Thanks Don,
I'm showing this to a few friends of mine who actually lived there for a few years....
Don
It is unfortunate that we cause ourselves and others such misery. I hope they have recovered from their experience.
I don't normally repeat posts from other forums, but it's been about 18 months since I posted the photos below on DPreview -- and since you have friends who were there...
Hanoi Short Story
I land in Hanoi on April Fool's Day, 40 years and a few days after wading ashore in Danang in true Marine amphibious fashion, a fish out of water. Once ashore, I am separated from the herd, driven to an airfield and choppered out to a tiny triangle of sand in the midst of dense green jungle. When I ask the door gunner why the chopper instead of a truck, he says, "Because you're surrounded."
In Hanoi in 2006, I am surrounded again, this time by friendly people, many of whom weren’t even born in 1966. In six days, I take 4000 photos, most of them quaint, interesting, happy. But when I begin processing my images, I find that some of the more striking ones relate to the war. Here are six, plus a poster…
You still see a surprising number of green pith helmets and aviator sunglasses. Some styles stay in fashion…
In a pond in a small village near my hotel are the remains of a B-52 shot down during Richard Nixon’s bombing raids during Christmas of 1972. The Vietnamese have left it where it fell…
The Maison Centrale, often called the Hanoi Hilton. John McCain’s flight suit is in a glass case inside. I can just imagine all flight suits being cleaned, packed and stored, waiting for someone to get famous before his is taken out and put on display…
Downed American pilots were only the latest guests at the Maison Centrale. Before that, the French jailed, shackled and often beheaded Vietnamese who didn’t want to be colonized. . This is the memorial wall built in the courtyard…
Uncle Ho never wanted to be buried in a mausoleum but heroes of the people lose their options. He’s still inside, dressed in white, under glass and every day hundreds of people file by to pay their respects, in silence and without cameras…
In the Old Quarter, I see a shop specializing in original war posters. One of the most striking is by Duong Ngoc Canh, hand-painted just a few months before I arrive in Vietnam. The words in the painting are translated at the top of the frame, a universal sentiment. I admire the beauty of the young girl’s face as I note her impassive expression and the strength of her hands. She holds war and peace, your choice. I take her home with me…