TRIP TO VIETNAM

STEVE HAYDUK & JOE SOTTILE

February 7 – 16, 2006

Steve Hayduk and Joe Sottile returned to Vietnam in early February along with a tour created by George Deserres, a former 189^th AHC pilot, who is now the owner of All Inclusive Vacations, an international travel agency. The purpose of the trip was twofold: First, for us to visit the place where we had spent a meaningful portion of our lives and see what the country is like now; and second, for Steve to inspect the minefield clearance operations going on there, in anticipation of a donation from the Suffolk County Vietnam Veterans Memorial Commission to minefield clearance.

On Veterans Day, November 11, 1991, the completed construction of the Suffolk County Vietnam Veterans Memorial, atop Bald Hill in Farmingville, Long Island, New York was dedicated. The Gladiators visited the site at the last reunion in September, 2005. The project was realized through the raising of donations in the form of funds and in-kind services from thousands of sources all over Long Island, New York.

After completion and the paying of all expenses related to the construction, there remained a small amount of funds in the Commission account, which stayed in place for fifteen years. Late in 2005, the four remaining commission members, including Steve, met to discuss the disposition of the remaining funds. The Memorial was created to foster a sense of reconciliation and healing, in a positive manner, in honor of all veterans who had served. The Memorial is a passive manner to accomplish that end.

In furtherance of that philosophy, it was thought that it would be appropriate to donate the remaining funds to an active cause which reflects this doctrine. Land mines and unexploded ordnance, left in place since the end of the war thirty five years ago, injure and kill many innocent children, farmers and other civilians in Vietnam every year. It was decided to donate $20,000 to “Adopt-A-Minefield,” an international not-for-profit organization associated with the United Nations Association of the U.S.

On discussions with the representatives of A. A. M., we came to understand their mission and the manner in which this mission is accomplished. The operative arm of A. A. M. is the Mines Advisory Group (MAG), a British based organization which is supported by the Freeman Foundation, The U.S. Department of State, and many celebrities including Paul McCartney and his wife. MAG is the group which actually performs the minefield clearance operations in Vietnam. The trip was planned to Vietnam to meet with the MAG operatives, see their facilities, and inspect their ongoing as well as completed operations. Two other commission members, John Behan (a former New York State Assemblyman and a Marine who lost both his legs near Danang in 1966) and Jim Larocca (a former Naval Operations officer in the Mekong Delta) joined the tour as well. They both brought along other family members also.

We flew individually to Los Angeles, where we grouped together and traveled to Vietnam via Hong Kong, ultimately arriving in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) on the morning of Tuesday, February 7, 2006. We visited many places during the time we were there, and finally left for home on Friday, February 17^th.

PEOPLE ON THE TRIP

Hon. John L. Behan – Marine (Danang area)

Jason Behan – John’s son

John Behan (Jack) Behan – John’s son

Phil Cummings – Chinook pilot, 52^nd Combat Aviation Battalion

George Deserres – 189^th AHC pilot (Tour Operator)

Stephen G. Hayduk, P.E. – 57^th AHC Crew Chief

Jim Larocca, Esq. – Naval operations officer (Mekong Delta area)

Dale Larocca – Jim’s wife

Gerry Sandlin – 189^th AHC crew chief

Townsend Sausville – 189^th AHC pilot

Wendy Uncles – Towny’s girlfriend

Joe Sottile – 57^th AHC slick and gunship pilot

Berry Taylor – Crew Chief stationed in Thuy Hoa

Bob Taylor – 189^th AHC crew chief

Main Guide – Vo Le Truc

Primary Montagnard Guide – Cham

DAY 1 – TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2006

Saigon – After having traveled from New York to Los Angeles and spending one night there at the Hacienda Hotel, we traveled to Saigon via Hong Kong aboard Cathay Pacific Airlines, and checked into the Asian Hotel. Shopping for souvenirs; lunch on the rooftop restaurant of the Rex Hotel; visited “Apocalypse Now,” a bar/restaurant in Saigon. Joe traveled separately from San Francisco to Saigon, and Steve found him in the Asian Hotel later that afternoon.

Rooftop Restaurant of Rex Hotel

Jack, John & Jason Behan

The Vietnamese government stayed very low profile; the only thing we saw were flags and signs

Statue of Ho Chi Minh; numerous monuments and memorials are throughout the country

DAY 2 – WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2006

Saigon & Mekong Delta – We drove south to the Mekong Delta, stopping at a roadside rice paddy on the way, and at Vinh Trang Buddhist Pagoda. Went to the Mekong River community of My Tho, where we boarded river tour boats for a ride to Ben Tre, and island fishing community in the middle of the river. We toured the Ben Tre village in smaller sampans and by foot, drinking rice wine with fresh made honey; drank snake wine; visited Tortoise Island and Phoenix Island, heard a traditional Vietnamese musical group who entertained us; drove back to Saigon for the night.

Steve Hayduk

Buddhist Pagoda

John, Jason & Jack Behan

Jim & Dale Larocca

Steve Hayduk & Joe Sottile

My Tho

Mekong River

Bows of all the fishing boats are painted with eyes to scare away crocodiles

Ben Tre Village

Graves are all above ground

Other tourists

Bee Keeper

Snake Wine

Elephant Fish

Joe Sottile at the local "7 Eleven"

East meets west; Capitalism is alive and well in Vietnam

DAY 3 – THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2006

Pleiku - We flew from Saigon to Pleiku on Vietnam Airlines, checked in to the Pleiku Hotel. Took a ride on Route 14 in the afternoon to the sites of former U.S. Army camps: Former Camp Enari (4^th Infantry Division Headquarters) and former Camp Holloway (52^nd Combat Aviation Battalion HQ, our battalion HQ). We were not allowed to stop or take pictures at Holloway because it is now a Vietnamese military installation. We stopped at Bien Ho Lake, a reservoir which provides the water supply for Pleiku. We met members of JPAC, the U.S. Army’s Joint POW/MIA Recovery Team, who were working in the area and staying in our hotel. They have STILL been locating remains of U.S. servicemen missing since the war ended in 1975 (U.S. forces left in 1973).

Berry, Joe & Bob in Pleiku

Dragon Mountain

Base pad of former MP Guard Shack at entrance to former Camp Enari

Vietnamese government man followed our bus this day on a motorbike

Old airstrip at Enari with PSP removed for salvage

M-60 link found on ground

Former Camp Holloway is now a Vietnamese military installation

Bien Ho reservoir gazebo

Steve & Gerry Sandlin

More snake wine - it was available everywhere!

Dinner in Pleiku Hotel

DAY 4 – FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2006

Pleiku & Montagnard villages - We drove north on Route 14 to Plei Phun, a village of the Jarai montagnard tribe, walked around the village, saw coffee and other crops they farm, montagnard cemetery. Had lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant after leaving Jarai village. Saw casaba farming and stocks on roadside (used to make tapioca). Visited Dektu, another montagnard village of the Bahnar tribe, drank rice wine from the “bottomless” urn, saw traditional gong dance. Went back to Pleiku for the evening.

Steve with American JPAC team member

JPAC Team

Plei Phun mantagnard village

Cham, the best dressed montagnard in Vietnam

Jarai montagnard cemetery

"Thank for not smoking" sign on bus

Joe drinking nuoc mam!

Wine with goat's testicles and penises.... we DID NOT drink this stuff!

View of Dragon Mountain from roof of new hotel in Pleiku

Many of the mountains we remember are now bald from extensive logging

Casaba farming

Drying casaba on road shoulder

Bahnar tribe montagnard village

Jack Behan went native

Traditional gong dance

DAY 5 – SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2006

Kontum - We drove north to Kontum, where the 57^th was based during most of Steve and Joe’s time with the unit, checked in to the Dak Bla Hotel. Visited another Jarai village ((Kon Ko Lor 2) (Konkotu), where we took a 6 km “trek” along the river through mountain trails. Had lunch on riverside and rode dugout canoes downstream through some small rapids back to the village.

Later in the afternoon, Joe and Steve decided to charter a van and guide to visit the Gladiator compound (the Coliseum) and also go to Dak To. Phil and Bob joined us as well. We located the Coliseum and drove down the old Kontum airstrip next to it, but were not allowed to stop or take pictures, once again, because there is a Vietnamese military installation nearby. The Coliseum is completely gone now, just an overgrown field. We drove north on Highway 9, stopping at Tan Canh, where one of the final battles of this area was fought and visited the site where an ARVN colonel had his men fight to the last man, with 700 ARVNs perishing there. It is now a monument site. We found remnants of the battle and bomb craters on the ground there.

We continued north to Dak To, stopping at a memorial which has two Soviet tanks there. Our driver told us that his father had been a tank operator for one of those tanks. We found Dak To 1 airstrip, and Dak To 2 airstrip, where we used to go daily to launch for FOB missions over the border with the CCC SOG troops. We found the remains of the old bunker which used to be there, with pieces of the sandbag material still on the ground. We also found many spent 20mm rounds all over the ground in the area.

We drove back to Kontum and spent the night there.

George Deserres and Bob Taylor

Phil, Steve, Joe, Gerry, Berry, George, Bob, Wendy and Towny

WOW...........

Site of old CCC compound in the distance beyond the bridge over the Dak Bla River

WOW again.....

Konkotu village

Dak Bla River

No bird flu here

Remember these "bridges?"

A "trek," they called it......... not for the faint of heart

Our hotel in Kontum

Kontum airstrip, Rocket Ridge in distance

Site of the former Gladiator compound, the Coliseum, beyond the trees

Former Coliseum behind bushes, east perimeter area

Rocket Ridge from area of old east perimeter

Highway from Kontum to Dak To

Monument at Tan Canh

Looking from Tan Canh monument site back south towards Kontum

They still burn incense everywhere

Bomb crater

Soviet tanks on display at Dak To

Looking towards Old Dak To airstrip (Dak to 1)

New Dak To airstrip (Dak To 2), where we staged for FOB missions

Locals drying casaba root on airstrip

Location of old bunker at Dak To; see sandbag remnants on ground

Steve & Joe toasting fallen Gladiators

Bob, Joe, Steve & Phil holding old spent 20mm rounds we found on the ground at Dak To

PSP is salvaged for numerous uses

DAY 6 – SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2006

Danang – Hue – Quang Tri - Dong Ha – Steve, John, Jason, and Jack Behan left Kontum, drove to Pleiku airport, and flew on Vietnam Airlines to Danang, where we were greeted by another guide to drive us to Quang Tri Province where we would meet up with the mine clearance team. Joe continued on the main tour which drove east through the Mang Yang Pass to the coast and visited Thuy Hoa. On the way north Steve and his sub group passed through Hue, where Jim and Dale had diverted to a couple of days earlier, picking them up. We passed through the Citadel (the forbidden city) in Hue, and continued on the 3.5 hour drive to Dong Ha. We stopped at a badly damaged church with thousands of bullet holes from a firefight which had occurred there during the war, in Quang Tri. We ended up in Dong Ha and rejected our first hotel because it had just too many stairs to get John up to the hotel rooms, in his wheelchair. We relocated to another hotel which was slightly better but far from the nicest accommodations we had encountered in Vietnam.

Stephen Bradley (“Brad”), the field operations manager for the Mines Advisory Group, met us at the hotel and we made plans to meet him the next morning. We had dinner at the hotel and spent the night there in Dong Ha.

The Citadel at Hue City

Bullet holes in old church in Quang Tri

DAY 7 – MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2006

Dong Ha – DMZ – Quang Binh – Quang Tri - Danang – Steve and his sub group, on their mission regarding landmine clearance, checked out of the hotel in Dong Ha and visited MAG headquarters for an orientation of the minefield and unexploded ordnance (UXO) program. “Brad” (a Scot) gave the presentation, and then we visited an ongoing clearance operation at a casaba farm in Hua Binh, north of the former DMZ, in Quang Binh Province. Unexploded bomblets of CBUs (cluster bomb units) were being cleared there. One such bomblet had killed the farmer’s two young sons three years prior. Over 42 bomblets had been located in the three days they had been working there.

Next we visited another village in Quang Binh, where clearance operations were under way at a sandalwood farm. A CBU bomblet was exploded in place for us, and Dale Larocca was given the honor of detonating the charge.

We then visited Truc Lam, the former location of U.S. firebase “Charlie One,” where over 2,000 land mines had been cleared by MAG, as well as other UXO. This was the first MAG operation in 1999 and was funded by Adopt-A-Minefield. The site is now a productive farm and a residential community with 46 homes.

We had lunch with Brad and his staff at a local restaurant and later drove back to Danang, passing through a very impressive 8 km long tunnel through a mountain which was recently constructed west of Danang. We checked in to the Bamboo Green Riverside Hotel in Danang and spent the night there. We took cyclos to dinner at a very nice restaurant.

River at the former DMZ

Monument at DMZ

UXO clearance site in Quang Binh Province (formerly North Vietnam, near DMZ)

Vietnamese military observer

CBU bomblets unearthed

Excavation in bottom of old bomb crater

Mapping mine clearance operations in another location

Locals are difficult to keep away from operations

Detonating UXO in place

Another monument at DMZ

Displays at MAG HQ

Orientation of Mines Advisory Group program

Donation of $20,000 made by SCVVMC to minefield clearance

Back in DaNang that night...

DaNang at night

Our hotel in DaNang

Former FB Charlie One, cleared of mines and redeveloped as housing and a farm

Eight km tunnel through mountain west of DaNang, finished in 2002

Bridge over river at DaNang

DAY 8 – TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2006

Danang – Cam Rahn – Nha Trang - Steve and part of his sub group from the Commission checked out of the hotel in Danang and flew on Vietnam Airlines to Cam Rahn, then drove north to Nha Trang to rejoin the rest of the original tour group. John Behan and his sons remained in Danang as he wanted to visit the area where he had been stationed and wounded. He located and visited Hill 55, where he had lost both his legs in 1966.

In Nha Trang we checked in to the Green Hotel, and Steve found his way to “Good Morning Vietnam,” a very good Italian restaurant there! The whole group had dinner at the Sailing Club on the beach there (took cyclos there and back).

Our hotel in Nha Trang – appropriately named

DAY 9 – WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2006

Phan Thiet – We checked out of the hotel in Nha Trang and drove south to Phan Thiet, stopping at the Polong Gia Rai temple of the Cham religion (an old sect of Hindu), which was built in the 13^th century, in Phan Rang. Checked into the Bamboo Villlage Resort in Phan Thiet, which was like a Carribean resort. Steve had lunch at another “Good Morning Vietnam” restaurant he found right across the street from the resort!

We went for a swim in the South China Sea, and later several of us regrouped at the poolside bar for some libations. After Thai massages in the spa ($17 for a steam bath, whirlpool and a 60-minute massage) Joe and Steve had dinner YET AGAIN at “Good Morning Vietnam,” where we met and got friendly with the owner, Fernando from Italy.

12th Century Cham Temple

South China Sea fishing vessels

Basket boats

Our resort hotel in Phan Thiet

Imbibing in mild jubilation at the Bamboo Village Resort

DAY 10 – THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2006

Saigon – We reluctantly left Phan Thiet and drove back to Saigon, checked back into the Asian Hotel, and spent the afternoon finishing shopping for souvenirs and packing for the trip home. We had dinner on the rooftop restaurant of the Majestic Hotel.

That's an amusement park in the background!

Western influence shows everywhere

Joe & Steve with a local merchant back in Saigon

Night view from the rooftop restaurant at the Majestic Hotel

DAY 11 – FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2006

Saigon – Hong Kong – Los Angeles – New York – We checked out of the Asian Hotel and flew out of Saigon on Cathay Pacific Airlines to Hong Kong, changed planes, flew to LA, changed planes and flew to JFK in NY, a total of 27 hours of traveling.