The Key West Citizen

Vietminh Make Gala Parade Through Hanoi

By JOHN RODERICK

HANOI, Indochina (P)--Elements of the Communist-led Vietminh 305th and 352nd divisions, loaded down with the booty they won at Dien Bien Phu, paraded through the crowded business section of Hanoi yesterday.

Making their first gala appearance in the city they took over from the French Saturday night the Communist-nationalist army was given a spirited welcome from the holidaying population.

The troops entered into the festive mood. Many of them carried bouquets of flowers, sang, strummed on guitars and played accordions as they made their way down the Boulevard Francis Garnier, in the center of the city.

Prominent among the array of materiel they trundled through the streets were American 105mm cannon, bazookas and light arms captured from the French last May at Dien Bien Phu, as well as Russian antiaircraft guns, jeeps, command cars and trucks.

Among spectators were U.S. Consul Joseph Corcoran, members of the three-nation international armistice commission and a score of foreign newsmen.

Foreign correspondents remaining in the city include the only six nonofficial Americans still here, four Britons, eight Frenchmen and two New Zealanders. Two women are among them.

Twenty other foreign newsmen, fearing they would not be able to get out later, left Hanoi Saturday night for Haiphong. Corcoran told the Americans remaining that the State Department had instructed him not to give them shelter or provide them with communication facilities even as a last resort.