24 December 2008
Cu Chi Tunnels
About an hours drive outside of Saigon are the very famous Cu Chi Tunnels. They were a stronghold of Viet Cong activity throughout the duration of the "American War," as the Vietnamese call it. On the route there, we stopped at a government run program for handicapped people. They are living with various physical disabilities because of their exposure to various chemicals like Agent Orange, dioxin, and napalm. Due to residual amounts, birth defects still occur. They are in a one-year training program where they learn exactly one skill. They spend their life creating lacquer ware that is embedded with eggshell, gold leaf, or mother of pearl. The work is beautiful, much more costly than the other very similar work... but we feel that we are supporting a most deserving cause.
As we continue, we notice many above ground tombs. During the war, there was no time to move the dead to proper burial grounds so they buried them where they died, and once buried; both the people and government are reluctant to disturb the spirits of the dead. The roads got more and more narrow as we approach the tunnels.
I could just imagine being an American GI… a dark maze before filled with the unexpected. Probably feeling isolated from my family, my friends, and my country… perhaps not understanding why many Americans did not support this war and the risks that I took to protect the concept of democracy; perhaps with a belief that this was an unjust war. My personal stance on the war, unpopular with much of my family, was shall I say “Pro-Peace.” I had two cousins who went to “Nam” and came back different people; one a heroine junkie, the other a bit of a psychopath who enjoyed (and this is a quote from a conversation I had with him when he returned, as he talked of reefer, prostitutes, and killing) running over Vietnamese
villagers with his truck… So these entries become very personal, very upsetting, and difficult to write. Everywhere I go my mind drifts off into another time, and I am immersed in controversy.We enter the compound that is a portion of the once 250-kilometer labyrinth of tunnels once contained quarters for sleeping, cooking, and living. The tunnels housed upward of 15000 Vietcong, and designed to remain undetected by the American enemy. We are lead to a TV that shows old black and white news films… well propaganda really, but it was very very anti-American. It gave a whole new perspective to the war, a Vietnamese perspective. .
# posted by Henry @ 12:39 PM 
