Vietnam Days 5-7

(In my first Vietnam post I included 4 days not 3 in case any of you need to keep track :))

Day 5-6:
From Ho Chi Minh City we took an 8 hour train ride to the bustling beach town of Nha Trang.  High rise hotels, beautiful beaches, and huge numbers of Russian tourists. Being white, rather large, European looking types, we found ourselves being addressed in Russian by a number of Vietnamese. I think Ron was hoping to find a Russian or 2 to talk to but didn't find someone willing to engage.

We had been upgraded to a 14th floor ocean view room with floor to ceiling windows in our hotel right across from the beach.  Not bad for $45 a night in a resort town. The next morning we saw
people were already swimming by 6 am.  We were out on the beach by 7:30, renting a couple loungers in the economy section (of course).  The ocean was warm and clear. We had a much needed lazy day with an early dinner at a beach restaurant and lights out at 8 pm.
Days 6 & 7:
We took the 5 am train to Quang Ngai.  (6-7 hours) The train was comfortable though the seats were a little narrow for us.   Lots of beautiful scenery - mostly bright green rice paddies dotted with white birds (perhaps  small herons), and mountains to our west.  When we got on the train at 5 am, 3 Vietnamese women across the aisle appeared to be reading bibles.  Later, with the help of a Vietnamese student using a translation app on his phone, we learned that they were Catholic nuns from the Sisters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul . They work with the poor in Hanoi.  They insisted on sharing food with us that they had brought for their 30 plus hour trip.  It was good to break bread together.

When we disembarked at Quang Ngai we were were met by another former political prisoner from the time of the American war along with his 12 year old granddaughter to help with communication.  He hosted a meeting  that afternoon with about 8 others who were part of the Association of Former Political Prisoners - mostly formalities and short speeches.  (and more flowers)

The American Friends Service Committee had a clinic in Quang Ngai during and after the war to make and fit artificial limbs for war victims which is partly why we wanted to go there. (Ron had been there in 1974 when he was the National Peace Secretary for AFSC.) We also wanted to see the memorial to the My Lai Massacre of 1968.  That massacre of  504 unarmed civilians (mostly women, children and older men) by US soldiers was not reported until almost a year later by investigative reporter Seymor Hersh with the help of some courageous GI's.  That revelation, along with the revelation about US complicity with the tiger cages and other forms of torture at Con Son Prison helped turn the tide of American opinion against the war.

Our English speaking guide at the  memorial had lost relatives in the maasacre. Her narration was straight ahead without a great deal of emotion but there was a steely strength showing her commitment to telling this story.  The massacre - which the US army tried to cover up - was photographed by an army photographer. All the photos were in display at the memorial.  Some were featured in Life magazine when the story broke.   I'll spare you the descriptions - suffice it to say the brutality was tremendous.   As I saw the photo of one young boy I thought of our grandson and I started to cry.

The question when a person visits such sites is how could any human being do this?  I think the answer lies in the process of war and the dehumanization of the Enemy that can turn many people into killers.  Some GI's tried to stop it. Others made sure the story got out.   As I read history, it seems almost every war has its atrocities.  War is the real enemy.

On the train to DaNang that afternoon we had a great, wide-ranging conversation with a Vietnamese man with great English who was guiding a group of Danish and Norwegian high school age young women.  When we asked him about his family and the war, he said his Dad managed to avoid it while one of his Dad's brothers fought for the North and three for the South.  There was obviously a lot of tension during and after the war but the brother from the North helped his brothers from the South get reduced time in the re-education camps.  Eventually they all realized their motivations that led them to choose different sides were not all that different and they are reconciled.

He said a lot of people he guides ask him what he thinks of Americans and to respond he tells this story:
A couple years ago, he signed up to guide 3, older American men who were brothers.  He met them at a hotel in DaNang and they showed him a picture of a young man, the 4th brother in the family.  He had been stationed at Chu Lai airbase during the war.   After he got off duty he would often go and play with a group of Vietnamese kids teaching them how to play baseball.  He had written back to his family how much he loved Vietnam and if it weren't for the war he would want to live there and teach sports to youth.  He was killed in combat in1968.  Almost 50 years later, his brothers came to Vietnam bringing his picture and suitcases full of sports eqipment for the children living near Chu Lai - now a commercial airport.  The guide had tea
rs in his eyes as he finished the story. 

For me, the story was a great gift on the same day we had gone to My Lai:  our human capacity to dehumanize which can lead to enormous brutality juxtaposed with our capacity for connection and compassion.