--- title: The Road to Life url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/road-to-life-nguyen-van-ngu-1968/ description: A portrait-format photo-story tells how a North Vietnamese army private, Nguyen Van Ngu, rallied in Long An on 16 May 1968, led troops to a cache. section: Collection --- 1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/) 2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/) 3. The Road to Life [![The Road to Life, 1968 US poster: A portrait-format photo-story tells how a North Vietnamese army private, Nguyen Van Ngu](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/road-to-life-nguyen-van-ngu-1968.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/road-to-life-nguyen-van-ngu-1968.jpg) # The Road to Life A portrait-format photo-story tells how a North Vietnamese army private, Nguyen Van Ngu, rallied in Long An on 16 May 1968, led troops to a cache, and was given a cash reward of 436,000 piastres. Photographs show him reading a leaflet, shaking hands with a provincial colonel, speaking to an audience, and choosing cloth in a shop. The tell is the itemised reward and the shopping scene, offered as proof of what rallying brings. ## Propaganda techniques used in this poster [Testimonial](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/testimonial/) [Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/) ## Text on the object Original (Vietnamese) · read from the image, not independently checked ``` CON ĐƯỜNG SỐNG HƯỞNG ỨNG CHÍNH SÁCH CHIÊU-HỒI CỦA CHÁNH-PHỦ NGÀY 16 THÁNG NĂM 1968 ANH NGUYỄN-VĂN-NGỰ BINH NHẤT D386, TRUNG ĐOÀN 30/2 THUỘC QUÂN ĐỘI CHÁNH QUI BẮC-VIỆT ĐÃ RA HỒI CHÁNH TẠI MỘT ĐƠN VỊ QUÂN ĐỘI VIỆT-NAM CỘNG-HOÀ ĐỒN TRÚ TẠI QUẬN RẠCH KIẾN, TỈNH LONG-AN, SAU 7 THÁNG TRỜI ĐƯỢC LỆNH BÁC VÀ ĐẢNG XÂM LĂNG MIỀN NAM. Anh Ngự đang suy tư trước khi trở về với chính nghĩa quốc gia. Ngày ra hồi chánh anh Ngự còn mang nạp cho chính quyền 1 khẩu AK47 và hướng dẫn quân đội hành quân tại Liên xã Phước-Vân và Long-Cang thuộc quận Rạch-Kiến (Long-An). Kết quả: đã hạ sát được 58 VC-tịch thu: 4 súng cối 60 ly, 4 súng Đại liên 60 ly, 1 súng phòng không 12/7, 2 súng SKZ và 19 AK 47. Do đó anh đã được Đại Tá tỉnh trưởng Long-An nồng nhiệt khen ngợi và trao tặng số tiền mặt là: 436.000$00. Trước hàng vạn khán giả, anh Ngự đang nói về hiện tình xã hội miền Bắc và lý do nào đã thúc đẩy anh ra hồi chánh. "Tôi sung sướng quá vì tôi đã tìm thấy ánh sáng của cuộc sống", đó là lời anh Nguyễn-văn-Ngự trong lúc mạn đàm tại Trung Tâm Chiêu-Hồi Long-An. Tại một tiệm buôn tràn ngập hàng hoá anh Ngự đang chọn một loại vải mà anh hằng mơ ước và tự nghĩ sẽ không bao giờ có ở một xã hội chủ nghĩa. 2956 ``` English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader) ``` THE ROAD TO LIFE Responding to the Government's Chieu Hoi policy, on 16 May 1968 Mr. Nguyen-Van-Ngu, Private First Class, D386, Regiment 30/2 of the North Vietnamese regular army, rallied at a Republic of Vietnam army unit stationed in Rach Kien District, Long An Province, after 7 months under orders from Uncle [Ho] and the Party to invade the South. Mr. Ngu is reflecting before returning to the national cause. On the day he rallied, Mr. Ngu also handed over to the authorities 1 AK-47 and guided the army on operations in the Phuoc-Van and Long-Cang inter-village area of Rach Kien District (Long An). Result: 58 VC killed; seized: 4 60mm mortars, 4 60mm machine guns, 1 12.7 anti-aircraft gun, 2 SKZ and 19 AK-47s. For this he was warmly praised by the Colonel Province Chief of Long An and given a cash sum of: 436,000 piastres. Before thousands of spectators, Mr. Ngu is speaking about the present state of society in the North and the reasons that drove him to rally. "I am so happy because I have found the light of life," were the words of Mr. Nguyen-van-Ngu in a conversation at the Long An Chieu Hoi Centre. In a shop overflowing with goods, Mr. Ngu is choosing a kind of cloth he has long dreamed of and thought he would never find in a socialist society. 2956 ``` The poster text says 'ngày 16 tháng năm 1968' (16 May 1968). 'Súng Đại liên 60 ly' is rendered literally as '60mm machine guns' as printed. Diacritics transcribed as printed to the best of legibility. [← Returning Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/returning-home-long-hung-sa-dec-1968/) ["Lenin, prebuď sa, Brežnev sa zbláznil": wall slogan after the Warsaw Pact invasion, Slovakia →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/slovak-wall-slogan-lenin-wake-up-1968/) ## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques - [Behistun (Bisotun) rock relief and trilingual inscription of Darius I: the king, two attendants and the bound rebel leaders beneath the winged figure of Ahuramazda](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/behistun-relief-darius-and-rebels-521bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Card stacking, Name-calling, Testimonial). Content note: Shows bound captives before the king, and the inscription records the mutilation and public execution of rebel leaders, as the king's own account. - [Tomb of Darius I at Naqsh-e Rustam: the king in relief beside his inscription DNa, c. 490 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dna-inscription-darius-i-naqsh-e-rustam-490bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Testimonial, Card stacking) - [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) - [Bronze sestertius of Gaius (Caligula), reverse S P Q R P P OB CIVES SERVATOS in an oak wreath](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-caligula-ob-cives-servatos-0037/) (Roman Empire · 0037 · Testimonial, Transfer) - [Bronze sestertius of Trajan, reverse S P Q R OPTIMO PRINCIPI, S C, the emperor on horseback riding down an enemy](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-trajan-optimo-principi-0103/) (Roman Empire · 0103 · Testimonial, Glittering generalities) - [Seljuq gold dinar of Sanjar, dated 493 AH, with the Abbasid caliph named on one face](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/seljuq-gold-dinar-sanjar-caliph-name-1099/) (Great Seljuk Empire · 1099 · Testimonial) - [Estoire d'Eracles page with Bernard of Clairvaux preaching the Second Crusade in the initial (Walters W.137, fol. 180v)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eracles-bernard-preaching-second-crusade-w137-1275/) (France · 1275 · Testimonial) - [Opening page of the Estoire d'Eracles (William of Tyre in French), with the Crucifixion and Pope Urban II preaching the First Crusade in the initial (Walters W.137, fol. 1r)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eracles-urban-ii-preaching-first-crusade-w137-1275/) (France · 1275 · Testimonial, Transfer)