Hills 55, 41 and 10

These hills are all named after their height in meters. Hill 55 was a large Marine firebase and Hills 10 & 41 were smaller firebases that protected the end of HappyValley through which the VC moved through to attack Danang. I spent time on all three of these firebases. The old photo is of Hill 55 in 1970. The monument is on Hill 55 and was erected by the Russians to commerate the defeat of the French in 1954. This may or may not be true. The last photo is all that remains of hill 41. It is now a brick factory. The picture through the trees is of Marble mountian which is south of Danang

Cau Do River Bridge

I was stationed at this bridge at the end of my tour. Our job was to provide security for the bridge and to sweep the approach roads for mines every morning. It was not as easy as it sounds. The main bridge is still the same. The railroad bridge has been replaced. During the war there were no trains so it was used for vehicle traffic. As you can see from the concrete marker the Bridge was completed in 1970. The fourth photo is my friend Denny Buschle when he was here in March. I have circled in one of my old pictures the concrete marker on the north side of the bridge. I lived in the old French concrete bunker in the third photo. My Mom had Ohio's Governor Rhodes send me the Ohio flag.

An Hoa Combat Base

Our next stop was the remains of the An Hoa combat base. The base was about 30 miles southwest of Danang. I was there with the 5th Marines in 1970. All that is left is the asphalt runway which was long enough for a C130 Cargo Airplane. I also spotted the remains of some hanger bases. The local people stripped the base after we left. You have to love my hat!

Liberty Bridge

Our first stop was the site of the old Liberty Bridge built by the Marines in 1969. The bridge was destroyed by a flood over 10 years ago and has never been replaced. All you can see are the pilings in the river. The ferrys are now the only way to cross and were fun to watch. The mounain range in the rear of the second last picture is "Charlie Ridge" and on the other side of the river was the "Arizona Territory". The bridge allowed the Marines to travel by truck between An Hoa Combat Base and Danang. Thanh is talking on a cell phone from what we thought was the deep bush country. The coverage here is better than in the US.

Tour of Danang area

Ron Dudek of Military Historical Tours set us up with a local guide in Danang who is familiar with all the Marine Bases and historical sites. Tran Thanh and his driver picked us up at our hotel in a Ford Transit Van. Thanh is in white shirt wearing a USMC hat. We stopped for gas and I snapped a couple of photos. Note the look on Amy's face as she exits the ladies room. The gas station was on Highway one just south of Danang.

Leave Nha Trang arrive Danang

We departed Nha Trang from Cam Rahn Airport and arrived Danang. The airports in Cam Rahn and Danang are located at the former US Airbases. The airport in Danang is where I arrived in Vietnam 38 years ago.

Nha Trang Market

We visited the market in Nha Trang. Some of the seafood for sale was seahorse (no pygmy ) and dried squid. Cigarettes are very cheap here as you can see in the picture. One dollar US equals 16,200 Vietnamese dong. So the cigarettes are less than $1.00 per pack of 20. I don't understand why if 20 are 15,000 dong why 10 are only 7,000 dong. Must be Vietnamese math.