Operation Wandering Soul

Operation Wandering Soul was a propaganda campaign and psychological warfare effort exercised by U.S. forces during the Vietnam War. It was an attempt to increase desertions and defections from Việt Cộng forces and weaken their morale.

For the 1993 novel by Richard Powers, see Operation Wandering Soul (novel).

Warfare campaign

Like most cultures, Vietnamese culture includes beliefs and rituals that show respect for the dead. Vietnamese culture calls for a proper burial and it is believed that if this does not occur, the soul of the deceased continues to wander the earth thus becoming a "Wandering Soul," equivalent to a ghost or spirit.[1]

It is the Vietnamese belief that the dead must be buried in their homeland, or their soul will wander aimlessly in pain and suffering. Vietnamese feel that if a person is improperly buried, then their soul wanders constantly. They can sometimes be contacted on the anniversary of their death and near where they died. Vietnamese honor these dead souls on a holiday when they return to the site where they died. The U.S. used this to their advantage and tried to trick the Viet-Congs into leaving by playing the audio recording of their dead friends wandering around.[1]

Voice recordings

U.S. engineers spent weeks recording eerie sounds and altered voices, which acted in roles of slain Việt Cộng soldiers. The United States of America also brought in South Vietnamese soldiers to record their audio sayings over the tape for further authenticity. The tape, dubbed 'Ghost Tape Number Ten', was played on loudspeakers in areas of Việt Cộng activity, generally at night.[2] Helicopters were also deployed at times to broadcast recordings in which the pre-recorded voices called on their "descendants" in the Việt Cộng to defect and cease fighting. The United States would also use patrol boats going up and down the river playing the ghost tape. The United States would also deploy special infantry to infiltrate enemy lines and play the recording too. Most of these types of operations did take place at night. [3]

Results

The overall success of these ghost tapes was mixed, because in the event that the Việt Cộng soldiers knew it was just a recording, their immediate response would be to fire upon where the sound was coming from, though this in turn revealed their hidden positions within the jungle. The Army Concept Team which had been responsible for Wandering Soul admitted that the Viet Cong "realized what was going on" but still insisted that the operation had been a success, despite presenting no evidence for their claim.[4] The United States ultimately stopped Ghost 10 in the early 1970s.[5] A similar program was prepared for use in the Congo, with recordings being produced to simulate angry local gods, as a form of population control, to attempt to ensure that the local populations did not leave their villages, however it was never brought into use.[6]

See also

References
  1. SGM Herbert A. Friedman (Ret.) (December 31, 2005). "The Wandering Soul". Patrol Craft Fast. Robert B. Shirley. Retrieved 2006-11-29.
  2. Hoyt, Alia (May 16, 2017). "Ghost Tape No. 10: The Haunted Mixtape of the Vietnam War". HowStuffWorks. Retrieved December 16, 2018.
  3. The Quiet Mutiny, by John Pilger
  4. Kellen, Konrad (1980). "Review: War on the Mind" (PDF). JSTOR 45346185. Retrieved May 1, 2023.
  5. "Operation Wandering Soul – Ghost Tape Number 10 and the Haunted Jungles of Vietnam". MilitaryHistoryNow.com. 2013-10-30. Retrieved 2021-11-21.
  6. Watson, Peter (1978). War on the Mind (1st ed.). London: Hutchinson. pp. 410–411. ISBN 0091314402.

Bibliography
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