 Vietnam’s Demilitarized Zone, or better known as the DMZ, is the area around the former border between North and South Vietnam. Historically it was a narrow band of terrain extending from the Laos border to the coast, 5km on either side of the Ben Hai River, roughly on the 17th parallel north latitude. The area saw heavy fighting in the war, and ruins of old American military bases still exist. It’s a must for the military tours of former American veterans and also for those who are interested in history, war sites, even if you're not interested in the history, the area has some spectacular mountain scenery and rugged jungles. This is a report for our 2-day excursion to the DMZ in August 2007.
We booked our soft-berth overnight bus with Hoang Long Bus, a good local open-bus running throughout Vietnam. The soft-berth is just Ok for Vietnamese, who mostly are small-built body, for foreigners, it will be too small for them.
The bus run on time, at 07.30 from Hanoi, we had a short stop in Ninh Binh for a short break for drivers. The bus continued running and we reached Dong Ha City, Quang Tri Province at 8 in the morning. We checked in our hotel, Hieu Giang Hotel, a local standard hotel with limited facilities located in the town centre. Although we were tired of the long night on the bus, we had to continue with our planned schedule.
Today’s schedule is the Old Citadel of Quang Tri, Con Thien firebase and Doc Mieu Base. We also visited Hien Luong Bridge, the Ben Hai river battle sites, Truong Son National Cemetery and Vinh Moc Tunnels.
Quang Tri Citadel was built in 1824, during the 4th year of the reign of Minh Mang. The citadel is approximately 60 km north of Hue and is one of the fiercest battlefields of the war. The incident of 81 days and nights (from June 28 to September 16, 1972) has made this citadel well-known all over the world. By using fire-power, the South Vietnam puppet troop was determined to re-occupy Quang Tri old citadel within a couple of days. Quang Tri town, therefore, had to suffer from the U.S bombardment and shelling of 140 B52 aircraft in turn, more than 200 tactical planes, 12 – 16 fighter planes and cruisers. Within 40 days and nights it had suffered 80,000 tons of bombs – as many as that in the World War II in African battlefield within a month. Sometimes the number of bombs dropped in Quang Tri a day was far more than that on the whole South battlefield in the years of 1968 - 1969.
  Con Thien was a United States Marine Corps combat base in South Vietnam in use during the Vietnam War. Nicknamed the "Hill of Angels", it was located along the DMZ about 3 km from the North Vietnam border and was the site of fierce fighting during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The firebase was strategically important because it offered unfettered views for 15km east to the coast and into North Vietnam. It was also very vulnerable because it was within range of the North Vietnamese artillery which was immune to counter-battery fire.
  Hien Luong Bridge was first built by French sappers in 1950 and under the Geneva Agreement on Vietnam signed in 1954, served as the border gates to both sides. Hien Luong Bridge is a bridge over Ben Hai River and located in 17th Parallel. It was bisected between South and North Vietnam. The old bridge become a symbol for the Vietnam war in Quang Tri in particular and now used for visiting purpose only as the local authority has built another new bridge just by the old one for traffic purpose.
Truong Son cemetery is situated 17 km south of the Ben Hai River and is so large it can only be described as impressive. Not so impressive is the deaths that created a need of such a place. The endless rows of white tombstones are a memorial to the tens of thousands of NVA (Northern Vietnam Army) soldiers and other military personnel killed in and around the Truong Son Mountains. There is also a large area of deaths soldiers without names and some have been found via telepaths.
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Vinh Moc Tunnel is a tunnel complex in is located in Vinh Moc, Vinh Thach Commune, Vinh Linh District, Quang Tri Province. During the Vietnam War it was strategically located on the border of North Vietnam and South Vietnam. The tunnels were built to shelter people from the intense bombing of Son Trung and Son Ha communes in Vinh Linh county. It was constructed in several stages beginning in 1966 and used until early 1972. The complex grew to include wells, kitchens, and rooms for each family and spaces for healthcare. Around 60 families lived in the tunnels; as many as 17 children were born inside the tunnels. As time goes by, it has become both historical evidence and a tourist destination for discovering a heroic period of Vietnam’s history.
  The next day we visited Camp Carroll, the Rock pile, Dakrong Bridge, the Ho Chi Minh trail, and the ethnic minority village of Bru Van Kieu. Most of these firebases now are local resident or in restricted area of the Vietnam army so there’s not many things left.
Camp Carroll was a Marine Corps artillery base located 8 km southwest of the town of Cam Lo, Quang Tri Province. Camp Carroll was also at the centroid of a large arc of the strategic Highway 9 corridor south of the demilitarized zone, which made it a key facility. We met some local people digging scraps of US Army bomb; even they all know that it’s very dangerous, they had to do it everyday. With lucks, they can earned 20.000 – 50.000 Vietnam Dong (around 1 – 3 US$) per day, if not, they had nothing.
The Rockpile known in Vietnamese as Thon Khe Tri, is a Karst rock outcropping near the DMZ of South Vietnam. It rises to an elevation of 240 m (790 ft) MSL, about 210 m (690 ft) above the surrounding terrain. Its relatively inaccessible location, reached only by helicopter, made it an important US Army and Marine Corps observation post and artillery base from 1966 to 1968.
We also bought some biscuits, candy when visiting the minority village of Bru Van Kieu. Most of the people here had their family name as Ho, the name of President Ho Chi Minh. Like most ethnic villages in remote areas of Vietnam, their life is very hard but lots of laugh as they like an easy life.
After lunch at Khe Sanh town, we visited the Khe Sanh combat base, Lang Vay Special Forces Camp and the Laos - Vietnam border.
Khe Sanh is the district capital of Huong Hoa District, located 63 km west of Dong Ha. Khe Sanh Combat Base was a US Marine Corps outpost in South Vietnam used during the Vietnam War.
The day was ended up with a free time for shopping in the market near Laos and Vietnam borders. Our car then took us back to the hotel for refreshment before boarding the overnight bus back to Hanoi. Ends of trip. |
