ABSTRACT

Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines, close to Saigon, seemed the most probable site for a major refugee staging base on route to the continental United States. Quite unexpectedly, amid the voices of governors declaring the unsuitability of their states as possible places for these refugees came an offer by Governor Ricardo Bordallo of Guam of hospitality in the humanitarian effort. The available facilities did not permit any accommodation to the various levels of Vietnamese society represented, and the refugees found a Procrustean landlord with only one size bed and one menu. The convention further requires that any work done by refugees be voluntary, and that wages be in accordance with laws of the host government. The power to restrain criminal activity among refugees was the responsibility of the Guam territorial governor and the island federal marshal. In general, the trauma of being uprooted and displaced left most refugees in a state of shock and apathy.