Director John Ward returns to Vietnam

After a successful fundraising trip to the United States, John Ward returned to Vietnam in early February. Immediately upon arriving he met with LOTUS staff and held meetings in Hue and conducted home-based assessment with prospective Heart Program clients. A more detailed summary of those visits will follow shortly.

An Update From Director Ward and Assistant Director Chau From The Field

Chau and I made a trip to Hue yesterday to do two family assessments.  We also went to the hospital so Chau could work with our contact there on payments.  Several of our clients are at the hospital, three of whom recently had surgery.  Attached are some photos of the three for your enjoyment.

We’ve had several kids with Downs Syndrome this year.  They often have additional problems besides the Downs Syndrome and heart disease.  It’s easy to observe the love and attention they get from their families and that makes me feel its worth it.  The pictures of one of these kids (the one obviously with Down Syndrome) kind of confirms that feeling.

Nguyen Duy Phuong, Quang Tri

Nguyen Van Son, Ha Tinh

A Return to Hamburger Hill during humanitarian aid project for the Ta Oi people in A Luoi District, Thua-Thien Hue Province

Just shy of 40 years, Dan Albrecht and I met up again on April 15, 2009.  Forty years ago, in the A Shau Valley, Dan was a lieutenant in charge of the platoon I was in.  This time, Dan and his wife Jill were members of the 24^th team representing the Vietnam Veteran’s Restoration Project (VVRP).  The VVRP, in cooperation with the LOTUS Humanitarian Aid Foundation, were participating in the construction of a kindergarten for Ta Oi children in A Ngo Commune, A Luoi District, Thua-Thien Hue Province.

A Ngo Kindergarten before.  LOTUS and the VVRP fund the addition of 3 more classrooms

Most members of Company B, 2/501, 101^st Airborne Division, with whom Dan and I served during the war, will recall this area as the A Shau Valley.  In reality the A Shau is a smaller, adjacent valley just south of the A Luoi Valley – all of which was our area of operation.

A Ngo Commune is immediately adjacent to the township of A Luoi which is the main town in A Luoi District.  Hamburger Hill is about 11 kilometers due west of the Township.  Now open to tourists willing to make the hike, Dan and I, along with two other vets, made the return in order to commemorate the 40^th anniversary of the battle, and our initial meeting.  To be clear, Company B did not participate in the assault of Hamburger Hill, we were busy rebuilding firebase Airborne that suffered a major ground attack the first night that the battle of Dong Ap Bia (Hamburger Hill) began.  Our company was moved to the Hill the day after the battle was over.

Although Dan and I did not know each other well, the bond shared as veterans was clear and immediate from the beginning.  We began to reminisce during the trek to the top.  It was weird to realize that we remember different things about the experience, and how our memories of the same events differed.  Perhaps a curiosity other veterans have experienced.

The trek up Hamburger was hot and sweaty despite the weather being overcast with occasional rain.  The only things we carried were water, walking sticks, and digital cameras.  Still, by the time we reached the top all four of us were huffing and puffing - a clear sign that we are indeed forty years older.

The Vietnamese are now in the process of building a thick concrete road to make it convenient for tourists to visit the historic battle site.  Towards the end of the approach it becomes too steep for a road or vehicle so a concrete staircase is being built for the last 200-300 meters.

The top has already been colonized by the forest and nothing of what I remember is easily identifiable.

Uncompleted stairs to Hamburger

However, the remnants of an old LZ are covered with nothing but elephant grass that allows for a limited view of the surrounding mountains.  When I was on the hill during the war we had fantastic views on the seemingly vast and impenetrable jungle because the hill top was completely denuded from bombing, artillery, and napalm strikes.

Stairs leading up the mountain

Flag left behind on Hamburger, April 2009

View from LZ on top of Hamburger Hill, April 2009

A pagoda like structure is also being built at the top in recognition of the North Vietnamese soldiers who died defending the mountain.  The four of us discreetly nailed a couple small American flags to trees well into the jungle as an acknowledgement of the fallen American soldiers.

That evening, local officials and teachers from A Ngo treated us to some down-home cooking Ta Oi style, along with traditional dancing and songs.  The Ta Oi are one of five ethnic minority groups that now live in A Luoi.  After dinner, all the teachers from the kindergarten joined us at our hotel’s restaurant for fun and drinks.  Again, because we really couldn’t communicate with them, individually they sang songs for us.  They have beautiful voices and great delivery.  When they finished, wewere asked to reciprocate in kind.  I think all of the Americans were embarrassed by our own distinct inability to carry a tune or know the words to a song longer than one stanza.  But the gals were insistent.   It was necessary for us to fall back on our own early childhood songs; we attempted things like ‘the itsy bitsy spider’ and ‘row, row, row your boat’.   It was a fun and joyful evening.  It was perhaps the best engagement between VVRP team members and local hosts ever.

Ta Oi dancers

Old Ta Oi playing his pipe

Three days later, Dan, Jill, and I embarked on a five-day, 700 kilometer motorbike trip.  We began in Hue, took a sampan across the estuary to the northern spit and road through coastal farm land to Dong Ha.  In the later part of the afternoon I gave them a lengthy tour of Kids First Village.  The second day we traveled to Phong Nha Caves (now under protection by UNESCO) via rubber plantations in Quang Tri Province.  We also made a stop at the Truong Son National Cemetery, a special burial site for all the Vietnamese died on the Ho Chi Minh Trail.  That evening at Phong Nha we took a boat tour of the caves.  There is a significant water way of caves and higher up an amazingly long dry cave of stalagmites and stalactites.

Mouth of Phong Nha water cave

The beginning of day 3 took us through a section on the Khe Bang National Park, adjacent to Phong Nha, where an entirely new cave complex has recently been discovered, along with new species of orchids, deer, and a band of monkeys that were not known to exist in this part of the Dong Truong Son Mountain range.

This road is the western most leg of the new HCM Hwy and comes very close to the Laos border.  The scope of mountains is unbelievable and the little traveled road is ideal for motorcycling.  About 100 kilometers down road is a picturesque little village clustered in a small valley.  There we were delighted to find a café that had refrigerated Hudda beer.  I like to think of it as a ‘Shangri-La’ with its isolation, cold beer, and cute little owner.

That night we reached Khe Sanh, Quang Tri – 240 kilometers from where we began the day.  After breakfast of ‘bun‘, a noodle soup, we replaced a badly worn tire and headed back to A Luoi Township.  Again, we stopped for lunch and beers, a quick visit to the job site, then the last leg of our journey into Hue City.  All of us were tired and happy to be back in a hotel with good plumbing, hot water, and good mattresses.

Dan had come prepared with coordinates and topographical maps for all the 101^st firebases in the mountains.  But despite his research, we were not able to definitively identify fb Airborne, Bastogne, or Burmingham.  So much has changed in forty years.  The Vietnamese have been busy reforesting the land and consequently it’s hard to recognize the places we served.  More time and a concerted effort will be needed if we ever try again.

For me personally, to meet Dan again, and revisit with him, commemorate the 40^th anniversary of the battle of Hamburger Hill was a memorable and appropriate way to conclude 15 years of service with the VVRP.  I’m turning over my VVRP liaison responsibilities to another Viet Nam veteran after the A Ngo kindergarten is completed.

Sunset on the river at Phong Nha

For all the guys who served with

Company B, 2/501 -

Hoa Binh (Peace)

john ward