This is our last day in country and we are spending it in Saigon. It is unbearably hot and humid so we limited our activities to one more visit to the huge central market and the Presidential Palace. This was the place where the war between the North and South ended in 1973 when a North Vietnamese tank crashed through the palace gates and up on the lawn. The soldier who jumped out and planted a flag on the roof of the palace declared a symbolic and actual end to the war, which was followed by the surrender of the President of South Vietnam and the withdrawal of US troops. In 1975, Americans watched TV news coverage of the final traumatic heleicopter evacuation of US officials and desperate Vietnamese from the US embassy roof.
Hong is 61 years old and has lived in the village of Xuan Dai all his life. During the war he was in his early 20s, but was just a farmer, not a soldier. Nonetheless, as a result of American action, his father and brother were killed as were his wife's parents. In addition the buildings in his village and all the crops were wiped out by bombs, bulldozers and Agent Orange.
When Allen took his hand and apologized for what the Americans had done, Hong said he and others did not blame the US soldiers, as they were young and had been forced to fight by their military leaders. He said he and others understood the American soldiers were just doing their job. Still he wished he and his people had not suffered so much in body and spirit during those years, as it was made future success and happiness harder to come by.
Allen and the servicemen we're traveling with never thought they'd land in Hanoi, much less be welcomed. Nonetheless the capital of communist Vietnam has embraced capitalism and the West, including America with open arms and pocketbooks. The highway that took us from the airport to the city was bordered by billboards and factories for a multitude of multinationals including, Panasonic, Honda, Nokia and Ford and more than one person responded with a thumbs up and "America is number one!" when we told them where we were from.
Two men in our group were in the special forces during the war, meaning they were pretty much on their own living in the jungle with a small squad of soldiers for weeks or months at a time. One of them told me they had the assistance of Cambodian mercenary fighters, who served as scouts, not unlike the American Indians who served a similar function with the US cavalry on the western frontier.
QUANG TRI PROVINCE, VIETNAM--The third nursery school we dedicated today was built 300 hundred yards from a former U.S. air base in Quang Tri where Allen ran med-evacs for three months in 1968. Although most of the runway was gone, the immediate area was still pock marked with bomb craters. Across the dirt road from the school were family grave sites - some simple raised domes, some with elaborate cement head stones.
QUANG TRI PROVINCE, VIETNAM--At one point this morning we drove along the DMZ--the 17th parallel that once divided North and South Vietnam. It was a barren sandy stretch of land some 10 km wide. As this was the site of heavy fighting bomb craters surrounded the road. Several times the bus slid off the road and we all had to get out and push -- it gave the Marines an excellent opportunity to stage a rescue.
We had an amazing night last night, a banquet with the our group and 25 Vietnamese from Quang Tri province where we are headed later today. After introductions, two of our guys sang some songs from the '60s followed by the Vietnamese reciting poetry and singing in Vietnamese and ending with one man singing Lennon's "Imagine" accapela with more heart than I've heard before.
As we descended through the clouds into Vietnam our group became quiet. I know I will never understand the level of ambivalence these men feel, but as an American, even without the overload of real-time war memories I still felt I was entering a place of no-return as we walked into the Saigon airport where 40 years ago commercial flights and combat transports shared the same runways.
At Thursday noon Allen and I are leaving for a 2-1/2 week trip to Vietnam. The purpose of our trip is to contribute to the efforts of the DOVE Fund (Development of Vietnam Endeavors), a nonprofit foundation dedicated to providing humanitarian and developmental assistance to the people -- primarily the children -- of Quang Tri province. To date the group has built 18 nursery schools, 5 elementary schools, 2 medical centers, 370 wells and awarded 152 scholarships and micro-loans to the women in Quang Tri.
Located just below the DMZ , this rural area was particularly devastated during the Vietnam war by bombing and agent orange. Some 40 years later, Allen and several of his fellow med-evac helicopter pilots are returning to this area where they were stationed to promote peace and compassion and make restitution in some small way.
