UNITED STATES SENATOR EDWARD M. KENNEDY, ON A 12-DAY FACT FINDING OF SOUTH VIETNAM, SAID ON FRIDAY (5 JAN) HE HAD FOUND AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE COUNTRY'S WAS CASUALTY AND REFUGEE PROBLEMS SINCE HIS LAST VISIT IN OCTOBER 1965.

THE 35-YEAR-OLD DEMOCRATIC REPRESENTATIVE FOR MASSACHUSETTS WAS VISITING A REFUGEE CAMP AND CIVILIAN HOSPITAL NEAR DANANG, ABOUT 350 MILES (560 KM) NORTHEAST OF SAIGON.

AT THE REFUGEE CAMP IN HA TAP, MR. KENNEDY SPOKE TO MANY PEOPLE. ONE, AN OLD WOMAN, TOLD HIM THROUGH AN INTERPRETER THAT SHE HAD BEEN GIVEN NO FOOD SINCE SHE ARRIVED AT THE CAMP EIGHT DAYS AGO.

REFERRING TO HER CASE THE SENATOR, SPEAKING TO NEWSMEN, SAID:
LATER MR. KENNEDY VISITED THE GOVERNMENT RUN PROVINCIAL HOSPITAL AT NEARBY HOI AND WHERE HE SAW PATIENTS LYING SOMETIMES THREE TO A BED.

A DOCTOR AT THE HOSPITAL ESTIMATED THAT ABOUT HALF THE WAR WOUNDED -- ABOUT A THIRD OF THE HOSPITAL POPULATION -- HAD BEEN INJURED BY AMERICAN AND SOUTH VIETNAMESE ARTILLERY AND BOMBS.