Wednesday, May 27, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
7
Commentary...
Travels in 21st century Vietnam
By Craig F. Eisenbeis
Columnist
Vietnam.
For many, it9s more than
just a place; it9s an era.
Vietnam affected the lives
of an entire generation.
Although I never actually
set foot in the country until
earlier this year, Vietnam
forever changed my life. It
changed 4 and even ended
4 the lives of others I knew.
My family has a history
of military service: my father
in World War II; his father in
the National Guard during
World War I; and two of my
great-grandfathers fought
in the Civil War. So, when
I graduated from Oregon
State University during the
Vietnam War, there was no
question in my mind that I
would follow in their foot-
steps. As I always assumed
I would, if the need arose, I
did as my father had done in
World War II and joined the
U.S. Coast Guard.
As an unintended conse-
quence, instead of pursuing a
career in biological research
as I had planned, I ended up
making the Coast Guard my
career. Most of that career
was ashore; but I also served
on two ships, both of which
saw action in Vietnam 4
although not while I was on
board. We had one three-
month deployment off the
Asian coast, but that was as
close as I got.
So, it was primarily with
historical curiosity that I
approached our cruise ship
visit to Vietnam earlier this
year.
The Vietnam we saw
was a vibrant, prosperous,
cheerful, unified nation
under communist leader-
ship 4 a scenario that we
fruitlessly fought a war to
prevent. I wondered how
visiting Americans would
be perceived, but our guide
pointed out that the aver-
age age in Vietnam is 31,
and only 12.8 percent of the
population was even alive
when the war ended. By
way of comparison, I vis-
ited post-war Japan 4 in a
military capacity 4 25 years
after World War II and was
well-received throughout the
country. By the time I visited
Vietnam as a civilian tourist,
that war was nearly 50 years
in the rear-view mirror; so,
I probably should not have
been surprised.
Although the official
name is now Ho Chi Minh
City, our first stop is still
often referred to as Saigon.
An attractive, modern, clean
city, Saigon has everything
you9d expect in a modern
city of 10 million people
4 impressive skyscrap-
ers, nice parks, museums,
McDonald9s, Starbucks&
I found myself wondering
what those who sacrificed
their lives here 50 years
ago would think of Vietnam
today.
We visited Saigon at the
start of the lunar new year
celebration and were for-
tunate enough to be swal-
lowed up in their elaborate
downtown Flower Festival,
which kicks off a week-
long new year9s party. The
streets, some closed to traf-
fic, were packed with fes-
tively dressed celebrants.
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PHOTO BY CRAIG EISENBEIS
A typical Vietnamese marketplace.
Hindu temple site that now
serves all of the country9s
religions. We also climbed
208 steps to the site of a
giant Buddha statue seated
on a lotus blossom. Later,
we <enjoyed= a wild, bicy-
cle-driven rickshaw ride
through downtown traffic,
where stoplights and traffic
controls seemed to be mere
suggestions.
Da Nang, the former site
of another major U.S. base
was an interesting two-day
port call. Still present are the
gigantic concrete-reinforced
Air Force Quonset huts that
were built to protect aircraft
from mortar attacks origi-
nating in the nearby moun-
tains. A friend of mine was
stationed there during the
war, and one of his vivid
memories is of a metal cas-
ket bearing the body of a
friend being shipped home.
Some of those structures on
the old base are now in vari-
ous commercial uses, but
most have been abandoned
to overgrown vegetation.
From there, we also vis-
ited Hue, near the so-called
demilitarized zone, the for-
mer border between North
and South Vietnam. Much
of the fiercest fighting took
place in this area. The scars
of war are gone now, and
access to the north has been
made much easier by a new
four-mile tunnel through the
mountains.
Upon leaving Da Nang,
we sailed north, toward
Hanoi, into the Gulf of
Tonkin, which lent its name
to the precedent-setting U.S.
Senate Resolution that gave
President Lyndon Johnson
sweeping war powers in
1964 and sank us deep into
the Vietnam War.
Next: Hanoi, a half cen-
tury later.
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Entertainers, vendors, and
families mingled with the
enthusiasm of a never-end-
ing parade of fashion, fin-
ery, and fun. Everyone was
friendly toward us and didn9t
seem particularly curious
about visitors.
The most notable aspect
of vehicle traffic is that
motorbikes outnumber cars
probably 20 to 1, with eight
million in Saigon alone. At
stoplights, many intersec-
tions look like the mass
starts of marathons, except
the bunched-up competitors
are on motorbikes.
Despite the fact that the
Communists are the only
political party, our guide said
they have elections every
four years <just for fun.=
The red national flag, with
its central gold star, is seen
everywhere, along with ham-
mer and sickle party banners.
We visited interesting muse-
ums and the <Reunification
Palace,= formerly the South
Vietnamese Presidential
Palace. Some visitors on
private tours saw the <War
Remnants Museum,= but
the cruise line doesn9t like
to take Americans there
because they find it shocking
to learn about the war from a
Vietnamese perspective.
Our second port was Nha
Trang, which is near the for-
mer U.S. bases at Cam Ranh
Bay. The port has a modern
new cruise ship terminal
that cannot be used because
a cable car tram to an island
amusement park was sub-
sequently built too low for
ships to pass under!
The highlight of Nha
Trang was a 2,000 year-old
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