Ho Chi Minh City

The New York City of Vietnam, the happening place, is here where many young people want to go to school and settle. The central city and luxury hotel areas look no different from any cosmopolitan western metropolis complete with the high end Italian and French boutiques. Throughout the city are reminders of the war with helicopter or tanks displayed in front of buildings. The most poignant remembrance of the war is the War Remnants Museum. One cannot prepare for the emotionally devastating exhibits. The information was fairly presented: facts speak for themselves. Rooms of professional photographs of the results of agent orange and deforestation on Vietnamese troops and civilians, and US troops and civilians. The insidious effects continue to this day, as the poison perpetuates  through genetics. It was so disturbing that I went into the ladies room to sob.

Other rooms dealt with the political foolery and blunders by governments, mostly US. There was a 1953 photo of Richard Nixon and his pronouncements on the Vietnam situation. Another about governor Bob Kerry and his involvement in war crimes. A bright shining light was a quote from Oregon's Senator Wayne Morse who strongly cautioned our country from engaging in an immoral and problematic intrusion into war.

Cu chi tunnels

The Vietnam Cong resurrected and greatly enlarged tunnels used against the French west of Saigon. Visiting them is eerie. Hundreds of miles of narrow passageways, some barely tall enough to crawl through are camouflaged in the woods. Booby traps discouraged deserters and intruders. At times, thousands lived in the tunnels, used as bomb shelters. Some very thin members of our group crawled through the original tunnels, but the rest of us managed our way through the ones somewhat enlarged for western travelers.

 Afterwords we visited a private home nearby where we had a home-made lunch by the widow of a South Vietnamese soldier. Attending were two former Vietnam Cong vets in uniform and the father (92 yrs old) of a high ranking Government official. Apparently this open format with westerners took years to arrange and get approved, even so we were told to ask any questions, and we did. Like most Vietnamese, these vets are not looking in the rear view mirror at The American War, but concentrating on the progress made since. One man's thoughts on this were particularly poignant: his son, age 35, was born with effects of agent orange and will perpetually be an infant.