U.S. sailors tunnel into history
CU CHI - With the sound of gunfire exploding around them, the American sailors made their way through the jungles of Vietnam — this time as tourists.
As they crawled through dirt tunnels and walked through a booby-trapped forest, the Americans touring the Cu Chi tunnels found echoes of the Vietnam War coming back to life.
"I've read a lot of this stuff in the past, but seeing it for real puts things in a whole new perspective," said Seaman Don Shrader, 31, of San Diego.
Shrader is a member of the 200-strong crew of the USS Vandegrift, the first U.S. Navy ship to make a port call in post-war Vietnam.
The frigate's journey up the Saigon River last week was a sign of how far U.S.-Vietnam relations have come in three decades.
Many of the sailors weren't even born when the Vietnam War ended in 1975 with the collapse of Saigon, capital of the U.S.-backed South Vietnam.
The city was renamed for communist leader Ho Chi Minh.
War tourism has become big business for Vietnam.
At Cu Chi, an estimated 550 visitors pass through daily, according to guide Lai Van Bong.
"We get a lot of U.S. veterans who come," he said. "This is normal."
But for 28 sailors from the Vandegrift who came here Friday on their last day of shore leave, Cu Chi offered a history lesson rather than an exercise in nostalgia.
"This is the one tour I had to come on. I'd always heard about the tunnels, but you never realize how small it is," said Wayne Sherman, 31, of Bristol, Conn.
The Cu Chi tunnels, 65 kilometres northwest of Ho Chi Minh City, were an underground labyrinth used by communist forces during the Vietnam War.
Built by hand, the tunnels stretched for more than 250 kilometres and included three levels, the lowest about 10 metres below the surface.
During the war, as many as 6,000 guerrillas lived in the underground complex.
A guide dressed in a green camouflage uniform and sandals pointed out a small trapdoor entrance. His audience laughed in dismay, but a few volunteered to try it out.
Squeezing his body into the opening, 22-year-old Larry Batiste of Houston, slid down and disappeared from sight. When he emerged, he needed a helping hand.
"Whew," he said. "That's really small. It would be hard for anybody to get around, especially Americans."
Crawling through dirt passages that were broadened for Western visitors, the sailors said they had new respect for the Vietnamese fighters.
"Disneyland doesn't have nothing on this," said Chris Burns, 35, of Baltimore, as he emerged drenched in sweat from a 90-metre trench. "It's amazing that people stayed down there so long and adapted to this environment."
The sailors were then led through a jungle laden with trip wires as the sharp crack of gunfire from a nearby range exploded around them. For a fee of $1 a bullet, some of them fired rounds from an AK-47.
"When you think about the history of the place, you can picture it better now," said Kent McDougall, 23, of Rolla, N.D., as he clambered on top of a war-era tank for a photo.
"It was a little emotional, added Brent Geesaman, 26, of Detroit. "It's helped me picture what the war was like."
By Tini Tran - The Associated Press - November 23, 2003.
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