Imagine the dense Vietnamese jungle at night, the air thick with humidity and the only sounds the chirping of unseen insects. Then, a bloodcurdling scream pierces the silence, followed by the anguished cries of a child. It’s enough to send shivers down the spine of even the bravest soldier. But what if these weren’t just ordinary sounds? What if they were the ghosts of fallen comrades, haunting the battlefields of the Vietnam War? This chilling scenario was the driving force behind Operation Wandering Soul, a controversial psychological warfare campaign employed by the U.S. military in an attempt to demoralize and weaken the enemy.
Operation Wandering Soul was a psychological warfare campaign conducted by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War. The operation was intended to frighten and demoralize North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops by exploiting their cultural beliefs about death and the afterlife.
According to Vietnamese folklore, the spirits of the dead must be properly buried and honored by their families. If a person’s death is not handled properly, their soul is doomed to wander the earth in anguish, unable to find peace. The U.S. military sought to play upon these beliefs through Operation Wandering Soul.
As part of the operation, U.S. forces would broadcast eerie funereal sounds and wailing voices from backpack loudspeakers, helicopters, and airplanes. The unsettling recordings often included a moaning “ghost,” pleading with soldiers to “go home” because he was “dead” and in “hell.” Buddhist funeral music could also often be heard in the background.
In general, the messages were as follows:
Girl’s voice:
Daddy, daddy, come home with me, come home. Daddy! Daddy!
Man’s voice:
Ha! (his daughter’s name). Who is that? Who is calling me? Oh, my daughter? My wife? Daddy is back home with you, my daughter! I am back home with you, my wife. But my body is gone. I am dead, my family.
I…..Tragic, how tragic.
My friends, I come back to let you know that I am dead! I am dead! It’s Hell, Hell! It is a senseless death! How senseless! Senseless! But when I realized the truth, it was too late. Too late. Friends, while you are still alive, there is still a chance you will be reunited with your love ones. Do you hear what I say? Go home! Go home, my friends! Hurry! Hurry! If not, you will end up like me. Go home my friends before it is too late. Go home! Go home my friends!
Leaflets were also dropped on enemy positions reinforced the messages, depicting dead Viet Cong left in unmarked graves.
The intended psychological effect was to instill a deep uneasiness and fear of dying far from home in North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops. The goal was to depress their morale and drive them to desert their positions. Some Viet Cong soldiers were indeed unsettled by the strange sounds, realizing they faced death and burial in shallow, unmarked graves if killed in action. However, in some cases the ghostly broadcasts angered the Viet Cong and drew fire upon U.S. loudspeaker teams and aircraft.
The overall effectiveness of Operation Wandering Soul remains unclear. While it may have unnerved some enemy troops, others recognized it as a U.S. deception tactic when they realized the sounds came from audio equipment. Regardless, Operation Wandering Soul stands as one of the more imaginative attempts at psychological warfare during the conflict in Vietnam. The U.S. military’s effort to weaponize deep-seated Vietnamese beliefs about death and wandering souls added a macabre psychological dimension to the