My Trip Back
Fred "Sparky" Kraft
Company A & HHC Company, 1/12th Cavalry

 

 

Tony, my son and I left 1930hrs 23 Dec from Frankfurt via Munich to Hong Kong to Ho Chi Min City (the last time I call it that) arriving at 2300 hrs on 24 Dec. We stayed at the Riverside Hotel, part of the Marriott chain, by the Saigon river.

Tony had booked a 5 day guided tour from Pleiku to Qui Nhon. We made travel arrangements to Pleiku and wanted to go from Qui Nhon Bay train to Nha Trang, Taxi to Cam Ranh, then by plane or train to Vung Tau and by hydrofoil boat back to Saigon. Making reservations to Pleiku no problem but the rest was a no go. All plane or train reservations from the first of Jan south to anyplace were booked out. So we had to book Qui Nhon to Saigon on the 31Dec and change plans.

Day One of the tour, December 26th
We flew from Saigon to Pleiku a 1hr 10 min flight, we got there at 1100. The guide, a Mr. Cham, and taxi driver picked us up. We drove to a ethnic village and took a walk thru it and the first change in Nam was visible most of the mud and tin or rice straw hooches have gone and either more sturdy wood or stone houses are appearing. The reason is lots of coffee, tea and black pepper plantations are all over the place along with lots of cattle. So even the Montagnards are starting to be better off. From there we went to Kontum the rest of the day we were on our own. The airport in Pleiku is a new one, not the one we used in the 60s.End of day one.

Day Two of the tour, December 27th
We went to Dak To, lots of road construction going on, even in Dak To, There even mine sweepers were being used. To my knowledge we did not lay mines in villages or towns, so they must have been looking for their own. In Dak To there is a big memorial for the heroic NVA and Viet Cong fighters with a T57 Russian tank and APC.!!/**!! Outside of town we drove by the old US airstrip which seen lots and heavy attacks. From there we turned around and went to Pleiku. The Hotel was brand new it even had a big X-mas tree made out of empty Heineken beer bottles at night time illuminated, prost I mean chi-chi. The Hotel was topnotch the guests were not. The normal Vietnamese cant afford the price of the Hotel, there were only Gov Employees and Com Party members and they acted like pigs. They did everything to make the Vietnamese employees know who was the Boss now. Napkins, cigarette ashes and butts even food was thrown on the floor and they told the waitresses to pick it up, lots of hard alcohol, noisy and shouting etc. I ate my dinner using my right hand to eat, my left hand balled inside my trousers. Oh how I wished I had a M-16 for about 3 minutes! This incident, another one at Plei Me and the Immigration Official entering and leaving Vietnam were the only negative experiences we had. End of day 2.

Day Three of the tour, December 28th
We drove to Plei Me, a long drive, partially bad roads, lots of tea, coffee and black pepper plantations, to the site of the former Special Forces camp. Nothing left of it but a big sign claiming that in May or June of 1965 the NVA killed 1,200 Special Forces soldiers, other things such as trucks, tanks and one helicopter. From then on I said to myself the war is over, forget it. Back to the hotel and to another example of how not to treat people, end of day three.

Day Four of the tour, December 29th
We went by the Camp  of Pleiku and what was left of the old airfield, a barbed wire fence around it and a small private industrial building is all that's left of it. Then onto Hwy 19, a toll road, ( hi Capitalism ) on to Mang Yang Pass. A few miles before An Khe there is a memorial of a fight that took place in 1954 I think between the Viet Minh and the Mobile Regiment 100 of the French Foreign Legion. The beginning of this fight are the opening scenes of the film, We were Soldiers with Mel Gibson. And then we were in An Khe and what did we see at the beginning of the now City- a big sign in Vietnamese and English- welcoming you in An Khe City. In no other town or city did I see a sign like that and I wonder if not some older people from An Khe want to say Hi or something like that to certain American tourists that they know are at least coming through An Khe, since they obviously can't greet you with a welcoming committee!!!!

There is a hard top road going around what used to be Camp Radcliff and a stone wall were the barbed wire fence used to be. We stopped alongside the road near Hong Kang Mountain. A Vietnamese man came up to us and told us to be careful with taking pictures, the people inside the stone wall don't like that to much. Needless to say there is a big Vietnamese Army Garrison there now. We did not stay on this road as Mr. Cham advised us not to go towards the Main Gate on this road. we went back to Hwy19.

So we did see nothing of what used to be Camp Radcliff. I wonder what happened to the concrete slabs I helped pour where the wooden type hooches or barracks were build onto after I left, there were several that had a FMK scratched into it before the concrete hardened. An Khe has a population of about 40000.On to An Khe Pass. I spend a few days and nights on it and on patrols along side of it. From there we drove into the Happy Valley, only a few miles. There was no way to go near LZ Herford. It did bring memories back though because near Herford I was wounded May 17th 1966. Along the road to Qui Nhon you can see parts of the pipeline that went from Qui Nhon to An Khe. Qui Nhon is a whole lot bigger now  and we drove about 10 miles south of it to a 5 ***** Resort Hotel. I would not have expected something like that in Vietnam. Hotel, rooms, food, service and wellness spa out of this world. I am going to do a MacArthur on this one - "I Shall Return".

Day Five of the tour, December 30th
We picked up an additional guide to go to the 506 Valley and help find LZ Pony and Bird. We passed Phu Cat and went into the valley, the roads went from bad to worse. It also must have rained hard before and there was a slight drizzle now. We went as far on the south side of the river until we got stuck, we only had a Toyota passenger car and according to the map I had with me and the new guide we were looking over the valley towards were old Bird used to be. We pushed the car out of the mud and backtracked to where Pony used to be until there was a barrier and beyond that was a Vietnamese Army Camp. So I was not on Pony or Bird only near there. As we were leaving 506 Valley I left something behind that had put me in 1993 six weeks into a psychiatric hospital here in Germany and two years after that to a psychiatrist for treatment I guess in the US its called PTSD. I made my peace with Vietnam. That was the end of our 5 day guided tour. The last night at the resort we had us a T-Bone steak dinner after having to rough it five days in the Central Highland! How did we last a whole year there in the 60s. Hmm.

December 31st
A cab from the hotel brought us to Phu Cat Airport it is larger now then when it was used as a LZ and FSB in the 60&70s but some of the old stuff you can still see. A one hour flight and we were back in Saigon. Back to the Riverside Hotel and a New Years Eve banquet, it was out of this world. Millions of Vietnamese on the streets, all traffic stopped just before midnight, no fireworks all people wishing each other a Happy New Year and shortly thereafter Saigon went to business as usual.

January 1st and 2nd
We took the hydrofoil boat to Vung Tau about 1 1/2 hr trip, very noisy and smelly. Vung Tau has changed a lot too. The Hotel was big and so so, but clean. Unfortunately six weeks before we got there a typhoon went thru the area and did a lot of damage so we only spend two days there.

January 3rd, 4th, 5th
We went back to Saigon and spend the last three days shopping and sightseeing.

January 6th
We flew back the same way to Germany.

Looking back I can say this, even though I went to Vietnam with mixed feelings and somewhat apprehensive I am glad I went there. To me Vietnam was and is a beautiful country. I met some nice people, they are friendly and helpful and the majority is happy and content. I am also still in contact per e-mail with someone there. After my trip to the reunion in September, I plan on one more trip there.