Saigon

During the war my only exposure to Saigon was the Saigon docks after a trip up the Saigon River before being loaded onto Army buses which took us to an area where we boarded helicopters heading back to the field. No sightseeing trip this. After 10 months of my year tour, the 1st Cav was pulled from I Corp just south of the DMZ and sent south to deal with the growing VC/NVA problem in Binh Duong, Hau Nghia, Bien Hoa, Binh Long, Phuoc Long, Tay Ninh Provinces all the way to Cambodia. While many of the division including Ron and Tom, flew down, I spent 5 days on Navy ship LST 715 heading south until we reached the Saigon River. A vacation really. These pictures are of what I didn’t see including some famous locations such as the Presidential Palace, Saigon’s Notre Dame Cathedral, the Saigon Post Office, the Caravelle and Rex Hotels, home to many of the press covering the war in and around Saigon. Also pictured is the NVA tank that allegedly was the first to enter the grounds of what was then the Presidential Palace. I say allegedly because I came across another in Hanoi that was also purported to have been the first. Sneaky Commies, anything for the tourists.

Saigon Shops

These photos show the Saigon Central Market and are fairly typical of the way most Saigon residents shop. Very crowded, narrow aisles with goods of all types piled everywhere. Chaotic to the uninitiated and kind of reminiscent of other crowded markets I have visited in places like Tijuana Mexico, Xiushui Jie (Silk Alley) in Beijing before the authorities and commercial interests turned it into something more respectable, Itaewon Seoul Korea and Akihabara Tokyo, the center of the universe for all things electronic.

Cao Dai

If you spend any time on travel logs of people who have been to Vietnam as tourists you will find reference to the Cao Dai Temple. Cao Dai a combination of Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Confucianism, Hinduism, Geniism, and Taoism. I was told that during the war, neither the VC/NVA nor the South Vietnamese or Americans bothered Cao Dai to any great extent. To those of you who were not there, that may not seem significant but it was. They were located about 90KM north/east of Saigon right in the path of the infiltration of the Communist forces. Right next door to the infamous Cu Chi Tunnels. In other words, in the middle of the war. You will find essentially the same pictures you see here on countless websites just as you see the Eiffel Tower on most all picture logs of Paris. There is a reason for that and if you go to Vietnam you need to visit Cao Dai to see why that is for yourself. I was in and around Tay Ninh towards the end of my war year in Vietnam but not unexpectedly had no idea of the existence of this wondrous place. Just as well. At 20 I would not have known how to begin to appreciate it as I do now.

Cu Chi Tunnels

Most all who visit Saigon will as well visit the Cu Chi Tunnels located about 45 miles southeast of Saigon. Seventy-five miles of underground honeycomb tunnels that during the war were an underground city unto itself sheltering hundreds of VC fighters and in some cases their families. Really an amazing feat of personal engineering. The predecessors to the Viet Cong, the Viet Minh who fought the French throughout the 1950’s, began digging the tunnels in 1948, mostly by hand sometimes no more than two meters a day. Now as with so much else in Vietnam, Cu Chi Tunnels are a tourist destination where one can do as you see me doing, crawling, literately through sections of the tunnels and, if you wish, shoot an AK47 assault rifle for $1 a bullet. And, of course, buy all the requisite souvenirs including “authentic” GI Zippo lighters supposedly from the war but in reality, fresh off the production line in some Saigon back alley shop.

Reunification Express

Most westerners who visit Vietnam will travel north and south by air however for the more adventurous among you there is the Reunification Express train. Wondering about the name? Think about it in the context of the train resuming service after the end of the war. These pictures show the Saigon rail station (“Ga”) as well as my traveling companions, Mrs. Nguyen and her daughter Jennifer of San Diego California, traveling with Grandma who lives in Saigon to visit relatives in the north. I spent much of the morning prior to pulling into Da Nang, sitting on a bucket between cars watching the Vietnamese countryside pass by as did the woman you see sitting opposite me. A wonderful way to see the country much of which would be difficult if not impossible to reach were it not for the train. This was an overnight trip from Saigon to Da Nang. By western standards the accommodations may seem a bit primitive but hey, you want adventure don’t you? Just bring snacks and water and you’ll be fine.

LZ's Suzie and Pedro

So much of my time in Vietnam is clear in my mind even after all these years. Things like that imprint on you.

Two such places were our time on LZ’s Suzie and Pedro. Rain, mud, mold and an occasional mortar or rocket attack. These photos taken around the battery position portray both LZ's well.

Depressing, wet, at times scary.

20th Birthday

I turned 20 in February in Vietnam and these photos show the celebration with Ron, Steve, me, Tom and the cake some 6 feet under ground in a bunker on LZ Suzie. We were there longer than any other LZ the entire year; a full month, with cold wet rain the rule every day and night. Mud and mold everywhere to the point that we even stopped wearing underwear and socks not bothering to unlace our soaked boots the last two weeks or so. Easily the worst month of my life day for day.

China Beach

China Beach was made famous, at least in the US, well after the war. There was a popular TV show by the same name which aired in the late 80’s.

Situated near Da Nang, these photos show me there some 31 years apart, amazingly almost in the same pose. As with the Hue Citadel photos (see Tet 1968: The Citadel post), a complete coincidence I did not intend nor discover until after I returned and began going through the pictures from both trips.