Have been fascinated with Dien Bien Phu since reading
Bernard Fall's account of the battle. Anyone who has been
there, are there any remnants of the seige? Are any of the
fire support bases intact? How much time should be devoted
to the area? Is the area well marked? Any posted
descriptions of what we're seeing? Any info you could
provide would be appreciated. I'm in the early stages of
planning a trip to northern Vietnam. My main purpose is to
visit various areas in northern I Corps where I was
stationed during my Marine Corps tours in VN (Marble
Mountain, Hue/Phu Bai, PK17, Dong Ha, and Khe Sanh). But
also want to jump up to Hanoi and also over to DBPhu if
there is anything left to see there.
This will be my first return. Excited at the prospect.
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was quite a moving experience for me when I visited there 4
years ago. It was a beautiful day when I was there up in the
hills. In 1968 I was an 18 year old student in UK with not a
care in the world, and you poor guys the same age were
getting 1000's of shells per day lobbed at you. Felt
sad for the guys who didn't make it home. Could you
recommend a book that gives a good account of the siege;
I'd like to know more. Sorry have no info on DBF; it was out
of bounds to tourists when I visted the north but I think
it's opened up now. The tunnels up on the DMZ were
impressive; can't remember their name just now.
Enjoy your trip.
(Vinh Moc Tunnels, John!)
If you do the Khe Sanh DMZ trip from Hue it is an
exhausting though interesting day. Better to stay in Dong
Ha, although not interesting in itself and do it as two
half days, allowing you to really appreciate what you are
seeing.
(Vinh Moc Tunnels, John!)
If you do the Khe Sanh DMZ trip from Hue it is an
exhausting though interesting day. Better to stay in Dong
Ha, although not interesting in itself and do it as two
half days, allowing you to really appreciate what you are
seeing.
If you're travelling via Danang then you'll see a lot that
will be familiar. The Danang International Airport is the
former air force base, the Marine air-base at Marble
Mountains is still largely intact and you can visit the
actual mountains themselves where you'll see a cave that was
used as a V-C hospital and a plaque commemorating a women's
artillery batallion that lobbed a few rounds on the airbase!
China Beach is still a great place for a swim and you can
still find the old hospital but now it's a seafood factory.
I have a restaurant in Danang and we get a lot of
ex-servicemen coming through. They seem to really enjoy
their return to Vietnam and I think you'll be the same.
might be Scott Wild. He has been arranging tours from US to VN for some years on a very small
basis and I think he has explored every rock, bush and pothole there are in VN.
Contact him at www.awildcard.com
-------------------------------
we stayed in hue and did the dmz tour this february, it was
very informative.... however it was a very gruelling 15hrs
on a minibus. i was a little dissapointed with khe sanh.
when you finally get there it is a coffee plantation, you
can see some bomb damage and a rough area which used to be
the air strip, a small muesuem and some statues, i somehow
expected to see war things still there but it is bare. i was
impressed with our guide he had great information and for
myself who knew not much about the war it was helpful but a
very long day. the tunnels we saw were very good.
I've nothing to add about DBPhu, but John asks for more info
on Khe Sahn. Try Michael Herr's book Dispatches. He was a
freelance journalist who probably got closer to the war than
he planned. It is an amazing book, there is a whole chapter
on Khe Sahn.
I love "Dispatches," except for the impression that Herr
gives that everyone smoked pot all the time. (Maybe he did,
but if you were in the boonies that was a great way to get
your ass blown away. I blew a few bowls in the base camp,
and that's more than most combat GIs I knew even did. Most
of them just drank warm beer.) Herr's book comes the closest
I know of to being actually in the war. Problem is that it
brings back memories I don't really need brought back. A VN
buddy says the same thing. Good if you want to "feel" the
war though. I wholeheartedly agree with Herr's comments on
the Marines. Thank God I was an Army grunt instead. (e.g. We
didn't ambush each other on a regular basis.) I met Sean
Flynn and Tim Page once. Don't remember Herr, but he may
have been with them.
Dien Bien Phu: Rather dissapointing for war tourists, since
the area is not "made up". Still worth a visit for anyone
interested in warfare history and especially the history of
the Legion EtrangΦre. One to two days will be enough to
stroll around the site and get an idea of the
battle situation, though.
Raven,
Contact me b/c and I'll give you my phone number if you'd like to hear more about the I Corps portion of your trip and a less expensive visa.
Doug (9th Div, 1968 & MACV, 1969)
Vietnamtourism/Washington DC
Appreciate all of your responses very much. Will contact you
later, Danang-ite, when my plans gets firmed up. I was
surprised to hear that our Marine Aircraft Group 16 base at
Marble Mt is still evident. All we had there in the 66-67
time frame were essentially temp bldgs and living
quarters except for the officers club which we was built for
us by the CBs. It was beach living at its finest except when
it was time to "go to work" each morning.
There's more than one "cave" in the Marble Mt complex by
the way. The area is honeycombed. There were many Buddhist
icons and shrines inside these above-ground "caves."
Many marble objects, desk nameplates, etc. were carved
for sale by a small group of artisans working at the base of
the Marble Mountain. And this was in the middle of the
conflict!
Thanks again, folks, for the excellent info. You've
convinced me that Khe Sanh might be a waste of valuable
time. If there's nothing left of the "old days," I wouldn't
be interested. I would at least like to be able to
orient myself and from what some of you said, there
might not be anything left to orient on (everything then was
pretty much established to protect the runway).
Would like to hear more about Dien Bien Phu. If there isn't
anything left at Khe Sanh, I can't imagine anything at
all remaining at DBP unless the Vietnamese have
restored it for tour purposes. What was there to actually
see, Max. Bunkers? Trench lines? Flotsam and jetsam of war?
There┤s not much left of the former fortification. A few
firebases and short sections of trench lines are in decaying,
but discernable condition; the headquarters of french
commander, colonel Christian de Castries has been re-created.
There┤s a memorial on A1 hill (code name Eliane) and you can
explore the valley floor to find some old french vehicles and
heavy artillery guns still intact. The small museum
eloquently tells the story of vietnamese determination to get
rid of the colonial forces - means: it is mostly a propaganda
display. Which shouldn┤t come as a surprise... Just take
whatever report on the battle you have with you, get a map
(they sell them in the museum) stroll around the site and
read. There wasn┤t anything marked six years ago, but since
the vietnamese tourism authorities try to promote the place
as a tourist attraction, it may be so today. I never found
out if there were any vietminh firebases rebuild on the
surrounding hills.
The busride from Hanoi took two days and was quite
uncomfortable, but I felt more than rewarded with going
through absolutely beautiful mountain landscapes. The Black
Thai and Hmong hill tribe population of the area add to it┤s
"wild" hinterland ambiente. So: I think it┤s an excellent and
recommended trip, not only to visit the battlesite. An
easierer way to go is by plane (from Hanoi).
I really appreciate your comprehensive rundown on DBP. No
doubt in my military mind but that I'll be flying in. I'm
not a 2-day busride man. Would rather spend more time at the
destination. As for info on the ground, I think "Hell in a
Very Small Place" is about as comprehensive an
account as I'll need. Intend to take extracts like
the battle maps, etc. Thanks again.
DBP is worth a trip, and if you want you can fly in from
Hanoi - but currently only 3 times a week which will give
you a couple of days there. The flights are frequently
cancelled, so you will need to reconfirm in Hanoi. The
overland trip is long but has interesting scenery.
I was in DBP a year ago, and can confirm most of what Max
reports. Most of the signage is in Vietnamese, but you can
access all the former strongpoints by foot. I was not able
to locate any of the former Viet-Minh firebases, but it is
possible to visit General Giap's former battlefield HQ.
This is a 45 min (or thereabouts car/bus ride outside DBP
town. There are a number of command bunkers there, but
take a torch! You can also see some Black Tai villages en
route.
One point - as the LP guide points out DBP is now the
provincial capital of Lai Chau province. There has been
extensive building of administrative offices around the
former strong points, so don't expect to see the remote
village depicted in pre-battle photos.