Back to Vietnam

Veteran tracks war in land of contrasting beauty

EDITOR'S NOTE: Post and Courier Executive Editor Bill Hawkins served in Vietnam 40 years ago and recently returned, with his brother, as a tourist.

It is hard to explain what would prompt me to travel halfway around the world to a place that was once one of the most dangerous spots on Earth for Americans.

But for years, I had dreamed of returning to Duc Pho, Vietnam, which in 1968 was home to thousands of troops of the 11th Infantry Brigade.

My mission was fulfilled on a hot day in May, when my brother and I, relying on faded photos and a Vietnamese guide, got within yards of where my tent had been 40 years ago, in the shadow of the Nui Dang Mountain.

Gone were the sandbag bunkers, the rows of khaki tents, and the dust kicked up by helicopters ferrying troops in and out of Landing Zone Bronco. All that was left were weed-covered chunks of tarmac and the footprint of the airfield that had been our lifeline to the outside world.

LZ Bronco was eerily tranquil.

Concrete bunkers atop Nui Dang signaled the only hint of war. The mountain, which American soldiers knew as Montezuma, is strategically positioned between Highway 1 and the South China Sea, overlooking the village of Duc Pho.

Our guide, Tran Van Tru, took us as close to the base of Nui Dang as possible without running afoul of the Vietnamese Army now occupying the hill. Tru begged us to hide our cameras. Getting any closer, he implored, was "very problematical."

Tru, a former teacher from Danang, was our self-described "Number One Liaison Officer" in trips to Duc Pho, Hue, Hoi An, Chu Lai and My Lai in central Vietnam.

A guide is a must for returning veterans, as there are very few reminders of what Vietnamese know as the "American War."

Tru was 10 years old when rockets screamed over his house and tore into the huge American airbase in Danang. He pointed out "Rocket Mountain" and military landmarks that would be lost on the average tourist.

Tourist dollars

At the airports in Danang and Saigon, you still can see weathered concrete aircraft bunkers and abandoned buildings, but little else of what had been major American airbases. The once-imposing Americal Division base in Chu Lai is barren, with plans to develop what had been the hospital site into a world-class resort.

The pace of resort development is stunning, especially in Danang, which 40 years ago was dominated by a large American airbase. It is now the third-largest city in Vietnam and the center of central Vietnam's growing tourist business.

Danang is home to Marble Mountains, Red Beach and China Beach, the storied American R&R center that is becoming the Miami Beach of Vietnam. Beautiful beaches along the cobalt blue South China Sea beckon tourists from all over the world.

Vietnam, of course, is a Communist country, but its leaders are quick to turn an eye to the foreign investment that is radically changing the countryside.

We watched in disbelief as a family stood silent while workers dug up their revered ancestors to relocate a cemetery that was in the way of another five-star beach resort. Not far away, a sign at a construction site promises retail shops and a Hyatt Hotel.

Remnants of the war are now relegated to bright red banners still celebrating "Uncle Ho" and displays in military museums in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, as Saigon now is called. The history is told through the filter of the victors.

Hanoi's Hoa Lo Prison (the infamous Hanoi Hilton) is now a major tourist site, displaying the flight suit worn by John McCain when he was shot down and imprisoned in 1967. A memorial on the edge of West Lake marks the spot where the injured McCain was pulled out of the water.

Mindful that there is still money to be made off the war, vendors in Hanoi and Saigon sell fake Zippo lighters engraved with slogans once popular with GIs as well as seemingly authentic dog tags.

There are many reasons for Americans to visit Vietnam today, not the least of which it is a stunningly beautiful country. And the American dollar goes a very long way.

Hoi An, a Unesco World Heritage site 15 miles southeast of Danang, is famous for its silk, sold in colorful riverside markets. You can get measured for a tailor-made suit from the finest fabrics and have it delivered to your beachfront hotel the next day for as little as $100.

Past and present

Vietnam is a country of fascinating contrasts between new and ancient.

We traveled from Hanoi to Danang and Saigon on Vietnam Airlines, a 15-year-old operation that boasts a fleet more modern than most of the planes that fly into Charleston.

But along busy Highway 1, Vietnam's main artery, peasants on foot labor under heavy loads, and share the road with bikes, cars, trucks and buses. The road cuts through a fertile valley that remains primitively beautiful.

Barefoot farmers shaded by conical hats herd gentle water buffalo as they tend verdant rice fields that are their very lifeblood. It is a picturesque scene that has not changed in centuries, let alone 40 years.

Saigon and Hanoi, 700 miles apart, are the main gateways into the country. Hanoi is the more interesting and exotic of the two cities.

Its streets are jammed with bicycles, cyclos and thousands of people on motorbikes, blaring their horns as they speed along in total defiance of any apparent traffic rules. It's a mind-boggling scene.

Crossing a street in Hanoi calls for nerves of steel. You weave through nonstop traffic, heart pounding, with eyes straight ahead as motorbikes speed at you from all directions.

The basic rule is don't make any sudden moves. It is up to the driver not to hit you.

The streets in Hanoi's Old Quarter, some dating to the 13th century, are crammed with colorful sidewalk shops whose owners are anxious to bargain with you for anything from a silk shirt to a piece of jade. Little kids hawk postcards and books, beseeching: "You give me one dollah."

Saigon, a sprawling city of some 8 million people, is much more of a commercial center. BMW and Mercedes-Benz cars are common, and traffic lights are actually obeyed, making it easier for pedestrians.

The Caravelle and Rex hotels, home to journalists and CIA agents during the war, have been modernized. The Caravelle's rooftop bar, where journalists shared drinks while the fighting was still far away, is now the hopping Saigon Saigon bar.

A must-see is the Reunification Palace, where North Vietnamese tanks crashed through the front gates in 1975. Inside is the untouched war room, where I found Duc Pho on situation maps locating North Vietnamese battalions in a war that now seems so long ago.

Visitors welcome

No matter where you go in Vietnam today, you will encounter genuinely warm and friendly people who are happy to see American tourists.

After touring the Army Museum in Hanoi, where captured planes and equipment and propaganda photos of "American atrocities" are on display, I shared a cold drink with my driver from the Metropole, Quan Dinh Duc.

I told him that I had fought in Vietnam. With a broad smile, he volunteered that his father had served with legendary Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap, who led the victorious North Vietnamese Army.

Back home, I e-mailed Duc a photo I had taken of him at the cafe. He quickly replied:

"I hope to see you again, Vietnamese people warmly welcome you back."