Radiotopia.

From PRX.

From PRX's Radiotopia, this is Radio Diaries. I'm Joe Richmond.

And a heads up, this story contains some strong language.

It's been half a century since the end of the Vietnam War.

In honor of this anniversary, we're revisiting a story we produced a few years ago about a notorious prison run by the U.S. military during the war.

When I first heard about this military prison, I assumed it was for captured enemy fighters,

but Longbin jail, also known as LBJ on the outskirts of Saigon, was actually for American soldiers. These were men who had broken military

law, and there were a lot of them. As the unpopular war dragged on, discipline frayed, and soldiers

started to rebel. ABC's Craig Spence reports from Saigon. The single toughest problem faced by the military

police is the apprehension of deserters and soldiers absent without leave.

Most soldiers go AWOL to get away from army routine, some to avoid combat, some even to protest the war.

By the summer of 1968, over half the men in Longbin jail were locked up on AWOL charges.

Some for more serious crimes, others for small stuff, like refusing to get a haircut.

The stockade had also become extremely overcrowded.

Built to house 400 inmates, it was crammed with more than 700 men, and most of them were

black.

They represented 11% of the troops in Vietnam, but more than 50% of the men incarcerated at the

stockade were African American.

It was a situation ready to erupt.

On August 29th, 1968, it did.

Good morning, Vietnam.

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