US navy ship arrives in Vietnam
A US Navy frigate has docked in Vietnam's biggest city, the first American warship to visit the country since the end of their bloody conflict nearly 30 years ago.
The USS Vandegrift sailed up the Saigon river from Vung Tau watched by a small crowd of curious onlookers, including Vietnamese veterans of a war they say they want to forget.
"It's good - there is no more war and we should get further cooperation between the two countries," one man said, peering through a rolled-up newspaper he used as a makeshift telescope.
The frigate, with a crew of around 200, was escorted from Vung Tau, about 120 kilometres south-east of Ho Chi Minh City, by two Vietnamese navy vessels.
As it pulled into Ho Chi Minh city, the crew, smartly attired in Navy whites, stood to attention, arms clasped behind their backs.
The frigate flew the flags of both countries, the stars and stripes of the US alongside that of Vietnam - red with a five-pointed yellow star in the centre.
Spectator 62-year-old Duong Tam said he had fought on the side of the losing, US-backed South Vietnam army but still considered Americans his friends.
"Now there is no problem between the American and Vietnamese people," he said.
Asked if any of his former colleagues might feel bitter or betrayed by the withdrawal of American forces, he said, "I don't think there will be such an attitude".
Few of Ho Chi Minh City's eight million residents seemed to be aware of the ship's visit.
But the American sailors aboard are expected to be granted shore leave before the ship departs on Saturday local time.
But with no welcome banners or posters in sight, hotels that were popular with American GIs during the 10-year war that ended in 1975 - the Rex, Caravelle and Continental, seemed to display little awareness of the visit.
Several women beckoning tourists into bars on Dong Koi street on Tuesday night said they had heard of the ship's arrival.
"Really, really good," one of the women said, dressed in a long orange dress and high heels.
Vietnamese-American businessman Tony Nong, who lives in Ho Chi Minh City, said many residents were likely to be stunned at the sight of US sailors in uniform on the streets.
More than half of Vietnam's population of 80 million population were born after the war and so have few direct memories of the conflict.
"When they see something like this... I would say it's monumental for a lot of those people," Mr Nong said.
"As you see the US military are coming back to Vietnam as sort of closing the book and sort of shaking hands, let the past be the past," he said.
Reuters - November 20, 2003.
US ship flies ‘enemy’ flag in Vietnam
HO CHI MINH CITY - Flying the flag of its former enemy, a US navy frigate docked in Vietnam’s biggest city today, the first to visit the country since their bloody conflict ended nearly 30 years ago.
Watched by curious onlookers and a horde of media, the USS Vandegrift sailed into Saigon port, its crew smartly attired in navy whites and lining the deck, arms clasped behind their backs. “We are showing the world that former foes can be friends,” US ambassador to Vietnam Raymond Burghardt said as American sailors watched from the ship’s upper deck.
In a further gesture of reconciliation, the ship’s Commander Richard Rogers and the US Embassy Defence and Army Attache Stephen Ball witnessed a floral wreath laying at a statue of Vietnam’s first President Ho Chi Minh in a downtown square.
The “Bac Ho” or Uncle Ho statue in the square, surrounded by war-era hotels including the Continental, Rex and Caravelle, shows the resistance leader with a little girl. The Americans saluted the wreath-laying before heading with Vietnamese military officials into a meeting with the city’s local government leaders. The frigate flew the flags of both countries, the stars and stripes of the US alongside that of Vietnam — red with a five-pointed yellow star in the centre.
Reuters - November 19, 2003.
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