I really enjoyed today— we changed the itinerary a bit and left Hue headed for the DMZ. First we stopped in Quang Tri Province. Here, a US military base was positioned to observe North Viet Namese activity near the DMZ, the 17th Parallel. Next stop—the Dakrong Bridge on Highway 15. This was one of the main branches of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which headed south toward “Hamburger Hill” (see Clint Eastwood film for dramatization of the action).
Driving on, we entered the town of Khe Shan, which housed a large Marine Base in 1968. The base camp is no longer there but there are remnants of bunkers, burned out US aircraft, army vehicles and a museum of the North Vietnamese victories over the south and their allies. The propaganda is directed at the US and bad South Vietnamese troops to show them the error of their ways.
Next stop was the actual 17th Parallel and the bridge between the North and the South of Viet Nam. Today, you can walk South to North or vice versa. During the war, no one crossed the bridge. Troops (North & South) manned their respective sides and if anyone tried to get across that bridge, they died. I stood in the middle of the bridge today and thought, 55,000 Americans and more than 1 million Vietnamese lost their lives defending this border, this bridge. Today, people from north and south Viet Nam, pass freely. Why did all these people from North and South Viet Nam, the US, Australia, and South Korea lose their lives? Why were so many physically and mentally disabled? This is the question I hope to reconcile, at least in my mind in returning to Viet Nam. I’m learning, getting closer but as in other paradoxes I’m finding there is no one specific cause and unlike medicine, not one specific answer. Why/how did this happen?
Bartender? I’ll have another brandy and reader, thanks for listening (reading).
No comments:
Post a Comment