ConThien and TroungSon Cemetery

Running to Cam Lo again, we turned north on Rt. 15 to find a very narrow but smooth road running through beautiful countryside. It took us through new settlement farms to the famous Con Thien Fire base. In September, 1967, NVA forces with heavy artillery crossed the DMZ and besieged this Marine Base. We responded with 4,000 sorties of bombers, including 800 by B-52s, dropping 80,000,000 lbs of explosives in the immediate area, creating a moonscape for miles. The siege was broken at the cost of over 10,000 NVA lives and countless other casualties. 

We approached the fire base on foot, mindful of the LP warning that the area is too dangerous even to attract the VietNamese metal hunters. Climbing the gentle slope, the contour of the base came into focus, although only one bunker remains. A peasant we came upon tried to wave us away from the area. We walked around the high areas anyhow, but stayed on the farmers' paths in the surrounding areas. 

In the past, westerners have been refused permission to visit the Troung Son National Cemetery, so we didn't ask. It is their equivalent to Arlington, although it is only for people who were killed moving supplies on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The markers are arranged in concentric circles by province and hamlet, so visitors can visit among friends and relatives. It is grand in concept, but like everything the government does, poorly maintained. It is located on the base camp of the NVA May-59 Army Corps, which actually operated from here from 1972 through the fall of the South (Note that the site is south of the DMZ. Each headstone of the countless tens of thousands bears the work "Liet Si," which means "martyr." There is also a recognition here of North VietNam's 300,000 MAIs. (The South's missing are never mentioned." 

This is clearly a meaningful place for the people here and a sobering one for any American Visitors. Once again the enormity of the conflict presented itself. Heading east of Con Thien, we passed another firebase, known as C-3, but the book says that going there is almost certain death. No one does. Turning north of Rt.1, we did stop at Doc Mew Base. It was to have been the anchor of the electronic surveillance system known as the McNamara Line. It was a poor idea and never worked. There are some concrete bunkers remaining and piles of earth, not form bombs, but scrap metal hunters. What they wisely didn't carry off were the unexploded munitions which littered the area like confetti. There were all kinds of ordinance, with and without fuses, fired and unused. Someone left in a big hurry.

Quang Tri is the last place we visited on the DMZ. It was the capital of the province of the same name until it was destroyed in the spring of 1972. It had been a base for ARVN. The main gate and one bunker of the citadel remain. The NVA with artillery support crossed the DMZ with 4 regular divisions and captured the whole province. The South Vietnamese Army hammered at Quang Tri City for 4 months, assisted by massive air strikes and heavy artillery. (This was the engagement during which the ARVN commander of Camp Carroll deserted to the NVA.) ARVN suffered 5,000 casualties re-taking Quang Tri City. In the city, which has almost no structures dating prior to 1976, there stands one church building with its cross still displayed for passers by. Its walls and altar remain, but it is holed by thousands of impacts from automatic weapons as an NVA unit was finally driven back by US forces.  Here is a photo of the exterior of that church and one of the interior.

 QuangTri Roman Catholic Church, the only remaining building in Quang Tri province after the heavy fighting there.

Let's go North:   Crossing into the North