255 How the War was WON

One side trip that’s a must do in Ho Chi Min is the Tunnels of Cu Chi. An hour and a half bus ride, just 30 Ks. Our guide, Son was wonderful. He made jokes as he urged us to stay with him or walk back. One of his best lines was, “I will always be thinking of you, but I will never remember you”.

Once the tour began he was more the strict patriot. They spare no punches about feeling toward Americans. Oh he did preface that with, “We don’t live in the past, we are moving into the future. “

He likened life in Vietnam in 1975 to a temperature of -30. Then as things began to evolve by 1979 it was 0 degrees but it felt warm after living in -30, and so on. 

10,000 of those villains we called Vietcong lived here, underground for 12 years. That dear friends is sacrifice. They made shoes from blown up jeep tires and munitions from our own shells that didn’t explode. 

There are more than 200 Ks (125 miles) of tunnels. The inhabitants lived underground by day and took flight by night, like bats seeking insects. Some support from the north, Russia and China but mostly on their own.

When you see how they could exit and enter you know the fear that our 19 year old soldiers must have felt to walk these paths. 

Later,  in an attempt to flush them out we used Agent Orange. It did defoliate but didn’t faze their determination. It did cause birth defects in the Cong and some US GI’s off spring.