Where thousands of soldiers ferried supplies toward the front, a new road swings through Quang Tri ProvinceMark Leong/Redux
by Nick Ray et al.
Planet Publications (Oakland, California), 2007
by John Prados
John Wiley & Sons, 1998
by Peter Macdonald
W.W. Norton, 1993
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Very good article,brought back a lot of memories. I have had some friends that I was in Vietnam with that have returned there for a visit. It's almost unbelievable the changes in the areas that we were in. I lokk forward to visiting there. I'm looking forward to future articles
Posted by Joe Byrne on February 26,2008 | 05:01PM
It must feel strange to travel the Trail today when you think of how things were a few(?) years back.....too many bad guys aiming to end your flying career in a hurry as you flew overhead. And overhead was not too high flying in helicopters which is what I was doing.
Posted by Charles Herrmann on February 26,2008 | 07:29PM
I spent a year and a day in Vietnam. I was there in 70-71. I was at Phu Cat and I wouldn't mind going back just to see how it has changed. When I was there, I travelled to different places when I could. I was in the Air Force so it was difficult to leave the base because of the policies.
Posted by Larry E. Huff on February 26,2008 | 07:42PM
I spent a year and a day in Vietnam. I was there in 70-71. I was at Phu Cat and I wouldn't mind going back just to see how it has changed. When I was there, I travelled to different places when I could. I was in the Air Force so it was difficult to leave the base because of the policies.
Posted by Larry E. Huff on February 26,2008 | 07:42PM
A month ago I returned form a one week return to Saigon 36 years after I left Vietnam. It was an enlightening experience that left me with both good and bad thoughts. It is amazing how expensive that Vietnam has become too...at least what I saw this time.
Posted by Jim Gilmore on February 26,2008 | 11:57PM
Former NVA Col. Tran Dau says, ""People in Saigon don't care anymore if their neighbor fought for the South or the North.... It's just a matter of history." Good for him, and for both sides. However, I wonder if the enraptured veterans of the Ho Chi Minh Trail ever realized that their war was one of aggression, and that both their and others' sacrifices were the product of the ideology that underlay that aggression. If one counts the costs throughout the region, to include the associated strife in Laos and Cambodia, those costs amounted to more than 3 million dead. However, as has been said, "History is written by the victors." Yet even with the Trail's role as an essential supply route, its own survival was "a near-run thing." Some years later, a retired U.S. Army Lt. General said he met a former Soviet official who had been in charge of providing the supplies the NVA needed to sustain their operations during the early 1970s. That official told him that, by the end, for every twelve units (of anything) that started down the Trail, just one made it to destination -- and that if the American bombing interdiction had continued just another few months, the Soviet Union would have "pulled the plug." So, fortunately for North Vietnam, the (Democratic-controlled) Congress of the U.S. "pulled the plug" first, leaving our South Vietnamese allies without their promised air support in case of a post-1973 Treaty violation, and thus the North's invasion of 1975 succeeded.
Posted by Jonathan Myer on February 27,2008 | 05:51PM
I was stationed at II coreps hqs in '65. i was what they called a "pack rat". In oather words we carried our communicatikons equipment on our back and provide air support for the vn special forces, 82nd 10`1st and 173rd abrn. I saw more of II Corps than I would have liked to. As to wanting to go back for a visit. NEVER!!!!!! We webt iver as young kids and came home to vermin and curses about how we were treating the viet namese when we arrived in San Francisco. The only good thing was thqat when we boarded the plkane in TSN slow going and I just wanted OUT before an attack came. When I got up to the airplane off thge ramp, 6 stewardeswses were waiting there (and they were extremely beautiful), and each of them gave each of us a very lingerifng french kiss. Will never forget it.
Posted by Tom Wetherington on February 28,2008 | 01:42PM
I saw parts of all four Corps of, what was then, South Vietnam during my two tours as a USAF combat engineer (RED HORSE) from '68 through '71. Although ravaged by years of war, it was a very beautiful country even then. I would love to someday return and see the beauty of Vietnam at peace!
Posted by Al Maberry on February 28,2008 | 05:52PM
Very good article. My husband and I went along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos in 1998/1999 walking over 700km along the Truong Son Mountains. We also completed the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Vietnam and for our sins we wrote a book on it. One question we did ask the commander of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, Lieutenant General Dong Si Nguyen, was – does the new Ho Chi Minh highway run along the route of the old Ho Chi Minh Trail? He said that the new highway location was chosen to be a delicate balance between the historic Ho Chi Minh Trail route and the need to open up new routes for the economy in the remote mountains villages. However, for simplicity if you follow route 14 and 15 as a tourist in Vietnam you will not be that far off the main areas.
Posted by Virginia Morris on March 3,2008 | 08:35AM
Can anyone who knows Vietnam and the Vietnamese people believe this: "An elegantly dressed young woman" had "a live pig strapped to her motor scooter's rear rack," and In a fourth-grade class somewhere near the Ben Hai river, a teacher was using "power point" to teach history, and "sons and daughters of farmers, dressed in spotlessly clean white shirts and blouses, red ties, blue pants and skirts" greeted the author in unission in English, "Good morning and welcome, sir" What happened to the perceptive author of "Vietnam Now: A reporter returns" ?
Posted by hung nguyen on March 3,2008 | 03:02PM
This brought back a lot of memories when I was in Kontum, Pleiku and Darlac. I want to go back to visit this trail someday.
Posted by Tien Hoang on March 5,2008 | 04:48AM
Greetings David, Its always a pleasure reading your work. I played golf yesterday with Michael Mann form RMIT. He is in town for meetings with Chuck Feeney and his Bd. of Dir. Also a large contingent from UQ in Brisbane. All is well here in SF. I miss the contact with Chris Oechsli, but know he is doing whats necessary. Best regards to your wife as I love her work as well. Be well. Did you enjoy the book on Chuck's life? Bob
Posted by Bob Matousek on March 8,2008 | 09:45AM
This is a great article. I am referring to it at the end of the course on Vietnam that I tutor for SUNY/Empire State College Center for Distance Learning, and an example of what life is like there now. The Colonel's comment at the end is truly reflective and important. Spent two tours in the 1960's: at Kontum with ARVN 22nd Division 63-64, and at Ankhe with 1st Cavalry Division 66-67. Memorable events include a motor movement from Kontum to Pleiku through Mang Yang/An Khe passes to Dieu Tri RR station, train down the coast to Ninh Hoa, and return a month later in early 1964; Civic action duties at Plateau Gi northeast of Kontum mid-64; and air cavalry combat operations on the Bong Son Plain Feb - Jun 1967 at Fire Bases Santana, English, Geronimo.
Posted by C.W.Raymond on April 13,2008 | 05:39PM
Thank you David for the fine article. Hope we will see more about Viet Nam. I was with 1st Bn.,7th Marines in '68 near DaNang. I hope to return to see this beautiful country and beautiful people again.
Posted by John Gates on January 5,2009 | 07:38AM
In my day ('68-69)I fantasized about driving Hwy 14 from Kontum to Hue, but wouldn't have lived to tell about it I'm sure. I hold no grudges against any Vietnamese, I reserve those for the US citizens and politicians who chose to throw victory to the wind with a rationale I will probably really, truly, never understand. I wish Vietnam luck and prosperity.
Posted by Rick Nelson on January 12,2009 | 03:52PM