Cu Chi Tunnels

The tunnels are small, very small. Now, this is the breadbasket of the country with beautiful crops of fruit and rice. At the time the tunnels were dug the countryside was devastated by bombing and the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army (men and women) lived on cassava root.

Diorama of the tunnels

Sonny demonstrating how to enter & camouflage an entrance.

Making new weapons out of old

Quarters were very cramped and booby trapped to keep out the Americans who were searching for them. The engineering of the tunnels was outstanding. They could cook underground and observers wouldn't be able to see the smoke. The tunnels were cut by 90 degree angles so that if a grenade was dropped in it would be stopped by a wall.

The back of the sandal is curved, the front straight.

The sandals of the soldiers were made so that the tracks left were the opposite of the direction in which they were actually walking.

An American tank destroyed in 1970

Inside a tunnel about to duck and go deeper.

The tunnels are so small that only two of our group could make it through much of the system. Every 20 meters, there's an exit and most of us took the first exit and the rest took the second exit. Once in, you can't turn around, you must continue to the next exit. We can't even imagine living down there for any amount of time. The tunnels contained workshops for making sandals, weapons, clothing, living quarters, and a hospital. To move through them you had to crawl or duck walk. Can you imagine living down there for years and only coming out at night?

Dennis at Cu Chi