Vietnam Reflections by JJJ

Our time in Vietnam was fabulous! Due to our itinerary change eliminating China, we had 12 full days to explore and learn. Our time in port included: watching the sunrise in the middle of the floating market in the Mekong Delta, a truly epic biking adventure in the Mekong that will likely go down as one of the most memorable days in Johnson-Leck family history, attendance at the delightful water puppet theater in Saigon, a negative experience with a dishonest taxi driver, a Vietnamese cooking contest enjoyed by the big kids and Chris, visiting the Cu Chi tunnels and other important historical sites related to the war, new tailored clothing for Chris, manicures for JJJ and Guthrie, many intense on-call days for Chris, attendance at the amazing Bamboo Circus, and a three day visit to Cambodia for JJJ and 21 Impact Scholar students. 

There is so much to say about our Vietnam port, but the most profound for me was gaining greater understanding of the horrors of war, and of the impacts of the Vietnam/American War specifically. 

Although I was born 2 years after it’s conclusion in 1975, the Vietnam/American war played a central role in my childhood. My parents, and particularly my dad, talked a lot about what it was like to be a 20-something in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Pop music of the time, including my personal favorite protest song, Edwin Star’s “War,” was a staple in our household and I can still sing the lyrics of many of those songs verbatim, even now. At a young age, I knew that my dad read anti-war essays on Iowa State’s College radio station, that “nobody won” in Vietnam, and that most Americans had a complicated set of feelings toward the war in Vietnam which was in stark contrast to the nearly universal pride and celebration of WWII. In high school, my favorite teacher, Bob Uetz brought his buddy, a Vietnam vet, to talk to us about the Vietnam/American War. Later I learned that this experience was so triggering and painful for his friend that Uetz had to take him to the bar to get him through it. As a result of my family history, porting in Saigon (also known as Ho Chi Min City—HCMC) held a lot of personal significance to me. 

As a family, we had the opportunity to visit both the Cu Chi tunnels (which were used by the Vietcong (VC) as a safe haven for the guerillas and as a way to move supplies from North to South) as well as Reunification Palace (the place of residence of President of the Republic—aka South Vietnam-- before the VC overtook the palace and reunited the country under communist rule in 1975). Both locations were hugely impactful and left us with a set of complicated emotions. 

It is impossible to set foot in the Cu Chi tunnels without some sense of admiration for the Vietnamese work ethic, ingenuity, industriousness, creativity, and determination (qualities that one can still easily observe in the daily lives of Vietnamese people today). The tunnels were dug by hand over the course of 20 years, mostly using tools that were upcycled from bits of residual war shrapnel and found items in the jungle. The tunnels are located at three different levels below the surface and stretch for hundreds of miles. In addition to the pathways themselves, the tunnels include dining “rooms,” kitchens, medical “rooms,” areas for resting, underground wells, and even circulation/ventilation holes. Our guide shared that many hours every day were spent in the tunnels by the guerillas every day. 

Before having the chance to enter the tunnels, visitors to Cu Chi learn about uniforms worn by the guerillas, weapons used, and the construction of the tunnels themselves. We also had the chance to try taro root, a staple of the Vietnamese diet during war time when basically all other foods became unavailable. Wally was overcome with emotion when we saw the booby traps employed by the VC. I think his 7-year-old brain connected the dots that the creativity and effort of the VC (in the form of these booby traps) was directed toward hurting and killing people…specifically American people…HIS people. His tears started falling and he needed to be held for the rest of the visit. He kept saying over and over, why couldn’t they just VOTE instead of going to war? Watching him have this reaction was heartbreaking but also important in my opinion. So often, we try to minimize the amount of violent content our kids take in with the hope that it will reduce the likelihood that violence will be normalized in their minds. Despite our effort, our kids tend to ignore us or act annoyed for our preaching. But the Cu Chi tunnels got to Wally at a deep level. After seeing Cu Chi, both of the big kids had a ton of questions about why anyone would ever advocate for or support war, why it was necessary for Americans to be in THAT war specifically, and whether anyone participating in a war can really “win.” It’s seems both odd, and fitting, that the Vietnam/American War instilled the value of peace in both my dad and his grandkids 2 generations later. If a deep and visceral rejection of war and violence of all kinds is the one takeaway these kids get from our voyage, I will consider this trip a success.