Vietnam Memories

By GEMMA CRUZ ARANETA

October 20, 2011, 12:12am

MANILA, Philippines — The most thrilling moment of my three-week trip to Vietnam in 1968 was perhaps that visit my husband and I made to an anti-aircraft battery station somewhere below the 20th parallel, in  the province of Thanh Hoa then devastated by the war.

The Socialist Republic of Vietnam with whom we have had fruitful diplomatic relations for the past 35 years had not been formed as Vietnam was still divided into north and south.

In a rice field, there were several artillery pits cleverly camouflaged among banana trees and, of all things, flowers. This is the battlefield, I muttered to myself, as I stood on the platform of an anti-aircraft gun, absolutely fascinated.

I ran my hands gingerly on the enormous deadly bullets before me and noticed that there were hundreds more kept in wooden crates neatly stacked  against the earthen walls of that pit.

There were soldiers, all young, with straw-covered helmets  that looked like hornets’ nests and I was instructed to hold on securely as they were about to revolve the platform and adjust the gun as if aiming at an approaching enemy (read American) plane. The commander brandished a red flag and shouted, “Ban!” That was the order to fire.

Mr. Doan Tuc, our interpreter - guide, had an unexpected and moving reunion with a nephew, one of the soldiers detailed to that particular unit. They had lost touch because of the war and had not seen each other for six years.

Filled with emotion, Mr. Tuc said his nephew was a young boy when he last saw him.” Now he is a man! He has changed so much because of the fighting.”

But the North Vietnamese did not fight with guns alone. Had they done so, they would have all been annihilated early on without winning a single battle.

Proudly,  they won the  20-year war against the most formidable adversary, the United States, who was then the wealthiest and the most powerful country with weapons inventory that consisted of brutally sophisticated weapons that included steel pellet bombs that maimed for life, delayed-action bombs, the dreaded napalm, and an array of toxic chemicals that turned the earth into barren uselessness.

Yet, North Vietnam fought valiantly with every single man, woman,  and child who believed that their cause was just. Her most potent weapon never registered in the Pentagon’s world-class and cutting-edge computers – a people’s unassailable and almost fanatical determination to win.

From then President Ho Chi Minh to the most obscure carabao boy, there was nothing more precious than independence. They preferred to suffer war than live in peace on their knees and  without independence. Look at them now! (gemma601@yahoo.com)