Tien who had been a Junior at La San Junioriate Thu Duc since 1974, was discovered by Mr. La The Dung, Principal of the Junior & High School of Thu Duc, to be the one who “voluntarily distributed the anti-revolution flyer.” Tien was jailed alone in a small cell 2 weeks before Christmas 1977. He was an 18 years old 12th grader, gentle by nature. He came from a pious family who had fled to the South after the Accord of Geneva in 1954, was born in Saigon, and had attended the La Salle Duc Minh School from the first grade.

Alone in the cell, he used to pray, and recite the rosary aloud. Tortured many times, he didn’t confess “where the anti-revolution flyer came from.” He just claimed that he had picked it up on the road to school. 10 days had passed, and the officers at the detention camp couldn’t get anything new from him. “We have victoriously expelled Americans out of our country and defeated the rebel armies of the South,” the head of the detention camp summoned his interrogators, extremely angry. He continued, “It’s really ridiculous if we cannot pry open that boy’s mouth.” As mentioned, Tien was very pious, reciting prayers and rosary all day long. The head of the detention camp had a new initiative: Instead of using the sexy girl trick, “Why don’t we use a pious person - whether truly pious or fake - to pry open his mouth? The problem is to meet our goal.”

Some days before Christmas, a young man about 10 years older than Tien, was put in the same cell with Tien. The cell was too small for two persons. “Anyway,” Tien tried to comfort himself, “It’s jail!” The first two days passed without any words being exchanged between them. Tien decided to appear totally indifferent. “Who knows!” Tien argued, “Although that guy shows he is very pious, praying all day long, whispering something like ‘Oh my God, have pity on me. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for me...’ Maybe he is a spy. I must be more careful!”

Put in a small dark cell for more than two weeks, Tien lost any idea about time and the date. “What if Christmas comes?” He was wondering about it when he heard his companion singing “Silent Night.” He said nothing, just listened to the Christmas music. His companion asked him, “Do you remember that today is December 24, Christmas Eve?” That was the first question that came from his fellow prisoner. Tien felt embarrassed, wondering if he should answer his question, and by that getting involved in a conversation with a person he knew - or at least he guessed— the guards had sent to spy on him. “Anyway,” Tien thought, “together refreshing the spirit of Christmas is a good thing.” His companion continued singing, “Glo-o-o-o-o-ri-a...” Tien, suddenly felt pushed by an invisible force, joined his companion in singing, “In excelsis De-o. Glo-o-o-o-ri-a. In Excelsis De-e-o!” Then he burst into tears.

His mind went to his beloved Brothers, especially Brother Colomban Dao, to his “comrades the Juniors” who more or less had been so kind and nice to him although sometimes who made jokes about him considering him as a “mad man.” He was smiling for himself when he remembered a passage in the play “Le Pendu Dépendu” that he himself recalled. [I adapted and translated into Vietnamese the contents of the play to fit in the level of the Juniors of 8th and 9th grades..] It was about a little boy accompanying his father and mother in a pilgrimage to Compiègne in order to ask Saint James a favor in curing of his madness. “He’ll be cured of his madness,” said his father to the owner of a motel where they stayed en route to Compiègne, “only when he’ll be hung up!” “Being jailed, isn’t it a way to be hung up?” Tien said to himself, calmer and more peaceful of mind.

It seemed that Tien’s companion caught up immediately his actual mood, saying, “Isn’t it relaxing to sing Christmas songs? May Baby Jesus look at us, love us and console each one of us.” Tien suddenly replied, “AMEN!” thus showing his true self to the companion who “seems so pious, so nice and with whom I should share something...” he thought. His companion had been so well trained to detect such a change of mood and mind that he did not hesitate to go ahead and share his so-called situation, “I am a Catholic. My family fled to the South after the Accord of Geneva in 1954 when I was 8 years old. Even while still young, I understood why my family along with many other families had tried their best to flee to the South despite many difficulties and sufferings. My parents used to lecture my brothers and sisters, and me, ‘Children, we are here in the South, not just searching for an easier life, but overall, to be faithful to God, to Mary our Mother who always loves us and protects us.’ The events of ‘75 happened. You have seen, I am sure of it, how we people in the South, especially the ‘refugees from the North in ‘54’, had to deal with the communists... And the result of such a dealing is that right now, you and I are in jail!.”

Tien listened to him, attentively, even enthusiastically. But, to his companion’s tentative question “What about you?” He stayed silent. His companion was too smart to be surprised. Just wait and see! A week later, on the January 1, 1978, Tien felt something he couldn’t stand anymore. He began telling his “story” to his companion; he included the following account: “Brother Dennis brought home a flyer, and by the beginning of December. Brother Pierre offered to type it up on stencil paper and to make 200 copies, using the Gestetner printing machine. Brothers Dennis, Michel, Pierre and two Juniors, Tien and Duong Hoang, were present at the printing work. I hid one flyer in order to show it to my friends. At the Junior & High School of Thu Duc, I ‘involuntarily’ dropped it on the path to the public toilets area. Unfortunately, the principal saw it. The police came to my class, and the principal pointed directly to me in saying: ‘It’s that guy!’ Then I was arrested, and put in this small cell until now!”

Tien didn’t know how his companion signaled this confession to his boss about his “accomplished mission.” Tien only knew that on the next morning, his companion was released. Before leaving the small cell, his companion wished him “Good Luck!” Tien then realized that he was “as innocent as a dove” but was not yet “as shrewd as a serpent.”

On the morning of January 3, 1978, Tien was taken to another room, Room #5, joining more than 50 other “criminals.”