Jan and I visited this week one of the Ho Chi Minh area's most popular tourist spots, the Cu Chi tunnels. They are located just 60 km outside of the city, named for the town of Cu Chi. During the Vietnam war thousands of North Vietnamese soldiers infiltrated into this area and found many sympathetic southerners.
American and South Vietnamese army and air force repeatedly bombed and swept the area, engaging the enemy.
To counter the overwhelming military power of these forces, the people of Cu Chi and the North Vietnamese military, built a tunnel complex which eventually totalled at least 200 km in length. At times these tunnels were at three different depths. Hospitals, school rooms, kitchens, dining areas and meeting rooms were all built in bunkers or inside the tunnels themselves. We walked through the bunkers and even crawled through a "sample" tunnel. The site provides a war time propaganda film and a display of traps for enemy soldiers. I have read that many American war veterans have visited this site.
It left us with an admiration for the ingenuity and endurance of those who fought. And it increased our revulsion from the horror of war. How tragic that over 58,000 American troops died fighting in Vietnam; and over 2 million Vietnamese (combatants and civilians) died. We are grateful that there is peace here now and that relations between Vietnam and the USA have been greatly improved over the past decade.
No comments:
Post a Comment