While Ken and I were visiting Tu Duc's tomb and fending off offers of boat rides along the Perfume River, most of the group visited the former Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). We'd gone during the previous trip and decided against a return visit. I did want to talk a bit about one of the stops on the DMZ tour that I found particularly fascinating.

The DMZ is a complete misnomer. After 1954, when the French were defeated by Vietnamese forces, the country was divided into North and South Viet Nam, with a demilitarized zone between the two. During the American War, this area saw some of the heaviest fighting; unexploded mortars and landmines remain an issue today. Vinh Moc is just north of the DMZ. In the late 1960's, the US forces began a campaign of aerial bombardment of the DMZ area, and the inhabitants of Vinh Moc and the other villages were right in the line of fire. Some people fled in the face of nightly bombings, while others began to dig.

Over the course of 18 or so months, the villagers (with the encouragement of North Vietnamese forces) hand dug a complex tunnel network which allowed them to live underground, unseen. The tunnels are about 6 feet tall and three feet wide, with small family rooms opening off to the side. There was a larger meeting area, a well, and a maternity ward (something like 17 babies were born underground). There were air shafts, and the ventilation system was constructed so that cooking smoke was vented away from its origin. That way, if it were noticed and targeted, the attack would not be directed at the actual source. The villagers lived mostly underground for about three years. In spite of constant bombardment from both the air and sea, the tunnels sustained only one direct hit during this time; there was no loss of life, and the bomb crater was converted into another airshaft.

The part of the story that most struck me was the way in which the villagers dealt with the problem of where to put the excavated soil. Large piles of dirt lying around anywhere would definitely attract the attention and suspicions of American observers. Also, the soil is red. Piles of red soil on the sand would be blatantly obvious. So, what they did was dig a hole in the sand, bury the red soil, cover the soil with sand, and dump the excess sand into the ocean!

Today, the tunnels have been somewhat modified to receive tourists, but are very much the same as they always were. Not a comfortable experience for the extremely claustrophobic, but a great example of determination and ingenuity.