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the left-over of a town
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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
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This is a scan from a picture I took of the Tam Ṭa Church in Dong Hoi Town. 15km to the South toward the DMZ is Le Thuy District — birthplace of General Vơ Nguyên Giáp and late President Ngô Đ́nh Diệm.
Dong Hoi town is the seat of Quang Binh — the southernmost province of North Vietnam during the Vietnam War. The area was the starting point of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Accordingly, it was the first to be hit, and the last “dumpster” for all US war planes returning from their missions within North Vietnam territory to empty their bomb-load for a safe landing on the 7th Fleet in the Pacific Ocean.
In order to cut off the Ho Chi Minh Trail near the DMZ, on February 7, 1965 President Johnson ordered the bombing of North Vietnam positions, using everything from half-ton bombs to deadly white phosphorous to hit Dong Hoi. The bombings of Dong Hoi continued several years but the American failed to disrupt the supply line. During the most fierce years, North Vietnamese built a field railroad winding among rural villages covered by big trees and installed train’s steel wheels to military vehicles. In daytime, US Air Forces repeatedly attacked the bridges along National Highway 1 which was abandoned. And in nighttime, the People's Army of Vietnam drove their trucks on the field railroad to transport weapon toward the South. Perhaps so far, 31 years after the war, American still don’t hear yet this story among the diplomatic meetings. They said they learned a lot of lessons from the Vietnam War but I doubt they know of the simple trick.
When my younger brother arrived to his Provincial Ship Building College in Dong Hoi in 1978, he wrote me that he could not believe his eyes on what has been called Dong Hoi Town. The entire Dong-Hoi Town's structure was almost totally obliterated by US bombing. As a result, Dong Hoi has been erased from all marks or signs. The “town” has been covered by either bomb craters or wild grass carpet. Even the rubble reduced by the explosions has been collected and removed to other areas to be used as construction material. The last two stand-up traces of Dong Hoi were a water tower and the remnant of the largest church — Tam Ṭa Church (as shown in this post).
Today, the name of Dong Hoi can be found in the following links:
* The Battle of Dong Hoi — link 1
* The Battle of Dong Hoi — link 2
* The Battle of Dong Hoi — link 3
* The Battle of Dong Hoi — link 4
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RGatward, PSYOPS, Tango7174 has marked this note useful
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Thanh: haunting, dark. Ah, heck, it's Halloween anyway. Learned something with this one. thanks .c
Great peice of reportage, and what a fabulous story. Cetainly not one I'd heard before, and I think we've a much wider exposure to information about the war here the UK than has been made available in the states.
Powerful shot to go with your important note, Thanh. Thanks for this my friend, a most unusual and striking view...wow!
Hope this finds you well my friend,
best,
Francis
Hi Thanh:
My health and my laziness kept me away from TE longer than a year. Today, your picture sucked me back to this forum.
Thanks for such a "declasified" story. I read several books about VN War but I am blind too!
Could you tell me if this is the local where the legendary "Mother SUOT" came from? I apprecaite any info about Mother Suot that you can share.
Have a good day.
GJ
Incredible picture with a combination of photography quality and history value. The details of the note are a bonus.
Two thumbs up Thành!
Thành.
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