International Voluntary Services’ impact on Laos, Viet Nam, and those who served
- Danae Hendrickson
- 22 hours ago
- 5 min read
From the desk of Richard A. Berliner, IVS volunteer in Viet Nam from 1966 to 1968, author of A Different Journey: Vietnam 1965-1973
International Voluntary Services (IVS) was founded February 16, 1953
In the fall of 2022 former volunteers with the International Voluntary Services (IVS) came together in Birmingham, Alabama, with at least two things on their minds. One was to reminisce about the time they served together some fifty plus years ago as “agents of change” in Vietnam and Laos. The second was to learn if and how the spirit and zeal of our youth, to make the world a better place, was being carried on today. The reunion was a success on both counts. Plenty of reminiscing. And we were introduced to a new generation of committed young people, carrying on some of the work we started through the Legacies of War.
In the wake of World War II, the United States had established itself as a champion of freedom and democracy, with its willingness to come to the aid of so many nations that had been devastated by the war. But there was a recognition by some people that just providing foreign aid to governments would not necessarily translate to helping the people of these countries lift themselves out of ignorance and poverty. A small group of church denominations, including the Mennonites and the Church of the Brethren, came together to design a new way for Americans to help directly. They formed International Voluntary Services (IVS), a private non-profit agency.
The approach was simple. Recruit young women and men in their twenties and older to commit to living two years in a developing nation, sharing whatever skills they may have in response to the needs of the villagers where they were assigned. The key to their assignment was to listen to the people first, and then respond to their needs as they were articulated. This program may sound much like the current Peace Corps program, which noehas 8,000 volunteers working around the globe. For good reason. Peace Corps was modeled on IVS when it was started under President John F. Kennedy in 1961.
The IVS first volunteers were sent to countries in Iraq and then to Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia in the mid 50’s. They came primarily with agriculture experience from growing up on farms. Some majored in agriculture in college and had served as extension agents in the U.S. Their work involved introducing new products that would grow in that part of the world, such as blueberries. They also worked in improving access to water where it was needed the most, such as in the Central Highlands in Viet Nam.
Some volunteers in Viet Nam chose to teach English, outside their normal working hours. As more and more American soldiers and government workers came to Viet Nam, and began employing Vietnamese workers, the urge to learn English accelerated. Some because it was a ticket to getting a job on a U.S. army base or government office. For others it was a matter of self-preservation. “We always need to learn the language of our enemies,” one man told me. He spoke French, Japanese and English, as well as Vietnamese.
The U.S. began sending troops to Vietnam in 1965 and was not initially perceived by most Vietnamese in the south of the country as the enemy. In fact it was seen as a savior from Communism. The longer the war continued, however, the fear of Communism became secondary to the fear that their country was being totally destroyed by tactics of war being deployed by the U.S. Among them was blanket carpet bombing in rural areas in such quantity that the tonnage dropped on Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, exceeded the tons of bombs dropped in World War II on a per capita basis.
By 1967 IVS volunteers began to feel compelled to be a witness to the devastation taking place. Some of the top leadership resigned and returned to the U.S. to lobby Congress to oppose the war. Many stayed in Vietnam and stepped-up efforts to not only do the work they were doing but to share what they were seeing every day through letters, newspaper interviews and direct dialogue with visiting Congressman from the U.S.
Two former IVS volunteers were among the most effective advocates against the war. They were Fred Branfman (IVS Laos) and Don Luce (IVS Vietnam). Each came back to the U.S. and devoted the next few years to travelling the country and the halls of Congress sharing their experiences.
A turning point in the war came with the Tet offensive in January 1968, when almost every major city in South Vietnam was attacked on the same day by the Viet Cong (national Liberation Front) and the North Vietnamese army. The attacks did not represent a military victory, but they did demonstrate that the U.S. was not winning the war. The American public said enough was enough and stepped up their efforts to protest the war. Peace talks began in 1968 and concluded in 1973. Fighting continued until April 1975, when North Vietnamese tanks rolled into Saigon.
IVS was forced out of Viet Nam in 1973, and eventually ceased operations in 2002. Over the course of almost fifty years it sent volunteers to thirty-nine countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Viet Nam and Laos continue to suffer long after the fighting stopped due to the tons of unexploded ordnance and the presence of hazardous chemicals like Agent Orange. Efforts by groups like Legacies of War in bringing attention and resources to clean up the mess are as important now as they ever were.
The former IVSers at the 2022 reunion and the 2025 reunion spent a lot of their time discussing why such organizations like IVS and Legacies of War are important and should be supported. Volunteers sent abroad offer hope and help to those with whom they work. Just as importantly the volunteers come back home with a greater sense of compassion for people beyond our own borders.
Richard A. Berliner was an IVS volunteer in Viet Nam from 1966 to 1968. He is the author of A Different Journey: Vietnam 1965-1973.
LEGACIES OF WAR Sera Koulabdara, (CEO, Legacies of War) brought a fresh spirit to the 2022 IVS reunion in Birmingham, a message of hope and action. She left us with the knowledge that our efforts with the people of Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia will carry on. The organization has two goals – to bring understanding about the wars to the youth in each of these countries, and to bring attention to the rest of the world to the still unexploded ordnance in Laos and Cambodia. Her message is as critical now more than ever. It is commonly accepted that those who don’t understand history are condemned to repeat it. We are seeing efforts today to rewrite American history. And significant efforts to preserve it. This is a challenge to every generation Former IVS volunteers have been strong supporters of Legacies of War. It is my hope that more people who were part of the anti-war movement will get involved in any way that they can. Indochina still needs us. Richard A. Berliner, IVS Viet Nam, 1966-1968. |
