survive.
1. Operating funds for the Montagnard Human Rights Organization establish a Headquarters with full-time staff. Without full-time effort, we will be lost and the Montagnard people will lose forever. 2. Provisions to stop Human Rights violations and protection of the Montagnard people in the Central Highlands must be included in the U.S. foreign policy and trade with Vietnam. 3. The U.S. government and its allies must exert pressure on the Hanoi government so that humanitarian organization from around the world are granted access to the Central Highlands and allow to set up program that would help to improve the living conditions of the Montagnard people. 4. Independent observers must be allowed into the Central Highlands to monitor the condition of the Montagnard people before expanding the U.S. FREE TRADE with Vietnam. 5. Speed up the process that permits free immigration for ODP, HO and family reunification of the Montagnards living in the United States. 6. Our main goal is to obtain the support from the American people and the people of the free world countries in recognizing the Montagnard right of self-determination and their right to choose own destiny.
1. Operating funds for the Montagnard Human Rights Organization establish a Headquarters with full-time staff. Without full-time effort, we will be lost and the Montagnard people will lose forever.
2. Provisions to stop Human Rights violations and protection of the Montagnard people in the Central Highlands must be included in the U.S. foreign policy and trade with Vietnam.
3. The U.S. government and its allies must exert pressure on the Hanoi government so that humanitarian organization from around the world are granted access to the Central Highlands and allow to set up program that would help to improve the living conditions of the Montagnard people.
4. Independent observers must be allowed into the Central Highlands to monitor the condition of the Montagnard people before expanding the U.S. FREE TRADE with Vietnam.
5. Speed up the process that permits free immigration for ODP, HO and family reunification of the Montagnards living in the United States.
6. Our main goal is to obtain the support from the American people and the people of the free world countries in recognizing the Montagnard right of self-determination and their right to choose own destiny.
Therefore, our struggle will continue and carry out a long-term struggle with every peaceful means until the Montagnard people are able to live freely and peacefully without the fear of harm from their oppressors.
We pray and believe that God will stir the hearts of many of you into action. We know that you will help, and that is why we wrote to you today. Please do not walk away from the Montagnards who need your help and support the Montagnard Human Rights Organizations. Your love and care will give them the chance to survive in this world.
Thank you very much for your love, support and help. May God bless you and bless America.
Sincerely yours, Y-Bhuat Eban Director of MHRO