European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 08, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse Focus Phi run r Kwh just Al l i a w Ivy Ai a Tymy Lei of let " " of wort /. / the custom House dominates a waterfront View of to pm Minh City formerly named Saigon veterans cruise. Continued from Page 23 uniforms looked the other Way when an occasional bar girl beckoned from the doorway of the Queen Bee or the Casino old go hangouts or some of the newer in spots like apocalypse now and the Cycle bar. No one called the americans cheap Charlie or Lien to which Means soviet the current epithet for a sparse spender. The War was hardly mentioned except at the museum of american War crimes with its horror collection of agent Orange three and four armed embryonic babies. In Vietnam s Zeal to attract american tourists the museum now is an optional tour item. Until a year ago this was the museum of american and chinese atrocities but when diplomatic relations resumed with China the chinese Wing quietly closed. The United states and Vietnam still do not have formal diplomatic relations. Now waiters at the Rex the old officers Billet that has become the City s most fashionable hotel dare to joke after looking about to see who might be overhearing that if the . Embargo is lifted it will become a museum of French atrocities entered around the Guillotine used to dispose of to s agitators in the Days before the communist Victory at Dien Bien Phu which ended French colonial Rule in Indochina. For old times Sake the old timers lugged up the gangplank herds of Bufes big ugly fill in the Blank elephants 2 foot High Ceramic figures often found on Buddhist Graves but As the grunts soon Learned just the right height to Park a dry Martini after a wet Day in the Boondocks. Capt. Celery was less than enchanted with the fragile critters when a packing crate infested a luxury Cabin with an army of voracious Black ants. The kindness of strangers in Vietnam touched Vernon o Meally a retired air Force lieutenant colonel from Atlantic Highlands a who came on the cruise because the 25th anniversary of his being shot Down and rescued Over Laos was Only a few months away. Basically i wanted to find out if All that carnage added up to anything. Did it really make any difference said o Meally who flew night missions out of Thailand in an ac-130 gun ship riddling the to Chi Minh Trail with 20 my Catling guns while encountering some of the enemy s heaviest anti aircraft fire. If we got Back with less than 800 rounds fired at us the Mission was a piece of after browsing through the bogus War surplus Gray Market with stalls of recently minted cd dog tags and Viet Cong canteens and Wicker helmets he stopped by the Rex for a Bah Muy Bah the local Beer reeking of formaldehyde. The rooftop bar had been All dude up with Topiary Hedges of tigers and Deer cages of live Jungle Birds and aquariums of tropical fish swimming past mechanical dragons snorting bubbles. The afternoon Monsoon hit As o Meally headed Back to the ship. My umbrella was t much use in that deluge he said. I sought some shelter in an indentation in a Wall. A few Yards away a vietnamese family of 10 or More was having lunch under a Tarp and they signalled for me to join the sex Pilot did. I was a real wet Puppy by then and something of a Novelty he said. A Young Mother brought out a baby and she began reaching its hand out toward me. I put a 2,000-Dong Coin about 20 cents into the baby s hand. It seemed less than overwhelmed so i sweetened the pot with a Dollar Bill and everyone laughed. When it looked like the torrent was t going to Stop soon one of the men about 30, who spoke some English said he d be pleased to take me to the Dock on his Motorbike. I climbed on the buddy seat and he insisted i take his Raincoat in parting we Shook hands and he said he hoped i d visit his country again soon. No one mentioned the Doug weers from Honolulu also went up to the Rex roof to look Down on the site a smiling Rickshaw passenger makes a shopping trip in to pm Minh City. Of his old Billet the Brink which had been torn Down Long ago. A major in military intelligence he used to Brief Gen. William Westmoreland at 7 30 every morning on the availability of b-52 bombers for strikes on selected targets. One morning As he was getting ready to take the bus out to the briefing room near Tan son Nhut Airport he heard a tremendous he looked out the window and saw some Viet Cong running up the Street toward the . Embassy. An american guard was hugging the Side of a building. Smoke billowed up near the armed forces radio station where that bomb had blown Down a the 1968 tet invasion had hit Saigon. I called Headquarters weers continued to Tell them Why i would t be getting that bus. The officer i was supposed to relieve after his 12-hour shift said i was crazy and Hung up. I did t have a weapon so i went up on the roof drank bloody marys and watched the Twenty five years later Doug hoisted another bloody Mary to the rooftops of the 24 City he now found Messier noisier and even More owned by the French Paquet line the Ocean Pearl began its 19-Day Vietnam cruise in Singapore calling at to Chi Minh City Danang Haiphong and along Bay but cancelled Nha Trang because of Low tides and ended in Hong Kong. Visiting Vietnam by ship has its advantages. Passengers avoid the Long Airport immigration lines the need to fill out police forms at hotels in every City. Travelling on a group visa they require Only a Landing card to go ashore to waiting buses taxis and pedicab. Visitors can travel the length of the country from the Mekong Delta to Hanoi without bumping Over Vietnam s War decimated highways or flying air Vietnam s aging Fleet of soviet Tupot evs and Antonova which even the russians try to avoid. With clean Cabins and Safe food waiting on Board the Day tripper has Little need to take anti diarrhoeal tablets and few worries about the country s chronic Power failures. Monday november 8,1993
