1.
GV Soldier in Wheelchair greeted by Priest who hands him money
0.16

2.
SV Priest talking to patient
0.32

3.
CU surgical apparatus TILT UP TO soldier making toys out of equipment
0.36

4.
SV & GV Priest watches as patients make models (3 shots)
1.00

5.
(Music ends) GV soldiers attending mass (2 shots)
1.25

6.
CU Priest conducting Mass
1.36

7.
CU Models hanging on tree TILT UP TO star on tree
1.52



Initials AE/2.55 AE/3.08



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: As Christmas draws near, injured soldiers in the hospitals of South Vietnam have been making presents with whatever materials they have been able to get hold of. On Friday (21 December), Catholic soldiers in Saigon hospital were visited by a local priest, Father Pham Chi-Huing, who gave them Christmas presents of money.

The crippled soldiers showed him the toys they were making from medical equipment they had found around the hospital. Using only materials like needles, plastic tubing, and film plates, they were able to make aircraft, helicopters and other toys.

On the following day, Father Chi-Huing visited a military outpost in Gia Dinh Province, where he conducted a Christmas service for the soldiers on duty there.

Christmas in South Vietnam however, will still be a time of tension. On Wednesday (19 December) security precautions in Saigon were increased, to prevent any Communist activities to mark the twenty-seventh anniversary of the first Communist offensive against the French. At the same time, the South Vietnamese military command claimed that there had been 120 violations of the ceasefire by the Communists during the previous 24 hours.