Content note: Photographs of a street march with banners, a district chief handing out food, and burned-out houses and a bandaged man, as issued. This object is shown as it was published. Why
The People of Duc Hoa Condemn Viet Cong Crimes
A poster (code SP-1622) reports that on the night of 18 October 1966 the Viet Cong attacked a hamlet security post at Binh Thi, killing a family and burning 30 houses, and shows a street march of over 500 people, a district chief handing out food to victims, and burned-out houses. The final caption calls the sight the Viet Cong's so-called 'liberation'. The tell is an atrocity report paired with a crowd photograph presented as the community's unanimous response.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1966
- Period
- Cold War
- Made by
- Joint U.S. Public Affairs Office (JUSPAO) printing section, for the South Vietnamese government
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Johnson Administration
- Leader
- Lyndon B. Johnson
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Demonize
- Themes
- War and the military, Security and surveillance
- Event
- Vietnam War
- Source
- Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
- Source
- U.S. National Archives (NARA), RG 306, Psychological Warfare Posters, Vietnam War (NAID 561393), retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- NARA Unrestricted; hosted by owner decision
Joint U.S. Public Affairs Office (JUSPAO) printing section, for the South Vietnamese government. National Archives and Records Administration, 306-VP-5-1622.
Text on the object
DÂN CHÚNG ĐỨC HÒA LÊN ÁN TỘI ÁC VIỆT CỘNG ĐÊM 18-10-66 VIỆT CỘNG ĐỘT NHẬP VÀO A.T.S. BÌNH THỊ LIỆNG LỰU ĐẠN BÉTA VÀO NHÀ TÀN SÁT ÔNG MAI VĂN QUẢNG VÀ 3 EM BÉ CHƯA ĐẦY 6 TUỔI CHẾT THÊ THẢM, 13 PHỤ NỮ, TRẺ EM BỊ THƯƠNG NẶNG. CHÚNG CÒN ĐỐT 30 CĂN NHÀ CỦA ĐỒNG BÀO. TRÊN 500 ĐỒNG BÀO ĐANG BIỂU TÌNH QUA CÁC ĐƯỜNG PHỐ LÊN ÁN TỘI ÁC VIỆT CỘNG. TRUNG-ÚY TẠ-TRUNG-QUÂN, QUẬN-TRƯỞNG ĐỨC-HÒA ĐANG TRAO THỰC PHẨM CHO ĐỒNG BÀO NẠN NHÂN. ĐÂY QUANG CẢNH MỆNH DANH "GIẢI PHÓNG" CỦA BỌN VIỆT CỘNG, CHỨNG TỎ BỌN CHÚNG COI RẺ TÍNH MẠNG ĐỒNG BÀO VÔ TỘI. [Banners in photograph, partly legible: ĐẢ ... ĐỒNG BÀO ... SÁT HẠI ... THẾ THỦ VÔ TỘI; CỰC ... ĐỠ MAN CỦA VIỆT ... ] SP-1622
THE PEOPLE OF DUC HOA CONDEMN THE CRIMES OF THE VIET CONG On the night of 18-10-66 the Viet Cong broke into the hamlet security post [A.T.S.] at Binh Thi and hurled grenades into the house of Mr. Mai Van Quang, massacring him and 3 children not yet 6 years old in a pitiful manner; 13 women and children were seriously wounded. They also burned 30 houses of the compatriots. Over 500 compatriots are demonstrating through the streets condemning the crimes of the Viet Cong. Lieutenant Ta-Trung-Quan, chief of Duc-Hoa district, is handing out food to the victims. This is the scene of the Viet Cong's so-called 'liberation', proving that they hold the lives of innocent compatriots cheap. [Banners in photograph, partly legible: Down with ... compatriots ... killing ... innocent ...; ... the savagery of the Viet ... ] SP-1622
Banner text is mostly illegible at this resolution. The poster does not expand 'A.T.S.'; the translation's 'hamlet security post' is FRAME's best reading.
