Operation Frangipani Flowers

About the Book

In a Vietnam torn by racial hatred exacerbated by the French-Vietminh war, a French student, Stephan, fell in love with his classmate, a beautiful Vietnamese girl, Kim. Social ostracism could not separate the two lovers, but her rape by three legionnaires did: her family sent her to Tonkin, partially under communist control and off limit to French civilians, to keep her away from Stephan who belonged to the hated race.

The break of communication between them made them end up on opposite sides of the racial barrier. He became a wealthy planter in South Vietnam. She became an important Vietminh leader after creating a secret weapon against the French: the deadly Love Brigades of Ho chi Minh, also called the Brigades of Slow Death in which the attractive female members sacrificed their bodies to the treponema of syphilis. Thus contaminated they approached French officers and soldiers by selling them leis of frangipani flowers. For the price of a garland, the men had the gift of a beautiful body. Operation Frangipani Flowers made havoc in the army of occupation.

Fate brought Stephan and Kim together for a last time. Their indestructible passion ended like a forest fire, leaving only ruins and ashes after its passage.

About the Author

 Etienne Oggeri is a descendant of colonists who contributed to the development of Vietnam by building roads, bridges and tunnels. His fascinating life until he was arbitrarily expelled from the country at the age of 32 would have tempted the pen of a Hemingway or a Graham Green.

 Like many Frenchmen of that period, he was jailed by the Japanese during their occupation, then by the Vietminh in October 1945, until he was freed by the return of the French army. A decree exempting only sons of widows from military service shortened his training in the Foreign Legion. Later, he acquired a world-wide reputation as a professional big game hunter which enabled him to have prestigious clients like Berry B. Brooks, one of the five recognized greatest hunters in the world.

 His destiny made him meet Lechi, the sister of Madame Nhu, the very powerful First Lady of the Ngo Dinh Diem government, nicknamed “The Dragon Lady” by the American press for her cruel remarks about the public suicide of the Vietnamese monks in protest of her government’s wrong doings. Madame Nhu gave Etienne a choice: either a huge amount of money if he gave up Lechi or his expulsion from the country. He refused the money, so he was arrested, tortured and inoculated with cholera vaccines in the President’s brother Nhu’s secret underground jail, before being led under heavy escort into Cambodia, where he almost died from the disease.

 Lechi’s parents, then Ambassadors to Washington DC, succeeded in helping him come to the United States. Etienne and Lechi had to struggle to live honorably in the American society. Working during the day and going to the university in the evening, they acquired the degrees required for a position as Research Analysts in the Department of Defense. Later, Lechi became a University Professor.

 Now in their property on the side of a lake, Etienne writes his memoirs and novels based on his personal experiences, while Lechi works as a professional artist, and raises canaries. Four adorable Pomeranians share their lives.