DMZ (Demilitarized Zone)
Khe Sanh, Dong Ha, Vinh Moc
Tuesday October 7, 2003

(if the facts here are shaky and/or incomplete, I haven't brought my reference library with me, so I'm going from what was on the tour and what's in the Rough Guide: pretty limited.)

I am eagerly anticipating rereading my history books to make sure that I can associate the stories and details with the places I've visited today. Theory and politics are one thing, the battleground is entirely different. 30 years ago Khe Sanh and the surrounding area was bombed to oblivion and scorched with napalm. Operation Rolling Thunder saw an average of one bombing sortie every 5 minutes, dropping hundreds of thousands of tonnes of ordnance. More tonnage was dropped from '65 to '68 than in all of WWII, including Nagasaki, Hiroshima and Dresden. Vietnam is smaller than Texas. Now it is lush and green, with coffee plantations everywhere.

       
Khe Sanh near the Lao border

The battle for Khe Sanh was critical politically and strategically for the US. Khe Sanh is on the Ho Chi Minh trail (which is now a paved road here) and was important to the US's effort to block supplies reaching the south. Politically it was seen by the US Military and press as being a test of America's success in the battle. In 1968 the NVA attacked Khe Sanh and successfully diverted the US's military resources to Khe Sanh during the Tet offensive.

       
17th Parallel ~ Ben Hai River

The 1954 Geneva Accords split Vietnam along the 17th Parallel until the 1956 elections intended to reunite the country. The Demarcation line was the Ben Hai river pictured above, and the DMZ was 5km either side of the 17th parallel. After 1956 came and went without elections (the south refused to participate because they knew they would be outvoted), the Ben Hai river became the de facto border, though shipments and people were easily able to cross via the Ho Chi Minh trail and by sea. After 1965 the DMZ was actually heavily fortified, and the provinces north and south of the 17th Parallel saw the heaviest casualties during the American War. The amount of bombs, napalm and chemical weapons that were unleashed in the region made the soil largely unfertile for years, though now it is fairly green. The majority of the vegetation shows its youth, and you will not see any large trees or dense jungle here. Hien Luong Bridge, above, crosses the Ben Hai river and was destroyed in 1965. It was reopened in 1975 as a symbol of reunification, as shown by the memorial.

           
       
Vinh Moc Tunnels

The village of Vinh Moc, 22km north of Dong Ha, 16km off Highway 1, was completely annihilated by US air strikes in the mid 60's. In 1966 they started digging a series of tunnels through the bluff overlooking the South China Sea at multiple levels beneath the ground: at 10m, 15m, and 20-23m below the surface. The tunnels took 2 years to complete and included fresh water wells, ventilation shafts, living quarters for families, a school, clinic, maternity room, and a large meeting room that would hold 50-80 people. Later a generator and electric lights were added. The tunnels ran for about 1,200 meters in total distance, and at times housed over a thousand people. Entire families would live underground for weeks at a time, only coming out at night and as necessary. Seventeen children were born in the tunnels.

The small building above ground (not really a museum) displayed the usual pictures of liberation heroes going off to war, defending the area and capturing US pilots, but it also showed before and after pictures of when the town was bombed, as well as the above plaque. Sorry it's not a clearer picture. Above the plaque says "To Be or Not To Be" and the picture displays people defending the sky, bombs (with "USA" on them) falling from the sky, and a multitude of fighters being shot down. The bottom part of the plaque shows people involved in daily life activities like digging the tunnel, schooling, medical care, growing crops and preparing weaponry.

As you can see from the pictures, the tunnels were just barely tall enough to walk through, and at times even I had to duck. The models are shown in a family's living quarters, about 2 meters back off the main tunnel. The scenery outside is beautiful, but the point of being on the ocean was primarily for food and as an escape route.

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Copyright 2003, Dana M. Brash. All Rights Reserved.