Arrived in Hue today after a 2-hour drive through Vietnamese country-side and the low mountains from Hoi An. It is almost exactly 55 years ago - at this precise time of year - that Hue witnessed some of the fiercest and bloodiest fighting of the 1968 'Tet' Offensive. The walls of the Citadel are still full of bullet holes (pictures below).
Stanley Kubrick made the film “Full Metal Jacket” about this battle. It is a bad movie, in my humble opinion, but it is interesting to see in real life what one has until now only seen on the big screen.
The Vietnam War is ever present in my emotions during this visit to Vietnam, exactly as World War II is always present when I am in Berlin. In Vietnam, I struggle to fathom how the United States could inflict such enormous suffering on the Vietnamese people - 2 million civilians died, more than 1 million North Vietnamese and Viet Cong were killed as well.
But I guess when one considers the selfishness of American culture and how inhumane some Americans can be towards their fellow Americans - and also taking into account the shocking ignorance of many Americans about the rest of the world - then perhaps it is not too surprising that the US government was able to get away with such barbarity in this poor country.
The Vietnamese are obviously more forgiving than I. They are some of the loveliest people I have met in my travels. They must have an almost unfathomable capacity for forgiveness and ability to move on. Perhaps Vietnam just wants peace after so many decades of war and suffering. And happily Vietnam is making the most of it; this place is going places and it warms my heart.
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