galmc2Report

This one took a while.

I’m of a vintage where I can recall a bit of the Vietnam War happening in real-time, and then see it reflected in pop culture over the last past 40+ years in movies, music and television.

Like visiting Columbia and Cambodia ten years ago, coming to Vietnam is an opportunity to see and hear first-hand some of the history and locales from the war.

We were surprised to learn that the war actually went for twenty years (1955-1975), and is considered the second of three Indochina wars.

Just being in Ho Chi Minh City evokes the war given the change in name from Saigon. It was interesting to see how “Saigon” as a word is still present in the city. We heard it in a song at the airport when we arrived, and we saw much signage for businesses in the city that featured it.

We took two tours while in HCM city. The Cu Chi tunnels tour spoke directly to the war, and how the North used tunnels and the natural environment of the jungle to evade and fight American troops.

Our trip to the Mekong Delta was more about the locale, but our guide was great in speaking to the conflict of the war. He spoke of how the Vietnamese people were at odds for so long but have now been able to come together as one people.

As part of the tunnel tour we had an opportunity to learn about and actually descend and go through a tunnel. This trip through was perhaps the longest 40 meters of my life. The walls and ceiling were not kind to me, and I ended up partially crawling and getting the first scrapped knee I have had in quite some time. And people lived like this. I just can’t truly comprehend it.

We were shown how the Viet Cong were able to weaponize the jungle environment with various traps, and also saw an actual US tank. The guide spoke of how the Viet Cong would reuse everything, including unexploded ordinance and material from the tank as part of their war effort.

To close this out I’d like to share a Doctor Who clip that came to mind while I’ve been contemplating this experience. I’ve occasionally thought of how lucky I’ve been to never had had to be involved in war. Granted, there are ones where, I believe, war was necessary (WW2), but I think for the most part, they all end the same. As far as Vietnam goes, I can’t help but think of what a waste that period of war was for this beautiful country and its people.

BTW – I believe the answer to the question. Poses in the title is “absolutely nothing.”