---
title: The Refugees Return
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/the-refugees-return-1965-1969/
description: A horizontal photo-sheet (code SP-1138) says that communist refugees have returned to their old village and that the Phu Yen authorities have issued each
section: Collection
---

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3. The Refugees Return

[![The Refugees Return, 1965 US poster: A horizontal photo-sheet (code SP-1138) says that communist refugees have returned](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/the-refugees-return-1965-1969.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/the-refugees-return-1965-1969.jpg)

# The Refugees Return

A horizontal photo-sheet (code SP-1138) says that communist refugees have returned to their old village and that the Phu Yen authorities have issued each family 20 sheets of corrugated metal and 5 bags of cement. Photographs show a materials-distribution ceremony at Hoa Binh commune before a seated crowd, and the province chief handing over metal sheets. The banner heading ties the aid to a slogan, 'Actively build the countryside to defeat the communists', pairing a visible benefit with a political aim.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/) [Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/)

## Text on the object

Original (Vietnamese) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
ĐỒNG BÀO TỴ NẠN CỘNG-SẢN TRỞ VỀ LÀNG CŨ

... VÀ CHÁNH QUYỀN PHÚ-YÊN ĐÃ CẤP PHÁT VẬT LIỆU GIÚP HỌ XÂY DỰNG LẠI THÔN ẤP LÀNG MẠC CŨ. MỖI GIA ĐÌNH TỴ NẠN ĐƯỢC LÃNH 20 TẤM TÔN VÀ 5 BAO XI MĂNG.

[banners in photograph, partly legible:] ... CẤP PHÁT VẬT LIỆU XÂY CẤT NHÀ CHO ĐỒNG BÀO XÃ HÒA-BÌNH ... [illegible]

Quang cảnh buổi lễ cấp phát vật liệu tại xã Hòa-Bình.

Trung Tá Tỉnh Trưởng Phú-Yên tự tay trao tặng phẩm cho đồng bào hồi cư.

TÍCH CỰC XÂY DỰNG NÔNG THÔN ĐỂ CHIẾN THẮNG CỘNG-SẢN.

SP-1138
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
COMPATRIOTS WHO TOOK REFUGE FROM THE COMMUNISTS RETURN TO THEIR OLD VILLAGE

... AND THE PHU-YEN AUTHORITIES HAVE ISSUED MATERIALS TO HELP THEM REBUILD THEIR OLD HAMLETS AND VILLAGES. EACH REFUGEE FAMILY RECEIVES 20 SHEETS OF CORRUGATED METAL AND 5 BAGS OF CEMENT.

[banners in photograph, partly legible:] ... ISSUING OF MATERIALS TO BUILD HOUSES FOR THE COMPATRIOTS OF HOA-BINH VILLAGE ... [illegible]

View of the materials-issuing ceremony at Hoa-Binh village.

The Lieutenant Colonel Province Chief of Phu-Yen personally hands over gifts to the compatriots who have returned home.

ACTIVELY BUILD THE COUNTRYSIDE TO DEFEAT THE COMMUNISTS.

SP-1138
```

[← The Nation Grows and Prospers](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/the-nation-grows-and-prospers-1965-1969/) [The Viet Cong Attack Religious Leaders, Destroy Pagodas and Churches →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/the-viet-cong-attack-religious-leaders-destroy-pagodas-and-churches-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)
- [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)
- [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.
- [Persepolis, Apadana staircase relief: a figure with an animal from a procession of delegations, early fifth century BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/persepolis-apadana-delegate-relief-500bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Card stacking, Manufactured consensus)
- [Alabaster relief, Assyrian troops storming a citadel, from Nineveh (reign of Sennacherib)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/relief-sennacherib-storming-citadel-nineveh-704bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Card stacking). Content note: An Assyrian palace relief of troops storming a fortified city, with a file of figures below; Assyrian royal reliefs and texts record killing, mutilation and deportation, shown as carved, with the historical context and scholarly dispute on the regime page.
- [Colour lithograph of the Latin text of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti on the wall of the temple of Roma and Augustus at Ancyra, with the heading in large letters (Perrot, Guillaume and Delbet, 1872)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/lithograph-res-gestae-ancyra-heading-0014/) (Roman Empire · 0014 · Card stacking, Glittering generalities)
- [Silver denarius of Vespasian, reverse IVDAEA with a trophy of arms and a seated mourning woman](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/denarius-vespasian-judaea-capta-0070/) (Roman Empire · 0070 · Card stacking). Content note: A Roman victory coin showing a mourning female figure as the personification of the conquered province of Judaea after the Roman suppression of the Jewish revolt; shown as struck, with the historical context on the regime page.
