JodockWorldTravel

Saigon served as the main headquarters for U.S. operations during the Vietnam war.  Today’s tour included a visit to a section of the tunnels the North Vietnamese used in their operations and of that war and a war museum that tells the story of the war from North Vietnam’s perspective. 

Gunfire punctuated the air as we made our way through the grounds of the Cu Chi tunnel complex, evidence of an on-site firing range that affords visitors the opportunity to fire weapons used during the war, including the M16 rifle, the AK-47, and the M60.  The constant rat-a-tat-tat added an eerie feel to an already surreal experience.  As we made our way through the 83° heat loaded with 85% humidity, summer clothes clinging to our sweat-laden bodies less than ten minutes off the bus, we tried imagining what it would have been like for our soldiers wearing full battle dress uniform, Kevlar helmets bobbing on their heads, 50 lb. rucksacks on their backs, toting rifles, ammunition, radio equipment, etc., on constant alert for enemy forces, booby traps and landmines.  How does such an experience not play with your mind?

We were shown the small trap doors used to gain entry to the tunnels, flat against the earth’s surface and camouflaged by leaves, dirt or shrubbery. Viet Cong soldiers would drop down into the opening, landing in a crouched position and make their way through the tunnels by crawling on their hands and knees or walking in a bent-over position.  Some of the tunnels contained sleeping quarters, meeting areas and cooking areas.  Crude ventilation was provided by creating air holes that were disguised on the service as termite hills.  U.S. and South Vietnamese soldiers initially mistook the small air holes in the “termite hills” as termite burrows.  For those below, it was hardly life at the Ritz.  Air, food and water were scarce.  There were ants, centipedes, spiders and scorpions sharing the space.  Most of the time soldiers would spend all day in the tunnels and come out only at night, which is also when they added new sections to the tunnels.  It would take a team of 3 an average of 5 nights to dig a new leg.  Sickness was rampant; malaria was the second leading cause of death among the Viet Cong, after battle wounds.  According to a captured Viet Cong report, “at any given time half of a unit had malaria and one hundred percent had intestinal parasites of significance.”

We also saw a variety of booby traps that employed punji sticks, extremely sharp wooden or bamboo sticks arranged in substantial numbers to inflict maximum harm.  As a testament to how lethal they were, in 1980 members of the United Nations agreed to ban them from use as a military weapon. 

The War Remnants Museum, previously named the “Exhibition House for U.S. and Puppet Crimes,” and then “Exhibit House for Crimes of War and Aggression,” (are you sensing a theme?), pulls no punches in presenting the North Vietnamese view of what it calls the U.S. War of Aggression.  Their version is substantially different from ours, recounting how the U.S. attacked North Vietnam without provocation because we wanted to make South Vietnam a U.S. territory and the Viet Cong stepped in to save the day.  Gruesome pictures are provided to document the atrocities committed by U.S. soldiers (and there is no denying they did occur).  Quotes by U.S. Presidents and military officials are provided without context to give entirely different meaning to the words they spoke. 

As we walked the museum Pam kept thinking, “What do you believe and why do you believe it?”  Our guides in Vietnam were very open about their disdain for North Vietnam and shared their own stories of the horrors inflicted on them after Hu Chi Minh took control of South Vietnam and the country was “unified.”  They referred to the information in the museum as propaganda, and said everyone in South Vietnam wants to go the U.S.  When we drove by the U.S. Embassy at 7:30 in the morning there was a line around the block of people already waiting to apply for a Visa to the U.S. and our guide said it is like this every day.  When Pam asked our guide about the difference in how vocal the South Vietnamese are in opposing Communism compared to the Chinese, he said, “We were a democracy before we were Communist.  We remember what that was like.  We know it’s better.  They want us to be quiet and forget, but we are not going to be quiet.”

It was a day we will not soon forget.

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