The American War

Kia Ora!

The American War. Americans call it the Viet Nam War. This sad piece of history is still fresh in the minds and on the bodies of the people of this country. We saw it everywhere we visited, from the Hanoi Hilton to Hill 57 in Da Nang to the museums in Saigon and bomb craters in the Mekong Delta.

Threading through jungle waterways

B52 bomb crater  in waterway

We paddled up streams cut through the jungle, crawled through the Cu Chi tunnels that at one time were 4 stories deep and hid secret armories, hospitals, kitchens, and openings cleverly disguised to ambush weary American soldiers. (The tunnels had to be enlarged to accommodate the fatter western tourists.)

Inside a Cu Chi tunnel

Tunnels cleverly hidden

At the museum, we witnessed photos of the maimed and dead, including villagers with degenerating disease and a generation of children born with birth defects, all from use of Agent Orange (dioxin). Over 30 journalists died attempting to express the futility and the inhumanity of war by placing armaments and soldiers in juxtaposition with peasants planting rice in a flooded paddy. It is not the first time our country has become ensnared--for whatever reason seemed justifiable at the time--in a civil conflict and sadly it is not the last.

Patch depicts cavalry horses

Cavalry horses now are helicoptors

This place and this war has personal meaning for me since it is here that my only sibling, Dodd Clifton Keller, lost his life at age 23 on February 1, 1966 in Operation Masher. I learned the unit insignia for1st Cavalry, Airmobile, his unit, and that he most likely was stationed and died at a location about 150 kilometers south of Da Nang near the villages of Tue Hoa, Ninh Hoa, and Dong Ba Thin. The map images came from a museum in Saigon, three stories devoted to evidence of the destruction and travesty of war.

I became politically active against the war following Dodd's death. I was a member of Another Mother for Peace, and still wear my medallion proudly on occasion. Generations come and go and warring does not cease. Perhaps it never will, but I believe...I still believe it might be possible someday to settle differences without killing each other.

Thoughtfully,
Kiwi Traveler

Da Nang

Kia ora!

"Ladies and gentlemen," Loc began. Never mind that there was just KC and me. We were his tour group

Loc, Cham museum

and this is how he began his prepared information. We were at a museum in Da Nang that documented statuary from the Cham culture that populated this area in ancient times. The artistry is similar to that we observed in India and reflects the spread of Hindu influence from India through Cambodia (Ankor Wat) to Viet Nam. 

Loc was part of the South Vietnamese military during the American War, as it is known here. His was a family of divided loyalties. He describes how his older brother informed the family that he was going to become a Buddhist monk and disappeared. Later he reappeared in the uniform of the North Vietnamese Army. He had been a secret guerilla. Their mother was overjoyed. When Loc's side lost the war, he was sent to a reeducation camp. His brother secured a high position in government. In talking with the commandant of the camp one day, Loc mentioned his brother. The commandant said, "Oh, he is my friend." Things were better then for Loc and he was soon out of the camp and sent to school. He earned a Masters' degree and was a teacher of physics until he retired from that position.

China Beach

Our hotel was on the famous (from TV and war fame) China Beach. I rose early both mornings we were there and walked on the beach. There was a lovely friendly encounter with a local woman in which we spontaneously began Tai Chi together and shared lots of smiles. I didn't spend much time in the water, but wished I had more time to do so.

Had my brother, Dodd, killed in Vietnam in 1976, walked on this beach? He was killed in Operation Masher, which I thought originated from Da Nang. Just being in this area of the country made me feel closer to him. Loc took his name, date of death, and the unit he was with (Army 1st Calvary, Air Mobile). Then he informed me that Dodd's unit had not been in this area. I confirmed this later at a museum in Saigon that

War casts a long shadow

mapped where each American unit had been placed and how long they were there. He apparently died about 130 km. south of Da Nang in Bien Hoa, as Loc had said. I had the sense from Loc that Americans looking for specific battle sites where they lost loved ones was common. I was impressed with how seriously he took my quest.

As in Washington, DC, where my brother will be forever remembered, a similar Viet memorial with many more names

One half of Viet wall

stands on an isolated hill. 

Most of our time with Loc and driver Kieh was spent driving through the countryside, a valuable introduction to rural Vietnam in itself. We viewed a river where there had been a bridge built by the Seabees, but had

A pastoral Hill 51, perhaps?

since fallen away, replaced by ferries. The locals wished the bridge was still there. We drove to various hills that had been fought over, won only to be reoccupied by Viet Cong when the Americans moved on to another hill. When noon came, we stopped at a humble, rural open front restaurant for pho. From our experience in Hanoi and now here, I got the impression that the professional guides are instructed to expose the tourists to local foods and food purveyors. I wouldn't have

Lunch here

it any other way.

Cheers,

Kiwi Traveler