Next day. Khe Sahn to Dong Ha. Unfortunatley Vicky has woken with the migraine from hell during the night. She decided to give that days travel a miss and try and sleep it off. Keith and I went on without Gary and Vicky to the town of Dong Ha. It was only a short trip and we went back to Dakrong Bridge and turned to Dong Ha on The Ho Chi Minh Trail. The Trail was a vital north-south route for the North Vietnamese to move supplies, troops and munitions to their fighters in the south. It was never just one trail, but actually a shifting network of multiple trails over a swath of land hundreds of kilometres wide, often weaving in and out of neighbouring Laos. The trails were the bete noire of American military strategists, but no matter what they did (like blanketing the land with toxic defoliant like Agent Orange to expose the area), they were never able to completely cut off this supply route and the North Vietnamese continued to use it to good advantage right up to the end of the war. Methods to carry supplies were as rudimentary as bicycles, while later in the war whole tanks were secretly moved down. It remains a testament to North Vietnamese determination.
We also passed The Rockpile, a 230-metre-high mound of rock that was an important US Marine observation post for Highway 9 and the DMZ. The infrastructure was built in 1966. Twelve troops were stationed there with all supplies brought in by helicopter.
The Rockpile can be seen from the road on Highway 9. Originally built by the French, West-East corridor Highway 9 follows along the demilitarised zone, the boundary between north and south. Its location on the northern edge of South Vietnam meant it was of strategic importance for the Americans to stop the Ho Chi Minh Trail supply lines (though the North Vietnamese simply skirted around into Laos and Cambodia). The misguided high-tech barrier plan the “McNamara Line” included bases Dong Ha, Con Thien and Khe Sanh Marine Base along Highway 9 that could overlook NVA infiltration routes. Control of the highway was necessary to move supplies to the bases.
There are still signs of intense defoliation wrought by Agent Orange, herbicide used to expose the Ho Chi Minh Trail. From a tank of orange chemical in the sky, it blanketed the trees, went into the soil, seeped into the water and into the genes of generations to come. Quang Tri province also suffers the highest unexploded ordinance (UXO) contamination in the country, with more than 8,000 recorded accidents since the end of the war. Several mine clearance organisations work in this area; we saw MAG International vehicles along Highway 9. When it comes to the DMZ, stay on the beaten track.
As we came into Dong Ha we stopped at the war cemetery. One thing the Vietnamese do big time is war cemeteries. Almost put the every town Anzac memorial to shame. I guess one of the other things that is more than poignant is that they have mass graves, like you see in Arlington Cemetery in America. This view is a real kick in the guts. A lot of the graves have marking on them Viet Liet Sy (meaning Matry soldier - unknown). We then went on to the Violet Hotel and checked in. We went to Tam Café which was just up the road for lunch. In the afternoon we explored the city and ended up sitting outside a Co-Op Mart drinking blueberry drinks. I wanted to stop at the Mine Action Visitor Centre to learn about the province’s problem with unexploded ordnance (UXO) contamination but as it is a Saturday it as closed. I then spent half an hour trying to find a shop with cold beer and finally found one miles from our hotel. Dinner was again at Tam Café.
