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Sometimes before a night's fighting, the militias would assemble in one of their strange churches with templelike, turned-up roofs and bulbous bell towers, from which a lookout kept watch. Under the slant-eyed gaze of watercolor saints, they would sit holding their rusty rifles, sing hymns, receive a benediction and melt into the darkness.
Moving South. After the fall of Dien-bienphu and the general French collapse, Le Huu Tu and several other bishops forfeited the last hope of maintaining their armies, were evacuated to the South. The Catholic militiamen have been moving south ever since, womenfolk, children and baggage piled high on carts and pedicabs.
The regular Vietnamese army will receive many of them into its ranks. Local Indo-Chinese war lords are competing for their services. As an army of soldiers fighting for their church, the militias are no more, but the bishop's soldiers have left their mark in Asia's bitter history.