Speaker 1: My name is Trim and this is Saigon, the story
Speaker 1: of my family and of the country that shaped us.
Speaker 1: The United States will not stand by and allow any power, however,
Speaker 1: great ape.
Speaker 2: Over another time.
Speaker 3: Oren't allow God, who from natural experigion have brought only community.
Speaker 4: Land a bad bady battle.
Speaker 5: Don't landed a by babble.
Speaker 2: That can be no peace without justice, and that can.
Speaker 3: Be no justice without peace.
Speaker 5: Chapter two, h h, my boy.
Speaker 3: Our things on the streets today.
Speaker 2: Mostly calm, father, But there is a mood in the air,
Speaker 2: a mood of anger that's dangerous.
Speaker 3: Who is fanning the flames. It's not just about a
Speaker 3: tennis mother.
Speaker 2: Match fired out the anger, but the Viet Mien and
Speaker 2: other radicals are feeding off the resentment.
Speaker 3: We must control it.
Speaker 2: Don't worry, father, the police are in control of civil order.
Speaker 2: But I do have something else to ask you. Yes, well,
Speaker 2: what we need is someone on the inside, on a
Speaker 2: Viet informer.
Speaker 3: That it won't be easy to find someone we can trust.
Speaker 2: No, but you remember my friend who Tran Van Kim.
Speaker 3: The tennis player, the one who caused the trouble, is
Speaker 3: just a playboy.
Speaker 2: Well, yes, but he's got a problem and he wants
Speaker 2: to speak to you as commissioner of police. What about
Speaker 2: he came to see me. He was in a terrible state, crying.
Speaker 2: His father threw him out of the house, disowned him.
Speaker 2: And well on top of that, he's yes, he's also
Speaker 2: got himself into a situation.
Speaker 3: What sort of situation with a woman? Ah, well, that's
Speaker 3: his problem. I'm not surprised his father has thrown him out.
Speaker 3: Some boys have to learn how to grab the hard way.
Speaker 3: I can't help him with an angry girlfriend.
Speaker 2: Normally, no, of course, father, But when it's a French
Speaker 2: official's wife in the ministry, Kim knows everyone and he
Speaker 2: goes everywhere. So I thought, maybe if you rescue him
Speaker 2: from this particular situation, we will own him.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, I see that.
Speaker 2: He could be our spy with an ear on the street.
Speaker 2: Where's your meeting, yes, father.
Speaker 6: And Paul. Yes, good work son.
Speaker 1: While Paul and his father were planning to repress assent
Speaker 1: on the streets, the only thing Paul's friend Joseph could
Speaker 1: think about was meeting Lane again. He had been given
Speaker 1: an assignment by his newspaper to cover the unrest in
Speaker 1: the North, but had delayed his departure, and Lane had
Speaker 1: been given permission by her father to take in the
Speaker 1: fresh air of the early evening along the Mekong River bank,
Speaker 1: where Joseph joined her.
Speaker 5: I said I was meeting a friend. He assumed it
Speaker 5: was a girlfriend.
Speaker 4: Assumed, well, it's true.
Speaker 5: I did not correct the assumption.
Speaker 4: Well, I'm sorry. I can't help on that score.
Speaker 5: I'm here because I want to be Joseph, thank you,
Speaker 5: and I'm sorry. Seeing me meant you had to postpone
Speaker 5: your trip to annoy.
Speaker 4: Seeing you was much more important, man, much more, I know.
Speaker 4: I can wait.
Speaker 6: Oh yeah, well.
Speaker 7: I got you.
Speaker 2: I got you.
Speaker 4: Are you okay? Yes, I didn't mean to grab you
Speaker 4: like Joseph.
Speaker 5: It's nice. Joseph m in our garden after the tennis.
Speaker 5: My father came in before I could ask something, ask
Speaker 5: what why you came back? Losing your father must have
Speaker 5: been so painful, you know.
Speaker 4: Ever since he died, I've lived thinking anyone could die
Speaker 4: on any given day.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: So when opportunities present themselves, like returning here, I take them.
Speaker 4: But yeah, I did that without knowing. I mean, I
Speaker 4: had no idea that you and I would back then
Speaker 4: you were just a kid.
Speaker 5: You'll grow up.
Speaker 4: And yes, I can see that. I mean not that
Speaker 4: we I mean that didn't okay. I should stop talking
Speaker 4: so much, particularly when I can't even finish the sentence.
Speaker 4: I always I talk too much when I get nervous.
Speaker 5: I like hearing you talk.
Speaker 4: Now you're just being kind. No, I'm not even making sense.
Speaker 5: No, Joseph, you're making perfect sense. I know what you're saying.
Speaker 5: I should get back. Yes, of course, my father will
Speaker 5: be wondering.
Speaker 4: Let me escort you home.
Speaker 5: Maybe we should hire a sampan.
Speaker 4: Are you sure?
Speaker 5: I am, if you are.
Speaker 6: All right right?
Speaker 1: They needed no more words beyond those required to hire
Speaker 1: a sampan, of course. Inside unseen from the banks, Joseph
Speaker 1: rolled back the canvas roof, and the scent of Saigon's
Speaker 1: night markets spilled into the cabin. Even decades later, a
Speaker 1: mere hint of that scent would always turn memories across
Speaker 1: the city. At the Continental Palace hotel, Commissioner Jacques Devreaux
Speaker 1: was waiting for his new potential.
Speaker 7: Spy, Commissioner Monsieur king, thank you for agreeing to me.
Speaker 3: For members of the esteemed Tran family, it is always
Speaker 3: able castle.
Speaker 6: We must se what Champagne.
Speaker 7: That's very generous, Commissioner.
Speaker 3: Well before we discuss business. I must toast Saigon's newest
Speaker 3: tennis champion.
Speaker 7: I'm glad you consider my victory legitimate.
Speaker 6: It was a game, Kim.
Speaker 3: I'm a believer in keeping things in perspective.
Speaker 7: I couldn't agree more good.
Speaker 3: We have some common ground. Now I am told you
Speaker 3: have a situation. The situation I can help you resolve.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 8: Tomorrow morning, a prominent family is going to insist you
Speaker 8: arrest me on charges that come down to their word against.
Speaker 7: Mine over a woman.
Speaker 3: Why am I not surprised?
Speaker 8: The issue is she does not want to be named
Speaker 8: in public, and nor does she want to see me
Speaker 8: suffer an injustice. So she is aching for you to
Speaker 8: hear our side of the story secretly, to give you
Speaker 8: the information you need to calm everything down. And obviously
Speaker 8: I will be in your debt, Commissioner Devereaux, But I
Speaker 8: do not believe I'm asking you to break an oath
Speaker 8: or the law.
Speaker 7: It's just desperate times need desperate measures.
Speaker 8: As the old saying goes, where is this woman? She's
Speaker 8: waiting outside in a rickshaw. She can't be seen here
Speaker 8: in the terrace of the Hotel Continental. Too many people
Speaker 8: would know her.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, of course, of course, showing her face to
Speaker 3: the whole who cut in it at such a sensitive time?
Speaker 3: I understand still, like, if I do this for you,
Speaker 3: what can I expect in return?
Speaker 8: Anything, monsieur, anything you want, but we can discuss details later. Please,
Speaker 8: she's here now outside, yes, but you.
Speaker 7: Can't wait for long. She's expected home very soon.
Speaker 3: All right, continue, do you.
Speaker 6: Vera let.
Speaker 7: Please come on it after you?
Speaker 3: But we could be said no, no, no, not yet, Pierre,
Speaker 3: We'll be back in a while.
Speaker 2: Wonderful, enjoyed the night there?
Speaker 3: Now where is she.
Speaker 7: Around here? Mister huh?
Speaker 8: Down this way, the eli on the left, come come, come.
Speaker 6: See.
Speaker 7: Ah, she's at the end. Yes, in a sicklo Yes,
Speaker 7: I see.
Speaker 1: Jacques Devereux headed down the unlet alley towards the hooded rickshaw.
Speaker 1: In a few minutes, he would have Kim on his
Speaker 1: payroll and be one step ahead of all the major
Speaker 1: ringleaders in the Vietnamese nationalist movement. Then in the rickshaw
Speaker 1: was a man who is this with a knife?
Speaker 4: Kim him.
Speaker 1: As he turned, Kim drove his own knife deep into
Speaker 1: Jacques Debrou's chest. Forget It was over in seconds. Jacques
Speaker 1: Debeu's body was found an hour later.
Speaker 2: It's so peaceful here.
Speaker 4: It's like nothing else matters, just you and me.
Speaker 1: H m.
Speaker 4: M hmm.
Speaker 1: What that's it.
Speaker 5: Listen, Joseph, my father he wants me to marry.
Speaker 4: Ah okay, but what do you want?
Speaker 5: It doesn't matter, of course it does.
Speaker 4: He can't force you to if you don't want to.
Speaker 5: No, you don't understand. This isn't America for my father.
Speaker 5: Marriage isn't about love. It's about securing wealth and status
Speaker 5: for the family.
Speaker 4: That must be hard, having your life decided.
Speaker 1: For you like that.
Speaker 5: Just hold me again, please, I got you.
Speaker 2: That sounds ominous.
Speaker 5: All riots.
Speaker 4: Were your father's to worrying where you are?
Speaker 5: Yes, I should probably get home soon.
Speaker 6: None is that you, Oh father.
Speaker 5: I didn't think you would.
Speaker 2: I thought you were just meeting Jaretti.
Speaker 8: I was.
Speaker 7: It's after ten.
Speaker 5: It was her birthday, so we she wanted to celebrate.
Speaker 5: But I'm safe. When we heard all the sirens, I
Speaker 5: said goodbye and came straight home. Here you are, Mama.
Speaker 9: I've been worried.
Speaker 5: It's all right. I'm fine, everything's fine.
Speaker 9: Did you know what's happened?
Speaker 1: The funeral was three days later, held at the Saigon
Speaker 1: Notre Dame Cathedral.
Speaker 2: Thank you for coming.
Speaker 1: It attracted all the important office bearers.
Speaker 5: Of the colony.
Speaker 8: Thank you, Ah, Monsieur Hugh, my condolences, Captain Devereux.
Speaker 7: Your father was a fine, fine man.
Speaker 5: Thank you.
Speaker 3: I hope you catch and punish the offenders.
Speaker 4: Yes, they do not speak for the real Vietnam Captain,
Speaker 4: of course.
Speaker 6: Yeah, please know that they are uncivilized gangsters.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Monsieur Hugh. Yeah, yeah, yeah, man.
Speaker 5: I cannot imagine the grief you must be feeling. If
Speaker 5: there is anything I can do anyway I can help, please.
Speaker 2: Let me know, of course. Thank you, lad Well, minister,
Speaker 2: thank you for coming. Oh, Joseph, I can't believe it.
Speaker 4: I know, I'm still in shock.
Speaker 2: Look, I can't say much now, but I'll need a
Speaker 2: drink somewhere after this.
Speaker 4: Damn sure you will.
Speaker 1: And three hours later, emotionally exhausted, Paul Devereux slumped into
Speaker 1: an armchair at the Gendarmerie Officers Club opposite his boyhood friend.
Speaker 2: What an ordeal, What a turnout.
Speaker 4: Practically the entire French administration was there. Your father was
Speaker 4: highly respected, Paul. You should be proud.
Speaker 2: The Rebons are getting bolder. You'd think the Vietnamese might
Speaker 2: have some gratitude for what France has given them. We've
Speaker 2: civilized them, modernized them, made them economically competitive, broad peace
Speaker 2: and prosperity. And what do we get in return? These
Speaker 2: people are not ready for independence. If we left, they'd
Speaker 2: kill each other. And they're not even aware of the Japanese.
Speaker 2: The Japanese are just staring across the ocean with cannons
Speaker 2: and tanks, waiting to grab their chance. Without us here,
Speaker 2: there'd be a Japanese colony.
Speaker 4: A paste, missie, here, you need a drink, I do.
Speaker 2: Better, hm, hm, A drink and a good friend with
Speaker 2: whom I can say what I think. I'm glad you
Speaker 2: canceled that trip to Hanoi.
Speaker 4: Don't think twice about it, Santi Si. So any indication
Speaker 4: of who might have been responsible for your father's.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: Nothing direct. He had the meeting with Tran Van Kim
Speaker 2: at the Continental, but that was earlier in the evening
Speaker 2: they left, long before his body was found.
Speaker 4: Tran then Kim Land's brother, Tran then Kim.
Speaker 2: Yes. In fact, Kim asked me to set up that meeting.
Speaker 2: It got himself in trouble with some girl and couldn't
Speaker 2: go to his father to sort it out, so he
Speaker 2: came to us instead. Oh, I have wondered. Kim's obviously
Speaker 2: sympathetic to the cause of nationalism, probably even knows some
Speaker 2: of the agitators. But then you think Kim might have No,
Speaker 2: not really, he's not a killer. There's such a respectable family. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and they've been so good to me, to all of us.
Speaker 2: It couldn't be Kim. Our families have been closed for
Speaker 2: so long.
Speaker 7: In fact, in fact, what.
Speaker 2: No, I shouldn't say. They have some news, but it's
Speaker 2: up to Kim's father, Monsieur here, to announce it. Oh,
Speaker 2: come on, No, I can't.
Speaker 4: Now, you're just being deliberately mysterious.
Speaker 10: You'll hear soon enough, Joseph, have another couple of drinks. No,
Speaker 10: it's about something else, nothing to do with what's just happened.
Speaker 10: Let's changed the subject.
Speaker 1: Paul Deveux pushed Kim from his thoughts, but he and
Speaker 1: Joseph had both hugely underestimated the fire that now burned.
Speaker 9: In Kim's soul.
Speaker 1: This way, Kim had left his birth family forever, and
Speaker 1: he had sought to be accepted by a new family,
Speaker 1: a family that initially doubted his sincerity.
Speaker 6: Sit down, wait, tryan van Kim. Yes, you made an impression.
Speaker 1: This was Ho Chi Minh, legendary leader of the Indo
Speaker 1: Chinese Communist Party.
Speaker 11: I have wandered a tennis player, a womaniser, a boy
Speaker 11: from wealth and privilege. Why would you seek us out?
Speaker 8: Because I also know all the injustice and hypocrisy it
Speaker 8: takes to keep privilege alive.
Speaker 11: Privilege is hard to give up.
Speaker 8: I have no interest in that life any longer. I
Speaker 8: cannot return to it physically or emotionally. Physically, that's now impossible.
Speaker 8: I knew that women would always be a distraction, so
Speaker 8: I removed that option with the same knife with which
Speaker 8: I killed Commissioner de Roun. I'm now dedicated to the revolution, comrade,
Speaker 8: to freedom for Vietnam and its people.
Speaker 7: There will be no distractions.
Speaker 11: Welcome to the struggle, Comrade Kimen. I wish we had
Speaker 11: more of you.
Speaker 1: Kim would stay hidden for several weeks, grow a beard,
Speaker 1: lose weight. In time, he would be barely recognizable, and
Speaker 1: thoughts of his old family would fade to nothing. Even
Speaker 1: memories of his beloved sister Lan In Kim's heart land
Speaker 1: soon disappeared, but in Joseph Sherman's heart. Lan was everything,
Speaker 1: like a first true love. There was space for little else.
Speaker 1: She had left a message for him after the funeral,
Speaker 1: meet me midday at the Chillo Leo Cafe Monsieur that
Speaker 1: is here, But Midday had arrived and receded. By mid afternoon,
Speaker 1: Joseph had two options, return to his hotel and accept
Speaker 1: a puzzling rejection, or casually dropped by the Hugh villa
Speaker 1: and politely inquire if Lanne is receiving visitors.
Speaker 4: Ahn, Yes, Madame Hugh, I wonder if perhaps I might
Speaker 4: see your daughter.
Speaker 9: This isn't a very convenient time.
Speaker 4: Please, I'm going away, you see, and I'd like to
Speaker 4: say goodbye. That's all, Joseph Lane, I uh, I'm sorry.
Speaker 4: I went to the cafe.
Speaker 6: I waited.
Speaker 4: Oh you didn't come.
Speaker 5: I couldn't.
Speaker 4: You couldn't.
Speaker 5: I tried to send a message. I have not been
Speaker 5: left alone. I'm sorry. It's all happened so fast, and
Speaker 5: I can't It's not what I but I can't stop.
Speaker 4: It, stop what what's happened?
Speaker 5: Everything? I hate this. I'm so sorry. I don't know
Speaker 5: what to say.
Speaker 4: Lan Just tell me, hey, please.
Speaker 5: Since Commissioner de Vaux's murder, everything's changed. My father had
Speaker 5: to protect us, he had to prove our loyalty to
Speaker 5: the French. It was a matter of survival.
Speaker 4: I'm sorry, but how does that affect you and me?
Speaker 5: We live in different worlds, Joseph.
Speaker 4: No, no, we come from different worlds. But I thought
Speaker 4: we we can, we can live together.
Speaker 5: For a night, so did I. But we can't. I'm
Speaker 5: the only one who can save my family. What I
Speaker 5: owe it to my parents, Joseph, I owe them everything.
Speaker 5: I'm sorry.
Speaker 4: What have they done to you? They have promised me,
Speaker 4: promised to who.
Speaker 5: Paul?
Speaker 4: Paul?
Speaker 6: Paul Paul?
Speaker 4: Yes, you're you're engaged?
Speaker 5: You and Paul? Yes? When yesterday?
Speaker 4: Do you love him?
Speaker 5: Joseph?
Speaker 2: Please, Joseph, Madame, you told me you were here. Has
Speaker 2: Lane told you the good news?
Speaker 7: Yes?
Speaker 2: How about it? How lucky am I?
Speaker 1: Yes?
Speaker 4: Congratulations? Well I just came by to say farewell.
Speaker 2: So you're heading home or up to Hanoi home?
Speaker 4: Probably?
Speaker 2: Will you come back for the wedding?
Speaker 4: Well, look, I obviously love to, but you know America
Speaker 4: is a long way away, so.
Speaker 2: We'll do what you can.
Speaker 1: Though.
Speaker 2: Please, Joseph, we would so love you that wouldn't we,
Speaker 2: my dear.
Speaker 5: Of course.
Speaker 4: I should get going.
Speaker 5: Can I see you out?
Speaker 8: No?
Speaker 4: No, it's fine Land, you stay here, see you Paul
Speaker 4: till next time.
Speaker 9: We fay well, Monsieurs Sheleman.
Speaker 4: Thank you, Madam Hugh.
Speaker 9: I hope you are happy for our data.
Speaker 4: I understand the situation perfectly, and I can only wish
Speaker 4: your daughter and Captain Devreaux every happiness.
Speaker 9: I'm pleased to hear it, Monsieurs Sherman Auvoir.
Speaker 1: Joseph packed that night and was at Saigon's major passenger
Speaker 1: port the following day. Joseph faced a twenty seven day
Speaker 1: voyage back to San Francisco, the four South Pacific stopovers.
Speaker 1: Such was the journey needed to cross the Pacific in
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty five. In his starboard cabin, as the ship
Speaker 1: pulled out to see Joseph unpacked his typewriter.
Speaker 5: It was time to write.
Speaker 4: As I watched Saigon's slip below the horizon with smoke
Speaker 4: and haze, heartbreak. I feel incomplete. I'm leaving the sound
Speaker 4: of her lap, the warmth of her hand, and I
Speaker 4: wonder if I'll ever feel whole again. But I know
Speaker 4: that one day, somehow, I will return and I will
Speaker 4: hold her in my arms once more. Saigon is a
Speaker 4: production of Thoroughbred Studios, GOLDHWG Productions and iHeart Podcasts, starring Kelly,
Speaker 4: Marie Trann and Rob Benedict.
Speaker 8: Based on the best selling novel Cigone by Anthony Gray,
Speaker 8: it is created for audio by Greg Hadrick and Jeremy Fox,
Speaker 8: written by Greg Hadrick and directed by John Scott Dryden.
Speaker 8: Original music is by Sasha Putnam, with additional performances by
Speaker 8: nor Mingnir and lettypic Cheer.
Speaker 4: Editing and sound design is by Elouise Whitmore.
Speaker 6: The series producer is Emma Hernan.
Speaker 3: The producer in Vietnam is Fatma Nihen.
Speaker 8: The executive producers are Jeremy Fox, Greg Hadrick, John Scott Dryden,
Speaker 8: Howard Stringer and Jason English