Le Quan Cong

Le Quan Cong was a South Vietnamese communist guerilla and soldier who fought against both French and American forces, and also Vietnamese anti-communist forces during the First Indochina War and the Vietnam War. He was a member of the Việt Cộng and first joined Vietnamese communist resistance movement (the Việt Minh) against France and the Vietnamese nationalists in 1951 when he was 12.

Interviewed by filmmaker Ken Burns for the TV series The Vietnam War, Cong said that three of his brothers and a sister were all killed by American or South Vietnamese forces during the war. Cong said that civilians were much more likely to be killed by American forces in helicopters than Viet Cong, since civilians ran at the sight of helicopters and were therefore easily seen and gunned down. By contrast he stated that Viet Cong forces were more likely to maintain their positions in these contexts.