Why would you travel to Vietnam?

Answer 1

People most likely travel to Vietnam because they heard so much about it when they were growing up. For military aged people during the 60's, Vietnam=War. Not curiosity, not romance, and not for a vacation; although there were some American Adventurers that enlisted into the military and went there. Danger was in Vietnam in abundance; and they certainly got their "adventures."

Often the veteran wants to return to the place where he spent a year, or two (or three) in his youth. In some cases, it was the most exciting (adventurous) times of his young life...there is NOTHING to compare with almost dying! It truly does give life a flavor that the protected will never know.

There would be little reason for "some" veterans to return there. Khe Sanh is a bean farm now, Firebase Carrol is most likely a small city, dirt roads are most likely paved small two lane highways. Firebases Mary Ann and Ripcord, English, Rifle, Blackhawk, Action, and a host of others are so over grown with vegetation that they couldn't be located in the short time that a tourist had to explore them. Or, they too, have been developed into small towns or paved streets.

In some cases, famous battlefields like Hamburger Hill, Dak To, and the Ia Drang Valley (film: We Were Soldiers) are most likely OFF LIMITS by the Viet Government. But there will always be that one little river, buried deep in the hills north of "Rockpile", where some men fought a battle, and they retreated across it...in heavy panic, laced with numbness, induced by fear...that place might still be there, looking the same as it did nearly a half a century ago...that might be worth seeing again.