Several years ago, at a Marine Corps reunion, a friend and fellow brought in a number of brochures from a travel company that specialized in tours of battlefields throughout the world. He had recently returned from a trip to Vietnam where he had served almost 40 years ago. While he talked up the return trip to all that would listen, few took him seriously at the time. The time and expense of a trip to Vietnam dissuaded me from even considering the trip. Last year, with my retirement income fairly solid and working only 3 days per week I began to give the trip serious consideration.
My friend contacted me again to consider joining him and several others on a trip in late April/early May 2006. After some soul searching and long discussions with my wife, I decided to go. My curiosity about how the country may have changed since I departed there in May 1968 was the conscious reason for my decision to return. Others close to me believe that there was some subconscious motivation for closure that dictated my decision….”silencing the ghosts”. Two years after that first trip, I do not agree with the “closure” reasons. I still think what motivated me to make the journey was the excitement of the trip to the orient and the opportunity to revisit Vietnam with other Marines who served there at the same time.
When I served there almost 40 years ago, when there I never took the time to appreciate the beauty of the landscape. To me it was all terrain features and clear fields of fire from which we either attacked or defended. The one thing that I do remember is the fear in the eyes of the population when we traveled through cities, villages and hamlets. Those looks of fear today have been replaced by smiles and looks of curiosity. My service as an artillery Forward Observer attached to an infantry company placed me in harms way quite often. However, my return did not bring back the bad memories that plagued many Vietnam veterans. For that, I am very grateful.
Before departing on this first trip, I scanned the Internet for information about Vietnam. What I found was that Vietnam is a beautiful developing country with a fairly young population. Somewhere I read that 65%-70% of its 83,000,000 population were not even alive during the Vietnam War. I found from my reading that the Vietnamese people, with the exception of ancestors who they revere, live only in the present with their eyes on the future. Culturally and philosophically they rarely look back and, as such, hold no apparent ill feelings for Americans. They even refer to the war as the American War, not Vietnamese.
For anyone who served in Vietnam and are curious about the effects of the war some 40 years later, I would highly recommend a return trip. While the flights from the US are long, once you arrive you immediately appreciate the country. The hotels are fine to excellent. Almost all service personnel speak adequate English. There are many fine restaurants. The only currency other than the Dong that is accepted in Vietnam is the USD. The beaches are beautiful replete with many 5 star resorts which are not expensive by US standards.
My first visit was so rewarding that I have returned several times since May 2006. One such trip was through the Central Highlands where the Army primarily served. A very long trip up highway 14, the main service route of the Ho Chi Minh Trail was breathtaking. If it were not for the hard surface roads and the ever-presence of power lines and occasional TV satellite disc, one would think it was still the 1960’s-70. The uniqueness of the mountain tribesmen, beauty of those mountains, valleys and rivers can not be captured properly with photography but only in ones mind.
To say that this return trip to Vietnam was exciting, worthwhile and educational is a gross understatement of immense proportions. For Veterans of the war, for educators, historians and adventuress travelers, a visit to Vietnam should be on your priority list of places to visit.
By David Wall, Colonel, USMCR (Ret.)