--- title: Những bàn tay xây dựng đất nước (Hands That Build Our Country) url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hands-that-build-our-country-1965-1969/ description: A photo-montage sheet in Vietnamese reports that more than 40 U.S. paratroopers of the 173rd Brigade helped with social work in Pleiku province. section: Collection --- 1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/) 2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/) 3. Những bàn tay xây dựng đất nước (Hands That Build Our Country) [![Những bàn tay xây dựng đất nước, 1965 US poster: A photo-montage sheet in Vietnamese reports that more than 40 U.S.](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/hands-that-build-our-country-1965-1969.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/hands-that-build-our-country-1965-1969.jpg) # Những bàn tay xây dựng đất nước (Hands That Build Our Country) A photo-montage sheet in Vietnamese reports that more than 40 U.S. paratroopers of the 173rd Brigade helped with social work in Pleiku province, clearing school grounds and carrying furniture. Photographs show shirtless and uniformed Americans raking, mixing plaster and carrying a bench, ending with a smiling Vietnamese man wearing a U.S. fatigue suit. The sheet pairs American soldiers with ordinary manual labour and the language of friendship in hard times. ## Propaganda techniques used in this poster [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/) [Plain folks](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/plain-folks/) [Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/) ## Text on the object Original (Vietnamese) · read from the image, not independently checked ``` NHỮNG BÀN TAY XÂY DỰNG ĐẤT NƯỚC TRÊN 40 QUÂN NHÂN NHẢY DÙ MỸ THUỘC PHI ĐOÀN 173 ĐÃ HỢP TÁC TRONG CÔNG TÁC XÃ HỘI TỈNH PLEIKU. HỌ ĐÃ DỌN SỬA LẠI CÁC TRƯỜNG HỌC, VÂN VÂN ... Dĩ nhiên là những bàn tay Việt nhưng ta cũng không thể quên trong đó có những bàn tay thân hữu của những người bạn Hoa Kỳ đã rời bỏ quê hương xa xôi sang giúp ta xây dựng ... trong giai đoạn tranh tối tranh sáng của đất nước. Các anh này ra tay dọn cỏ sân rồi ... khiêng bàn ghế, vân vân ... Anh này giúp dân chúng ban đất. Anh này trộn hồ, quét tường. Nụ cười chất phác trong bộ áo Mỹ xùng xình nói lên tình Việt Mỹ trong gian khổ thắm thiết biết chừng nào. ``` English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader) ``` HANDS THAT BUILD THE COUNTRY More than 40 American paratroopers of the 173rd Brigade [printed 'Phi đoàn', literally 'air group'] cooperated in social work in Pleiku province. They cleaned up and repaired schools, and so on ... Of course these are Vietnamese hands, but we also cannot forget that among them are the friendly hands of American friends who left their distant homeland to come and help us build ... in the half-light, half-dark period of the country. These men have set to clearing the yard ... carrying tables and chairs, and so on ... This one helps the people level the ground. This one mixes mortar and plasters walls. The artless smile in a baggy American outfit shows how deep the Vietnamese-American feeling is in hardship. ``` Translation is FRAME's own literal rendering, not verified by a fluent reader. Small caption fragments near the photographs are paired to the nearest picture; 'ban đất' is read as 'level the earth'. [← GVN Serving the People in Vinh Long](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gvn-serving-the-people-in-vinh-long-1965-1969/) [Hands That Help the People →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hands-that-help-the-people-binh-dinh-1965-1969/) ## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques - [Fragments of the Abydos king list from Ramesses II's temple, in the British Museum: rows of royal cartouches](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/abydos-king-list-ramesses-ii-temple-british-museum/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer) - [Clay cylinder with the Ehulhul inscription of Nabonidus, king of Babylon, describing work on three temples](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cylinder-nabonidus-ehulhul-inscription-555bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer) - [Seated limestone statue of Hatshepsut as king, with feminine royal titles on the throne, reassembled from fragments broken up at Deir el-Bahri](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hatshepsut-seated-statue-limestone-met-1458bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer, Testimonial) - [Glazed-brick panel with a striding lion, from Babylon (reign of Nebuchadnezzar II)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ishtar-gate-panel-striding-lion-nebuchadnezzar-ii-604bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer) - [Limestone relief block of Ramesses II wearing the White Crown, a jubilee relief from his temple at Herakleopolis](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jubilee-relief-ramesses-ii-herakleopolis-met-05-4-256/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer) - [Line drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kadesh-relief-ramesseum-breasted-drawing-1275bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer). Content note: A drawing of an Egyptian royal battle relief showing Hittite soldiers and horses killed and drowned, as the king's monument presented the battle; it is a one-sided image made by the winning side's own account. - [Gypsum alabaster slab inscribed in cuneiform, from Nimrud (Kalhu), reign of Ashurnasirpal II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nimrud-slab-ashurnasirpal-ii-inscription-883bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Transfer, Glittering generalities) - [Egyptian alabaster jar inscribed with the name of Xerxes the Great in four languages (Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian, Egyptian), 486 to 466 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/xerxes-jar-four-languages-486bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Transfer)