User:Crtew/Killing of the Cholon Four

Killing of the Cholon Four new article content about three Australian and one British journalists killed in Cholon on 5 May 1968 during the May Offensive.

The group
Include biographical descriptions here:

Michael Birch
Michael Y. Birch (1944 – 5 May 1968), also known as Michael Youlin Birch or Michael Yulin Birch, was a journalist and also a poet, who was killed when he was 24 years old and is known as one of the Cholon Four. He was educated as St. Peter's College. He was a journalist for the Australian Associated Press. Two of his poems, Vietnam 68 and Saigon-1968, were published posthumously in the 1968 St Peter's College Magazine. Birch's poetry was published posthumously in Light Me A Candle in 1970.

John Cantwell
John Cantwell, age 29 (ca. 1939 – 5 May 1968) was a Time Magazine and Life reporter from Australia. Cantwell had replaced Zalin Grant at the Times Bureau. It was his suggestion to head into Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon. The group of five squeezed into Cantwell's Mini-moke and took off towards the fighting. Cantwell had been shot 17 times during the ambush.

Besides Cantwell, the only other Time (magazine) reporter to die during the Vietnam War was Sean Flynn, son of film actor Errol Flynn.

Ronald Laramy
Ronald Laramy, age 31 (ca. 1937 – 5 May 1968)was a British Reuters journalist. Laramy was from the farmlands of Devon, England. He had just recently arrived in Vietnam being killed by Viet Cong. Laramy was said to have a yearning for international journalism. He worked along side of Pigott and developed a deep friendship during their time at Reuters and Vietnam. Laramy was in Vietnam to cover the Tet Offensive.

Bruce Pigott
Bruce S. Pigott, age 23 (ca. 1945 – 5 May 1968), also known as Bruce Sydney Pigott,was an Australian journalist. Pigott had moved to London to work at Reuters. He had ambitions of becoming the bureau chief in Indonesia. He worked along side of Laramy, also from Reuters, in Vietnam. His one year term was about to come to an end but he had asked for an extension to stay in Vietnam.

Frank Palmos
Frank Palmos, (20 January 1940) was born in Melbourne, Australia. Palmos was 28 years old at the time of the ambush in Saigon. He was the lone survivor of the five journalists due to the fact that he pretending to be dead. Palmos was a free-lance writer during the Vietnam War. Since then, Palmos has published his book Ridding the Devils.

Death in Vietnam
Describe the ambush here: On the morning of May 5, 1968 five journalists ventured towards the Chinese sector of Saigon. Pigott, Laramy, Birch, Cantwell, and Palmos were squeezed into a Mini-Moke and headed towards Cholon. The five passed Vietnam civilians running away from gun fire and yelling at them to turn around. The avoided the warnings and turned down the next street and were blocked by oil drums. Viet Cong stood from behind them and began firing. Palmos jumped and played dead. He watched as Birch yelled out "press, press". Afterwards he was shot at point-blank range. Palmos watched as the VC commander shot the rest of the journalists. He ran off towards the Vietnamese civilians and tried to blend in making it back to Time's villa. These four reporters were killed during the second wave of the May Offensive.

Later accounts of the ambush
Describe the efforts to document this event in later years and focus on the new information that was revealed from these efforts:
 * Frank Palmos was the fifth journalist on the day of the attack. He escaped with his life by playing dead. Palmos remembers riding in the jeep-like vehicle passed the Vietnamese civilians running from the Veit Cong. Palmos sat higher in the car than the rest and was later quoted saying, out of intuition, "The VC are up ahead-stop, stop, stop !" His request was shot down and they continued down the street. They immediately turned into an empty intersection. Palmos felt the VC in the little intersection. Cantwell, who was driving, tried to put the car into reverse when the Viet Cong members jumped out of their hiding places. Two of the five opened fire on the car. Palmos jumped from the car and fell to the ground, pretending he'd been hit. He kept sneaking looks from under his shoulder. Laramy was already dead and Cantwell was lying on the ground close to Palmos. The commander came forward and Birch called out Bio Chi before the commander shot him. The commander walked towards Cantwell, who was still moving. He aimed and missed, almost hitting Palmos. He then shot Cantwell two more times. Palmos took the opportunity to run when they were reloading their clips. He took refuge with the other Vietnamese civilians until he found an Australian solider to take him to a secure location. Palmos later said that the so called ambush, wasn't an ambush at all. The Viet Cong were just trying to hold the perimeter . Later, after the war was over, Palmos returned to Vietnam to meet the men who killed his colleagues. The Vietnamese government stated that it was mistaken identity. Palmos found out durning his visit that the commander had chased after him and had been blown up by a US helicopter. Palmos didn't accept the government's apology. He was quoted saying, "It was without any though of innocence that he shot my friends, and would have shot me. And it was with plain murder in his mind that he chased me down the road to kill me ."
 * Keith Smith was a college of Michael Birch at Australian Associated Press. Smith decided not to join the group of five that morning. He later heard the story of the ambush from Palmos. Pham Ngoc Dinh was a close friend of Pigott. After hearing about the ambush himself, Dinh sneaked his way pass the Viet Cong to where the group had been shot. He found two of the bodies in the jeep an two under. Later in the afternoon, the South reclaimed the area and the bodies were taken to the US Army Morgue. On May 8, Smith was called to officially identify the bodies. Birch and Pigott were flown to Australia. Birch and Smith had shared an apartment during their time in Vietnam. The morning of May 5, Smith and Birch heard the helicopters fly over the apartment. Birch went to talk to a general who lived nearby. Later on in the morning the group had finally decided to go to Cholon. Smith stayed behind to file the story of the outbreak of fighting.
 * Zalin Grant was associated with Time's magazine. Cantwell had replaced him in Time's Saigon bureau. Grant received a phone call later on in the morning asking him to go to the Time villa. There he was met by Wallace Terry, a Time's reporter, and Frank Palmos. Palmos recounted the story of the ambush and told them the others were dead. Terry and Grant didn't believe that if Palmos was still alive the others were all dead. They contacted the US military to find out if troops would be moving into the area soon. They caught up to the troops and found that the road into Cholon was being blocked. Terry and Grant took a photographer and jeep and went towards Cholon. Once they got close, the photographer said he would not go further. Terry and Grant were dropped off at a Vietnamese precinct and found a lieutenant colonel eating breakfast in full battle gear. Grant then started yelling at the colonel and he soon agreed to accompany them to the reporters. The colonel drove them in an armored convey until they got four blocks from the turnoff. He gave Terry and Grant his gun and left. Grant offered a taxi driver ten dollars for every block he would drive. After driving only two, the taxi driver stopped and made Terry and Grant get out. They continued to walk through the streets towards the journalists passing smiling Vietnamese paratroopers. They decided it was too dangerous and turned back to meet up with Terry's wife. They returned to Cholon around 3 p.m. after American troops started pushing into the district. After making it to the turnoff Cantwell had taken, the American troops told them it wasn't safe to go any further. They continued on anyway with a few rifles from the troops. They found Laramy sitting up in the back of the jeep and the others on the ground. Before touching the bodies, Terry and Grant asked the bomb squad to check for booby traps. Only one sargent agreed to check for traps. Terry and Grant had to drive the bodies out themselves but before they could 30 Viet Cong ran past trying to escape the American troops. They quickly drove off before they got shot, too.

Possible links in article

 * Saigon is currently known as Ho Chi Minh City
 * Ho Chi Minh City was formerly Saigon
 * Cholon
 * Vietnam War
 * Tet offensive
 * Vietcong
 * Reuters
 * Time (magazine)
 * Australian Associated Press (AAP)

Drop any bare links or references here
The Baron (about Bruce Pigott & Ron Laramy of Reuters):

Anderson & Trembath:

Zalin Grant's Letters from a French Village:

The Australian, 2009:

Epoch Times, 2008:

Asia Sentinel:

Rick Maxwell, 2008:

The Age, 1992:

"Ridding the Devils", 1990:

60 Minutes Television Documentary, 1990.

L.A. Times:

Time (magazine):

St Peter's College Magazine (1968):

Frank Palmos:

Michael Birch:

National Library of Australia (for Michael Birch):

Keith Smith:

Faces From the Wall: