Stu Returns to Vietnam

Friday, January 27, 2012

Saigon--Some of My Group and Our New Friends Who Used to Be Viet Cong

Posted by Stu Steinberg at 10:59 PM

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At the Teacher's House Near the Elementary School--EOD Is Everywhere

Stu in Vietnam Then--Somewhere in the An Lao Valley with the 173rd--Maybe I Was with Vela and Didn't Know It

Stu in Vietnam Now

Stu and Peter and One of Song's Sons

Stu and Lou Walking Across the Plaza in Ben Tre Near Where He Had Lived As An Advisor to The South Vietnamese

Late Addition 1--Part of Our Group at A Sidewalk Cafe in Ben Tre with Lou (Second from Left) Who Was Here on Many Tours

My Chip from The Wall and My New Carving from a Deer Leg Bone--For Some Reason, the Artist Who Made It Carved the Word "Replay" On One Side--I Have Been Trying to Understand His Meaning

Our Last Meeting--Sad, But Wonderful, If That Makes Any Sense

Soldier's Heart Receives an Award for Its Work with VAVA and All Victims of These Deadly Chemicals

We Meet with the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange--This Is Where I Went on My Rant and I Am Grateful for That Opportunity

The Former NVA Soldier Who Read the Poem, "A Late Written Love Poem." Very, Very Moving and True to My Own Mona

Karen Reads Her Powerful Poem, "To My Husband [Brian] on Veterans Day after 9/11." This Was Some Heavy Stuff and I Know That It Moved Us All

Ed, Song and the Head of the Hanoi Writers' Association

The Golden Turtle--A Revered Icon to Many Asians that Brought Peace So Long Ago--Maybe They Should Loan It to the World's Countries That Need It on A Rotating Basis, Including the US

Floating Garden Near Our Table--More Beauty on A Dreary Day

My Coffee at the Shop on Hoan Kiem Lake

One of the Last Hoan Kiem Turtles Lives in This Enclosure on "The Lake of the Returned Sword"

Vela and I Go Shopping in Ha Noi--This Is All Hand-Carved and the Guy Was Seriously Trying to Get Me to Buy It

How Could Someone Eat This?--It Should Be in the Louvre for Baked Goods

This IS Le Hung, Director of the Vietnam Youth Theater--A Total Wild Man Who Did This Impromptu Stage Thing of A Man from Birth to Death That Was Amazing

Meeting with the Theater People--"Hi, Karen!"

"New Ha Noi" from My Hotel Window--Lots of Fog While We Were There--And Cold

I Had to Take A Picture of This Billboard--Check Out the Udders--Rick Santorum and Michelle Bachmann Would Want This Banned

The Demantoid Hotel--What A Weird Name--"House of Satan"?

Ha Noi--Driving On A Dike Holding Back the Red River

Ready to Take Off--I Had Goosebumps

The Same Runway 42 Years Later--What A Difference Time Makes

Phu Bai International Airport--It Was "Just Alright"

Gio Linh in 1967--A Barren Wasteland in Hell

The View from My Window in Hue--Just Like Any Skyline at Home

Vela Reads His Wonderful and Moving Poem--He Wrote This Just the Night Before--That's Peter and His Lovely Wife, Barbara, and One of the Trip Leaders, Kate

Incense and A Small Gold Cross in Memory of Keith Francis Perrelli and Others Who Died at Gio Linh

We Find A Good Spot and Peter Talks About His Time at Gio Linh and Friends Lost

Entrance to the Artillery Base at Gio Linh

We Pay Our Respects at the Khe Sanh Altar

A Peaceful View of Khe Sanh--How Much Difference Times Makes Is A Compelling Thought Considering the Chaos That Reigned for76 Days in 1968

This Still Cracks Me Up--We Can Only Imagine Why They Had to Put This on the Claymore--Now There Is A Warning Not to Eat the C-4 Inside

US Bombs--Check Out the Bent 750-Pounder--Must Have Hit Some Very Immovable Object--That's a 1500-Pounder In the Back--Never Saw One on the Ground

Members of the Group Listen to Peter As He Continues to Tell His Story About Khe Sanh

Khe Sanh Bunker--Still Standing After All These Years

We Arrive at Khe Sanh--What A Difference 44 Years Makes

The Bridge to Hell--The A Shau Valley--It Made Me Reaqlize How Lucky I am to Have Made It Out of There, Alive

Still Trying to Recover from the Hundreds of Thousands of Gallons of Herbicides Used in Northern I Corps

The Rockpile--What More Can You Say?--Another Piece of Holy Ground

Remnants of A Building Near Dong Ha That Was Attacked During the 1968 Tet

Peter Talks to Us on the Way to Khe Sanh--It Was Very Emotional for Him and For Us--I Know that it Helped in His Healing, As I Think It Did for All of Us

The Dragon Guarding the Grand Palace

One of the Three Moats Surrounding the Sections of the Imperial City--Did They Have Alligators? Maybe the Mutant Prawns from the Delta?

Reminders of the Savage Fighting Inside the Imperial City

One of the Many Pagodas Inside the Imperial City

Huge French Cannons Brought in by the Emperor--Never Used and There to Scare His Enemies

The Entrance to the Imperial City in Hue

The Runway in the Distance at the Phu Bai Airport--Built on the Same Runway I and My Teammates in the 287th Took Off from on Many Missions and Which I Rolled Down on My Last Flight Home on March 24, 1970

Lush Farmland After Leaving the Hai Van Pass and Heading for Phu Bai and Hue

I Contemplate Tomahawk and Just Completely Broke Down--My Friends Helped Me Walk A Little Way Up the Hill So I Could Light Incense and Lay My Chip from The Wall on the Ground and Talk to Those Who Had Perished Here

This Was FSB Tomahawk--Looks So Peaceful, Now, and I Could Only Imagine the Hell It Turned Into On June 19, 1969, When It Was Overrun, Killing Ten Men and Wounding Another 35 from C Battery, 138th Artillery Regiment, from Bardstown, Kentucky

A Picturesque Fishing Village--You Could Live Here and Have Everything You Need

Old French Bunkers in the Hai Van Pass

Da Nang Bay on the Way Up to the Hai Van Pass on Highway 1

My Chip from "The Wall--Thanks,Dick, for Thinking of Me for This Wonderful Gift

The Monument at Chu Lai

Stu and the Pith Helmet

Brian Tells His Story on the Ride to Chu Lai--It Was Very Moving and, Yet, He Found Humor in Some of His Time, Here, and Also Made US Laugh

A Little Doggie Greets Us at the Teacher's House

The Teacher's Home

Karen Gives A Quick English Lesson to A Student

A Small Gaggle of Geese Runs Around the School Yard and Makes A Lot of Noise

We Are Entertained by A Future "Idol" Contestant--She Had A Beautiful Voice

Vela Shows the Many Books He Donated

Brian Presents Gifts from Him and Karen

Stu Presents Calculators to A Round of Applause

Ed Presents Our Check and Talks About Soldier's Heart and Their Relationship with the School

How Wonderful These Young Girls Were--So Happy to See Us

The Table Prepared for US at the School--That's "Uncle Ho" in the Background

Arriving at the School in Tam Ky

The New Buddhist Temple to Be Built By Thich Hue Vinh and His Order--It Has Five Sides, Like Our Pentagon, and Will Be Called "The Pentagon for Peace"

The Most Revered Zen Master, Thich Hue Vinh (Left), and His Disciple--He Totally Blew Our Minds. This Is the One Who Said That He Would See Me, Again, Some Day

The Goddess of Mercy Who Hears Us and Responds

Part of the Chua Quan The Am Pagoda Near Da Nang

Mr. Nanh Entertains Us with Songs He Wrote for the Children at the Da Nang Street Children's Center

Mr. Nanh's Memorial to John Howard Priesthoff, II--We Were All Moved to Tears As Mr. Nanh Told the Story

Mr. Nanh's Living Room and His Ancestors' Altar

We Saw This Graffiti on A Wall Near the Former Da Nang Military Airfield--I Hope It Is True

Song--Our Wonderful Tour Guide--Helps Us Understand the Importance of Giving Thanks to Our Ancestors During the Tet

Tet Decoration at the Hoi An Hotel

The Ancestors' Altar at Song's--Even Those Passed On Have to Eat

A Rose at the Silk Factory

Myna Buddy--A Funny Little Guy

Hand-Crafted Beams for a New Home--Amazing Workmanship and with Primitive Tools

These Guys Did Their Best to Hide, But I Finally Got the Shot

Mom and Kids--Looks Like A Scrum for Breakfast

Ducks Galore--This is For Duffey and the Rest of the 287th Guys--Bolivar and Friends

I Completely Broke Down When I Held This Fragile Child--He Was Talking to Me and I Wish I knew What He Said

Another Victim of Herbicides

Using Every Square Inch of Ground for Gardens

A Steer Named "Ed"--This Guy and His Mate Were Donated to Song's Cousin By Our Group

On the Way to Song's Ancestral Village

The Hoi An Hotel and Beach Resort--Muy Grandioso

Water Hyacinth in Bloom.

Boat with A Face.

The River Taxi to Tam Tien's B&B.

The Mekong River and A Boat Moving Flowers for Tet.

John Talks About Why He Is Here. As I said in the Blog, He is One of Us Even Though He is Not A Veteran

Vela Recites One of His Poems on the Ride to the Mekong.

The Flag That Used to Scare the Shit Out of Us.

Preparing for the Buddhist Ceremony for Marlene and Her Husband. We Could Not Photograph Once the Service Began.

A Friend at the Pagoda.

The Pagoda at Nui Ba Den

The Cable Car Ride to the Buddhist Pagoda on Nui Ba Den. What A Trip.

Nui Ba Den--The Black Lady Mountain. An Important Place for Me and Marlene.

This is Marlene, Whose Husband Was Shot Down Near This Location. She Made A Circle of Important Things and Then Burned Them. It Was Very Powerful and Moving.

The Cao Dai Sect Temple in Tay Ninh. This "Religion" Is Too Weird to Fully Describe. Their Gods Are Victor Hugo, Martin Luther King, Plus Others, And They Use the Ouija Board

Ed Drops a Lakota Sioux Warrior Necklace in the River Near Tay Ninh. It Was for the Brothers of the Native ]American Veteran Who Made it and Who Did Not Return from the War.

Peter and Stu at the Michelin Plantation

Thich Quang Duc--Vietnamese Monk Who Immolated Himself on June 11, 1963, in Downtown Saigon--Coincidentally, June 11 is The Anniversary of the Date I Got Out of The Army

The Mutant Prawn--Yes, Those Are Long Legs with Pincers

Lunch At the Restaurant with the Mutant Live Prawn

Some of the Ordnance Many of Us Are Familiar With

Vicims of Herbicides--These Are Second- and Third-Generation Victims

Discussion with Three Former VC and A Victim of Herbicides (Once a Conjoined Twin--His Brother Recently Passed Away)

Madam Nhut, Director of the War Museum

Marlene and One of Our New Viet Cong Friends

Hotel Dragon for Tet

Manila with New Friends

John and Tatyana--Wonderful Friends--Thanks for the Hospitality

Me and the Beach

Half Moon Bay

A Lone Cormorant on an Old WWII Reef-Marker at Half Moon Bay

Me (L) and Paul Duffey at Fire Support Base Rifle, 2/11/1970

Somewhere in the An Lao Valley, 1969.

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About Me

Stu Steinberg: I served in the US Army from 1966 - 1971 and spent eighteen months in Vietnam as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Specialist. I have a law degree from the Franklin Pierce Law Center and a Masters in Law from Georgetown. From 1982 - 2003, I was a public defender and then a capital defense investigator. From 2005-2011, I volunteered as a national service officer for Vietnam Veterans of America at Central Oregon Veterans Outreach Inc., in Bend, Oregon. They are a nonprofit social services agency for homeless, disabled and disadvantaged veterans. In 2009 - 2010, I served in Afghanistan as a trainer for the Afghan Border Police with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. I am now more or less retired, but continue to handle VA claims for the EOD community.

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