Have any of you Vietnam era guys been back to Vietnam since the war?

[Victor_c3]

I've been thinking a lot recently on how one day I would like to go back to Iraq when it hopefully is a little safer to do so and the article posted in this part of the forum the other day about Iraq and Afghanistan era vets raising money to help fund trips for Vietnam vets to visit their old stomping ground really touched a nerve.

There are a couple of places I need to visit and one of two people I really would like to check up on. One was is a kid that was shot by one of my Soldiers and I never knew if he survived or not and I have a lot of feelings of guilt surrounding him, his family, and the whole incident. Another is one of the translators I worked with who I got to know a little too well. I can point exactly on google earth where both of these places are and I still have much of the area burned into my brain.

If any of you went back, was it a good trip? Did you guys bring any family with you? I could only imagine it'd be a touch trip emotionally, but I think it would do a lot for a vet.

[Scuba]

1. I have not, but would like to do so. I understand there's a group of vets bicycling ...

... across Viet Nam right now.

Hope you can make your journey some day!

[pinboy3niner]

2. I had great experiences going back to Vietnam three times in the '90s

That was more than 20 years after I got back from the war. I stayed with Vietnamese friends--in a nice home in the resort city of Vung Tau and in a hovel in the ethnic Chinese section of Saigon--and did some traveling from those bases, taking a van full of Vietnamese friends along.

Emotionally, I'd had my catharsis after suppressing my war expeience for a lot of years and I had done a lot of processing before my first trip back. Still, there were some extremely emotional moments. Sharing lunch with a group of former allies and enemies in laughter and tears...being told by a former NVA Colonel and his wife over tea in their home of their terror as they cowered in tunnels while being hit by B-52 strikes...being souvenired a hat by an ARVN Special Forces vet, a First Lt. who was left to fight for our SF camps through many battles after our A-Teams were extracted (a miracle he survived!).

For me, going back was a wonderful experience.

[tularetom]

3. Not me but my brother has been back twice

He was with the 3rd Naval Construction Brigade (Seabees) building docking and fueling facilities in various harbors. I don't know why he went back the second time, when he got back from his first trip he was pretty emphatic about how much the place still sucked.

I'm actually a pre Vietnam era guy, discharged in 1962 a week before my 21st birthday.

[salimbag]

4. Vietnam trips

I was in Vietnam from 1967 to 1973, first in the navy and then as a civilian. I have been back many times, and have had good experiences. Some powerful emotions, especially when talking with Vietnamese veterans. So many lives lost and ruined, it's very sad. The young Vietnamese are the new life of the nation, vibrant and hopeful. I have friends from the Iraq war who have been back, but it's impossible to predict how any particular veteran will respond to the experience. Good luck!

[unhappycamper]

5. I've been thinking about going back on and off for years.

I'd like to see the countryside without getting shot/rocketed/mortared at.

Some of the places I'd like to see again:

China Beach, near Chu Lai
Nha Trang
Nui Ba Dinh (Black Virgin Mountain)
the tunnels of Cu Chi
the Ho Chi Minh trail
the Emerald city

Unfortunately life got in the way.