Revisiting Vietnam
Today the battlefields of Vietnam are sites of pilgrimage for veterans from both sides who fought there, as well as tourists wanting to see firsthand where the war was waged.
'It was a war zone when I was here before,' reflected U.S. Army veteran Paul Hazelton as he walked with his wife through the grounds of the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, which was known as Saigon when he served there.
David Rising / The Associated Press Files
A tourist walks through the military cemetery in Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam.
Hazelton's tour — just shy of his 80th birthday — took him back for the first time to places he served as a young draftee, including Hue, the former Phu Bai Combat Base on the city's outskirts, and Da Nang, which was a major base for both American and South Vietnamese forces.
'Everywhere you went, you know, it was occupied territory with our military, now you just see the hustle and bustle and the industry, and it's remarkable,' he said.
'I'm just glad that we're now trading and friendly with Vietnam. And I think both sides are benefiting from it.'
Vietnam's war with the United States lasted for nearly 20 years, from 1955 to 1975, with more than 58,000 Americans killed and many times that number of Vietnamese.
For Vietnam, it started almost immediately after the nearly decade-long fight to expel the colonial French, who were supported by Washington, which culminated with the decisive defeat of French forces at Dien Bien Phu in 1954.
The end of French Indochina meant major changes in the region, including the partitioning of Vietnam into Communist North Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh, and U.S.-aligned South Vietnam.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon to North Vietnamese and Viet Cong guerrilla troops, and the 30th anniversary of the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Vietnam.
Tourism has rebounded rapidly since the COVID-19 pandemic and is now a critical driver of Vietnam's growth, the fastest in the region, accounting for roughly one in nine jobs in the country. Vietnam had more than 17.5 million foreign visitors in 2024, close to the record 18 million set in 2019 before the pandemic.
David Rising / The Associated Press Files
A gardener waters flowers outside the newly rebuilt Kien Trung Palace in the Imperial City within the Citadel of Hue, Vietnam.
The War Remnants Museum attracts some 500,000 visitors a year, about two-thirds of whom are foreigners. Its exhibits focus on American war crimes and atrocities like the My Lai massacre and the devastating effects of Agent Orange, a defoliant widely used during the war.
Other wartime sites in Saigon, which was the capital of South Vietnam, include the Rex Hotel where the U.S. held press briefings derisively dubbed the 'Five O'Clock Follies' for their paucity of credible information.
On the northern outskirts of the city are the Cu Chi tunnels, an underground warren which attracts some 1.5 million people annually. The tunnels were used by Viet Cong guerrillas to avoid detection from American planes and patrols.
Today visitors can climb and crawl through some of the narrow passages and take a turn at a firing range, shooting targets with war-era weapons.
Former North Vietnamese Army artilleryman Luu Van Duc remembers the fighting firsthand, but his visit to the Cu Chi tunnels with a group of other veterans provided an opportunity to see how their allies with the Viet Cong lived and fought.
'I'm so moved visiting the old battlefields — it was my last dying wish to be able to relive those hard but glorious days together with my comrades,' the 78-year-old said.
'Relics like this must be preserved so the next generations will know about their history, about the victories over much stronger enemies.'
Fighting in North Vietnam was primarily an air war, and today the Hoa Lo prison museum tells that story from the Vietnamese perspective.
Hau Dinh / The Associated Press Files
Tourists visiting the Hoa Lo prison museum in Hanoi, Vietnam.
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Sardonically dubbed the 'Hanoi Hilton' by inmates, the former French prison in Hanoi was used to hold American prisoners of war, primarily pilots shot down during bombing raids. Its most famous resident was the late Sen. John McCain after he was shot down in 1967.
'It was kind of eerie but fascinating at the same time,' said Olivia Wilson, a 28-year-old from New York, after a recent visit.
'It's an alternative perspective on the war.'
— The Associated Press
— With files from David Rising in Bangkok
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