RUCKSACK 2000
by Tom Nash
08 APR 2000
On Thursday, January 14, 2000, the 6 members of "Rucksack 2000"
boarded a plane at Los Angeles for the first leg of a trip for
what would become a journey of discovery and understanding of
the events that encompassed their lives so many years before in
Vietnam. There were six of us making the trip: Earl Toomey, Mike Maar,
Jerry Howard, Richard and Donna Wolch, and me. The trip was full
of unforgettable and poignant moments and highlights - enough
to provide a lifetime of memories, from Toomey, forever hoping
to see the road from Chu Lai bending in from the north on our
trek into the Tra Bong Valley; to Maar's relentless and far reaching
search for just the right jewelry (at the right price); to Richard
Wolch's concern with the proliferation of poison fish, i.e. poisson
(Fr.), on our menus; to the sight of Howard piloting a rickety
tourist boat around Nha Trang harbor; to Donna Wolch's misadventures
with customs. I think some general observations are in order, as they will put
the details of our trip into the proper context. First, the people
of Vietnam. While we might have expected to experience some resentment
against Americans, none was evident. To the contrary, we found
the Vietnamese people to be courteous, friendly and curious. Wherever
we went in Vietnam, we were uniformly greeted with waves and the
shout of "Hello" from broad, smiling faces, particularly the children.
The people are dignified and resilient, having survived not only
the "American War", as they call it, but also the "French War",
the "Japanese War", etc. To a large extent, they go about their
lives in the same way today as they did before we arrived some
35 years ago, or before the French or the Japanese before that.
Despite the various wars and occupations and infighting that have
characterized their history, today they seem a remarkable peaceful
people. Tom Nash in the South China Sea The most rural areas now have electricity, and television. (Apparently,
owning a television seems to be a high priority for the Vietnamese,
taking precedence over other needs that might be considered more
pressing by the average Westerner.) More children now wear Western
style dress than traditional garb - more than a few #23 Chicago
Bulls tee shirts were spotted. A few internet cafes were spotted
in Saigon. And while the ao dai is still the appropriate dress
for school for young girls, most women, except for the elderly,
dress in Western style clothes, particularly jeans and tee shirts. These roads entertain all forms of conveyance from oxcarts to
bicycles and motorcycles, to larger vehicles like buses and trucks.
While we saw that there was a general acceptance of the fact that
driving on the right side of the road was the convention, this
should not suggest order or that traffic is regulated to any large
degree. Traffic actually verges on chaos, with faster vehicles
routinely passing slower vehicles on the left side of the road
in the oncoming traffic lane, with their horns blaring. The interesting
aspect of this passing technique is that drivers seem oblivious
to oncoming traffic until the last moment. Often this culminates
in the need for several vehicles to veer quickly to their respective
right to avoid head-on collisions. These maneuvers are not always successful however. During our
brief stay, we saw more than one vehicle lying in a ditch next
to the road, having been forced off by this seemingly endless
game of "chicken" that they seem to play, as well as several motorcycle
and bicycle accidents. The Vietnamese seem to take this sanctioned
chaos in stride however, no "road rage" was ever in evidence.
On the flight, the crew worked very hard to make the trip as comfortable
as possible for everyone, even to the point of helping Westerners
prepare their Korean style meals. We flew in an arc, initially
heading northwest, south of the Aleutians and the Bering Sea,
crossing the international date line ("costing" us a day), and
then turning toward the southwest across Japan toward Korea. When
we landed in Seoul, we barely had a moment to spare before the
second leg, a 5 1/2 hour flight from Seoul to Saigon (renamed
Ho Chi Minh City), was to leave. Tra Bong Valley (L-R) Arrival in Saigon's Ton Son Nhut Airport brought with it a brief
but clear reminder, in the form of Vietnamese customs agents,
that we were indeed in a foreign country. For whatever reason,
Richard and Donna seemed singled out for special treatment. Apparently,
one of their entry forms was completed in a way unsatisfactory
to the agent, who removed them to the end of the line. As the
line in which they were standing shortened, they were removed
a second time, merely to demonstrate that the agent had the authority
to do so. Once through customs, we met our guide, made our way
through the crowd of cab drivers and the like, and found our van
for the trip to the hotel for our first night in Vietnam. The
trip through Saigon at night, it was around midnight, revealed
an eerie and quiet place. The streets were just about deserted,
with very little traffic. We arrived at our hotel, the Kimdo Hotel,
and settled in for the night. Saigon by day is in stark contrast to Saigon by night, at least
late night. The city is large, expansive, and densely populated.
It is alive and vibrant. As in any city, traffic is heavy and
streets are congested, particularly in the mornings and evenings
when the populace moves to and from work. The overwhelming form
of transportation is bicycle, moped, or small motorcycle, some
of which may carry as many as five people. Traffic moves quickly
through the streets stopping only for the occasional traffic light
or to avoid collisions. Circles, or rotaries, are particularly
daunting with so many streets or roads converging and dispersing
the flows of traffic in a form of semi-controlled chaos. Newer homes look more modern, appear to be better constructed,
and, although narrow, reach three stories high. Our guide described
these homes as belonging to the "rich." The outskirts of the city
and the suburbs also reveal much more in the way of civic construction,
with new government or public building being erected. Eventually,
the city falls away, and the countryside emerges. Ox carts began
to appear as did more and more people carrying goods on their
backs. I began to finally recognize the Vietnam of my memories. At the Base of Nui Ba Den, Tay Ninh Province There's now a cable car that takes tourists and pilgrims to the
summit and the temple that lies near the summit. The area surrounding
the mountain (see mountain below) has not been developed however,
and remains agricultural. The mountain still bears scars where
defoliant was used over 30 years ago. I found our visit to the
area to be a bit strange. The area is quite peaceful and serene
now, quite a contrast to 30 years ago. After touring Tay Ninh, we began the long trek back to Saigon,
with a detour to the tunnels of Cu Chi, which is now a major tourist
attraction. Nowhere in Vietnam does one see a better example of
the resilience of the Vietnamese people. The tunnel system, covering
hundreds of miles was begun during the war with the French, and
construction continued through the early 1970's. The system survived
years of B-52 bombings and other efforts to render them useless.
We all had the opportunity to sample some of the tunnels and shelters
in the tunnel system, but one tunnel was enough for me. I found
them claustrophobic, but others in the group were able to get
a good view of what life in the tunnels must have been like. After
touring the tunnels, we headed back to Saigon for dinner and a
night of rest before our early morning flight to Da Nang. TUESDAY, JANUARY 18 The solution was to take a midday flight - 12:00 Noon - to Hue,
and then travel southward to Da Nang where we would pick up our
scheduled trip, although some 10 hours late. We flew to Hue, landing
at Phu Bai Airport, the terminal of which is an interesting colonial
antiquity left over from the French. We met our new guide, and
as we departed the airport, we passed buildings and barracks that
had once housed the Marines at Phu Bai. The day was wet and rainy,
and it was instantly clear that driving styles were no different
in this area than they were in Saigon, except that with the rainy
weather, highway travel was even more chaotic. The trip from Phu Bai to Da Nang offered some wonderful vistas
and views, often in sight of the South China Sea to the east.
But the trip took several hours as we had to cross the Hai Van
Pass, which turned out to be a real adventure. The Hai Van Pass is a spectacularly high promontory, just north
of Da Nang. Route 1 winds over the Pass in a circuitous and serpentine
fashion as it climbs, often backtracking on itself for some distance
just to gain a couple of feet in altitude. Often the side of the
road simply drops off into space. At the time of our trip, the
road was still suffering the after affects of the unusually rainy
season that had resulted in flooding in many parts of the lowlands.
Brown scars could be seen on the mountainsides from mudslides.
In some places, guard rails were missing; mud covered the paved
portion of the road; and repair efforts were evident along the
entire length of the road over the Pass. In places, the road had
actually been washed away, with gaps bridged by planking or metal
struts, or rocks and mud from more recent slides covered the road.
On this part of our trip, the Vietnamese penchant for passing
on the left took on a whole new level of intensity. More than once we felt as if we were going to end up careening
off one of the cliffs. At one point, we rounded a hairpin turn,
and came upon a truck that had broken down. They had pulled the
engine from the truck and had disassembled it with parts strewn
across the road ; they were actually rebuilding the engine right
there in the middle of the road! Needless to say, we were all
thankful when we reached the end of this part of the trip and
the highway again leveled out. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19 At points the road was flooding, or had been washed away, and
we were forced to cross creek beds or temporary roads. Traffic
was light, and we saw only a handful of other vehicles, including
the occasional bicycle or motorcycle. We passed villages and small
market towns, and gradually, the terrain that had been characterized
by large flat rice paddies or fields was replaced by terracing
on hillsides as we headed into the base of the mountains. We finally
came upon a spot at a bend in a river outside a small village
that seemed familiar to all of us. As we stopped to take pictures, people came from all over the
village to see us. The children in particular seemed friendly,
curious and playful. Several stood next to Richard and Jerry,
the tallest members of our group, to measure themselves against
them. It was clear that they had not seen many Americans. The village can be described as primitive, and except for two
things, the place seemed timeless. The first was the ever present
television antennae, and the other was the loudspeakers prominent
on poles and trees all over the village and surrounds for public
announcements - very "big brother." After spending some time with
the people, and consulting with our guide, it was determined that
we could go no further on the road, and would have to return to
Route 1 on the same route we had just followed. On the trip back,
the flooding had continued, and the trip took a little longer
as we retraced our route over roads that had gotten a bit worse
with the continued rain. We went back down the road to the south about a half mile or so,
where we took some pictures at a sign bearing the name Chu Lai.
From this vantage point, we were able to look to the west of Route
1 and see the area where the 196th was based. We found a road
leading up to the summit of a hill near where the 196th's HHC
was located, and on which there is now an enormous monument to
more "martyrs of the Liberation". When we got to the summit we
found that we could look over the terrain that had been the long
gradient on which the 196th's headquarters had been located. But
over the years, the area has been a quarry, so that the ground
on which HHC had actually stood is no longer there, having been
removed from years of digging. The whole area is a flat muddy
plain. (See photos below) From that vantage point however, we
could actually see across Route 1 to some of the buildings and
hangars that had surrounded the airfield. The whole area seemed
deserted. After reconstructing the area in our minds, and taking
some photos, we continued north to Hoi An, where we were to spend
the night. At the Rainbow Bar in Nha Trang (L-R) We took a couple of cabs to the harbor, bought some beer and soda,
rented a boat (about $26) and set off toward the offshore islands.
At one point during our cruise, Jerry Howard piloted the boat.
We had a first hand look at a fishing cache - a series of nets
attached to a floating platform containing a variety of local
fish and shellfish caught in the area - and several floating and
island bound fishing villages. After the cruise, we took cabs
to another cafe on the beach, where we had lunch and a small celebration
in honor of Donna Wolch's birthday. Afterwards, some of us decided
to walk along the beach back to our hotel for the evening. Walking
in the surf where once we had been dunked like tea bags at the
end of the McGuire rig was strange. During the War, Ngo's shop witnessed the planning of many revolutionary
activities in the area, including the attack on the U. S. Embassy
and eventually the taking of the Presidential Palace, which Ngo
planned and executed. Even today, Mr. Ngo remains a hero to the
Vietnamese for his role in "The Liberation", and receives many
visitors to his shop, as evidenced by his extensive guest register.
But he is now in his 80s, a war veteran, and eager to welcome
other veterans, even old enemies, to the hospitality of his shop
and family. We sat with Ngo and his family, signed his register,
had some photos taken, and most importantly, shook hands. As we
left, Earl presented him with Americal and Recondo pins, which
he immediately attached to his shirt. It was I thought, a surreal
moment, and perhaps a fitting culmination to our trip. It was
certainly a moment that I'll not soon forget. I've heard it said that all wars are personal, and that, war in
the larger sense is the aggregate of individual wars. My Vietnam
experience - my Vietnam War - is a part of me: an important part.
Whatever I am today, whatever I've become, or will become, has
been shaped to one degree or another by my experience in Vietnam.
My sense of values has been influenced by Vietnam. The best people
I have ever known, I knew in Vietnam. In recent years, I've attended
my first reunions, and have had the extraordinary opportunity,
after so many years, of reuniting with many of those with whom
I served. I've been warmed by the camaraderie of my comrades and
the ease with which people seem to be able to pick up where they
left off so long ago. For me, the return to Vietnam, which would
have been unthinkable just a few years ago, was like a postscript,
or a capstone, to my war - to my Vietnam experience. It completes
the circle started 30 years ago.
A second observation is that, on the surface, not much seems to
have changed in Vietnam. Of course, I can only comment on the
countryside, where I spent my tour the first time I visited Vietnam.
People seem to be doing the same things they did 30 years ago.
The farmers farm the same way; the fisherman fish the same way;
the young girls still wear the traditional ao dai while attending
school; the predominant form of transportation is still two wheeled,
etc., but, if you peer a little deeper, you can see that more
than subtle changes have taken place. 
The next is about the way the Vietnamese drive. They are either
the best or the worst drivers that you will ever encounter, depending
on your point of view. Some of the streets and boulevards in cities
like Saigon or Da Nang are wide and can accommodate multiple lanes
of traffic, but most roads outside the cities, including the main
north-to-south highway - Route 1, are two lane affairs.
Finally, a more somber observation. The proliferation of military
cemeteries is striking, and leaves a lasting impressions of the
dimensions of the losses incurred by the Vietnamese during their
various wars. Overgrown with grass and weeds, and with many headstones
stained with mold, and in a general state of neglect, these places
provided a different perspective on the welcome we received and
our sense of the general lack of resentment evident in the people.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 14
We embarked from Los Angeles on the first leg of our trip, armed
with our personal reasons for going and our personal recollections
of the war in Vietnam. The first part of the trip was a 12 1/2
hour flight from Los Angeles to Seoul via Asiana Airlines. This
was as long as it sounds. The trip was long enough to show several
movies, and serve several meals, with lots of downtime in-between.
It could have been worse though, as the airline did a great job
in making the trip bearable.
I'm not sure about the others, but I found the flight to Saigon
somewhat disconcerting. As might be expected, the plane was full
of Vietnamese. This was the first time that I had heard so many
Vietnamese voices in over 30 years, and the effect was quite unexpected.
The sound of those voices brought back to mind so many other sounds
and scenes from so long ago that initially I was a bit uncomfortable.
At that moment, the trip, and what I was doing, became very real
to me in a way that it hadn't to that point. The trip to Saigon
seemed quieter than the leg to Seoul, perhaps because we were
all a little more introspective, or simply because of the time
of day, which was now quite late at night.
Earl, Mike, Tom, Gerry, Richard
SUNDAY, JANUARY 16
On Sunday, our first full day in country, encompassed an all-day
tour of Saigon, including such sights as Notre Dame Cathedral,
the Ben Thanh Market, the Thien Hau Pagoda, the deserted American
Embassy, the Saigon Riverfront, and the former Presidential Palace,
which is now the Museum of the Liberation. We also took a long
stroll down Tu Do Street.
Our tour of the city was interesting and informative, stopping
as it did at the sites mentioned above, and provided a good sampling
of what the city is all about and what drives it. The former presidential
palace is now referred to as "The Museum of the Liberation" by
the Vietnamese. The tanks that broke through the gates of the
palace as Saigon fell are prominently displayed, as is the Vietnamese
president's escape helicopter, which, as it turned out, the president
and his family were unable to use. The Vietnamese have not yet
learned the art of preservation, as important artifacts, like
the maps in the basement map room, are covered only by aging and
cracking plastic. Nonetheless, the palace and its grounds were
full of tourists, mostly Vietnamese coming to see an important
historical site, much like we would visit Washington, DC, or Gettysburg,
for example.
Our visit to the Ben Thanh Market gave us our first real taste
of Vietnamese commerce and what shopping in Vietnam entails, and
gave us an awareness of how inexpensive most goods in Vietnam
were. Practically anything that any of us wanted, that could be
found - and almost everything could be found - was a fraction
of what we might have expected it to cost, from jewelry to preserved
snakes in bottles of alcohol. And though the kind of haggling
about price that is the norm for the Vietnamese might try a Westerner's
patience, both Toomey and Maar began their quests for jewelry
and other gifts and seemed to adapt to the Vietnamese model very
quickly.
Tu Do Street is now lined with shops, boutiques and restaurants.
Many of the shops are what might be considered upscale, and seem
to be catering to higher income customers and tourists. Though
we did not see any McDonalds, Burger Kings, or Starbucks, we did
see an occasional Baskin-Robbins.
At the end of our day, we repaired to the hotel for dinner, and
to prepare for the next day's activities: the trip to Tay Ninh
and Cu Chi.
MONDAY, JANUARY 17
On Monday, we left for a tour of Tay Ninh and Cu Chi and surrounding
areas, including Nui Ba Den. The trip took several hours, with
a first stop at the Cao Dai Temple in Tay Ninh. The trip provided
a sense of how large Saigon actually is, as half the time it took
to get to Tay Ninh was spent traveling within the boundaries of
the city. As the edge of Saigon is approached, the occasional
rice paddy or farm appears, and houses begin to be separated from
each other. Newer houses and much construction can also be seen.
We arrived in Tay Ninh in time for the daily noon service at the
Cao Dai Temple. Colorful and ornate, the temple houses a religion,
or sect, little known outside of Vietnam. During my active duty
tour in Tay Ninh, I was not even aware of our proximity of the
temple. Cao Daiism borrows many religious tenets from other beliefs,
but particularly Buddhism, Taoism and Hinduism. Cao Daiism is
considered a sect by the Vietnamese, and would probably be considered
one in the U.S. as well. But, for the moment anyway, they do not
seem to be persecuted. In all likelihood, the Vietnamese government
probably recognizes the value of the temple and its grounds to
the tourist industry, and thus the sect is tolerated.
As we traveled through the city of Tay Ninh, the remains of the
196th's base camp was not in evidence. But the city itself seems
to have experienced its own type of urban sprawl, so it appeared
that the city had simply overgrown the former base camp area.
One big difference in the city of Tay Ninh, as elsewhere, is the
proliferation of television antennae on the rooftops. Outside
the city proper, Nui Ba Den remains as impressive now as it was
then. We were able to travel to its base, in the area where the
196th's first LRRPs trained, and where the Vietnamese are now
laying out a park. 
....
On Tuesday, we had one of our more exciting days. But given the
way the day started, we certainly had no reason to believe the
day would be anything like it turned out. We had been scheduled
for an early morning flight, i.e., 6:00 AM, to Da Nang for a day
of sightseeing as our plan was to travel south along Route 1 toward
Quang Ngai, where we were to spend the night. But, our flight
was canceled due to aircraft problems. With no available substitute
aircraft, we were basically faced with the prospect of losing
a day of our tour unless we could make up the lost time, and somehow
get to Da Nang.
We continued to travel south, though Da Nang, stopping for refreshments
at a seaside resort overlooking the ocean, in the process of being
restored. Da Nang seems a more modern city than Saigon, with wider
boulevards and what seemed to be better traffic controls. There
was certainly more construction evident. On the way through Da
Nang, we passed Red Beach, where the first U.S. Marines had landed
in Vietnam so many years ago. We continued our journey, stopping
again at Tam Ky, and continued through Chu Lai to our hotel in
Quang Ngai, where we had a late dinner at our hotel ñ the Central
Hotel ñ a very modern place, recently refurbished, and a welcome
relief after a hard day in the van.
Wednesday provided another high point of the trip; our journey
into the Tra Bong Valley. Leaving Quang Ngai early in the morning,
we traveled north on Route 1, and made a left turn somewhere between
Quang Ngai and Chu Lai onto a dirt road headed to the west. It
was still raining. I'm not quite sure how far we traveled, but
since the trip took almost three hours, I believe we went some
30 miles or so into the interior. We believed this was a road
that members of our party recalled that they had traveled some
30 years before.
When we reached Route 1, we headed north, back to Chu Lai, where
both the Americal Division and the 196th Light Infantry Brigade
had been headquartered. The main gate of the Americal headquarters
area on the eastern side of Route 1 is now the gate of a Vietnamese
military base. We made an effort to have our picture taken at
the main gate, but the Vietnamese guards would not permit it.
Nor were we able to gain access to the base, or get near the area
where the LRRP unit was billeted.
Hoi an is a unique place. We pulled into our hotel, the Hoi An
Hotel, after dark. We toured the town and found it to be interesting.
Off limits during most of the American presence in Vietnam, Hoi
An is now one of Vietnam's more important resort areas. We were
able to take an evening stroll around the historic area, and found
it to be a center for young travelers from all over the world.
The historic area has many clubs and coffee shops and seems to
cater to the backpacker and economy minded traveler. In an interesting
exercise, Mike Maar had a shirt made, and it was delivered to
him at his hotel in less than three hours.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 20
On Thursday, we left Hoi An for the short ride to the Da Nang
Airport and our flight to Nha Trang. Before leaving Hoi An, we
stopped briefly at a silk factory, where we had the opportunity
to see the production of silk from silkworm to the final product.
On the way to the airport, we passed Marble Mountain, and a number
of other sites that would be familiar to American veterans. The
flight to Nha Trang from Da Nang is short ñ just over an hour,
and we flew in an old propeller-driven aircraft.
At Nha Trang, we were met by our third guide, who took us to our
hotel ñ the Vien Dong Hotel. Because it was raining and overcast,
we decided to scrap the scheduled program for the day, postponing
it until the next day. Instead, we decided to sample the city
and do some shopping. We hired a group of cyclos and set off on
a trip around the city. We spent the rest of the day sightseeing
and browsing through shops and markets, returning to the hotel
for dinner and a musical review. The cyclos proved an economical
means of travel. Our drivers stayed with us all afternoon, driving
us from place to place, waiting for us while we strolled or shopped.
At the end of the day, they took us back to the hotel. The cost
for the entire afternoon was about 50,000 Vietnamese dong, or
about $3.50.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 21
On Friday morning, we toured some of the religious and cultural
sites of the city of Nha Trang. We also drove around the area
where the MACV Recondo School had been located. This area is also
a government military installation, so again we couldn't gain
access to the actual base area. We drove past it north to south
on the west side of the base and then south to north by the shore
road, but little of the actual base area was visible. However,
listening post installations at the end of the runway were visible
over the tops of the houses at the end of the base.
After our official tour of the city, which lasted only a few hours,
we decided to head down to the beach. We found that there were
several bars and clubs built on the beach near the area where
the Recondo School had provided amphibious training. We settled
on a thatch roofed bar on the beach - The Rainbow Bar - where
we had a couple of drinks and spent some time on the beach. Afterwards,
we decided to go to the harbor to rent a boat to take a cruise
around the islands that lay offshore. 
Richard Wolch, Mike Maar, Earl Toomey,
Tom Nash and Jerry Howard
SATURDAY, JANUARY 22
On Saturday, we headed back to Saigon, for what was a largely
uneventful day. The flight to Saigon was late in the morning.
After settling back into our hotel, we spent the rest of the day
strolling around the city and did some last minute shopping. That
evening, we dined on the rooftop of the Rex Hotel, one of the
more luxurious hotels in the city.
SUNDAY, JANUARY 23
Our last day in Vietnam. We had a free day, as our plane was scheduled
to leave for Seoul around midnight. At Earl's suggestion, we decided
to visit the noodle shop of the former Viet Cong leader Ngo Toai
(described in Michael Chu's article on the Association website).
Late in the evening, after eating at the Rex once again, we headed
for Ton Son Nhut Airport for the beginning of our flight home.
At midnight, our plane took off, and we left Vietnam once again.
Since I returned from the trip, I've been asked "was the trip
worth it?" or "did you get out of it what you wanted to get out
of it?" The answer to these questions is clearly "yes!" But it's
hard to define exactly why.
My sincerest thanks to Earl Toomey, Jerry Howard, Mike Maar, Richard
Wolch and Donna Wolch (who proved to be as much a LRRP as any
of us).
