DMZ tour

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Ho Chi Minh and the French agreed to a DMZ, first along the 17th parallel and later changed to 10 km each side of the Ben Hai river that flows close enough to the 17th parallel. After all, it's much easier to see the river than some imaginary line on a map.

Since the French didn't hold elections in the South as they promised, presumably because Uncle Ho most likely would have won, the DMZ only stayed a DMZ for a couple of years. The Ben Hai river did become the frontier between the North and South, but it was not De-Militarized. After the French left the South, the US "military advisers" who followed chose various high points along this area to set up combat operations and firebases.

The US Marines first set up at what they called the Rock Pile. Then they setup a large air base at Khe Sanh, which had a similar geography to Dien Bien Phu. Learning from the mistakes of the Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys, the US also set up operating bases on the higher hills that surrounded the flat topped Khe Sanh.

Prior to the Tet offensive, General Giap, the North's commander, sent lots and lots of man power and material to lay a Dien Bien Phu style siege on Khe Sanh and area. The US was looking so much towards this "final offensive" that they were quite surprised when the Tet Offensive occurred everywhere else and Khe Sanh was relatively peaceful.

Actually, some people feel the siege at Khe Sanh was a ruse for the Tet buildup. Others feel that it was a dual strategy ... if the siege worked, then the US would "lose" like the surrender monkey before them, and if not, then Tet would be a different approach.

Khe Sahn is only about 20 km from the Lao border, and also right by Highway 9, the East-West highway the French built to service Laos and Cambodia to the East Sea. A Green Beret Special Forces camp was setup closer to the Lao border, but when that was overrun the Green Beret retreated to Khe Sanh. But, the soldiers would not allow the hill tribes and their families who had saved the Green Berets, inside the camp. After a few days outside, the hill tribes just went back to their own homes. So much for friendships and alliances eh.

At one time during the siege, when the Marines found they couldn't resupply by land, and had only limited resupply by air, all they did was dig in their bunkers, deeper and deeper.

Khen Sanh is now a coffee plantation. The Government put a museum on one small part of the former base, when they realized the numbers of tourists visiting. And it wasn't just war-war men folk either. The tour groups were equally divided along gender lines.

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Photos

Da Krong Bridge over the Ben Hai river
Built to signify the start of the Ho Chi Minh Highway