Demilitarized Zone

If you have not heard of the Demilitarized Zone  it is probably because in the western world we did not really understand what was happening in Vietnam during the 60's.
The DMZ was the area between North and South Vietnam.  Communism controlled North Vietnam and 5 km on either side of the river was set up to keep the Vietnamese separated.  When the boarder was closed families were split up if they were on opposite sides of the river.  Family members were not allowed to have contact with each other.   If the father was working on the other side of the river when the boarder was closed they were not allowed to join their family.

 The bridge represents the turmoil that existed between the two sides with the north painted blue and the south side painted yellow even thought the country is now unified.

The Vinh Muh tunnels are located north of the river along the coast. Here military and local farmers lived under ground for two years while the US B52's dropped bombs on the area.  The tunnels were used as shelters and hiding areas.  The top level was used by the military the remaining levels were used as a hospital, school, food preparation area, meeting area and nursery as several children were born in the tunnels. Families had their own sleeping areas.  The tunnels actually go all the way down to the beach area so that rice and produce could be loaded onto supply boats and taken out to the islands off shore.

Above the tunnels there was an elaborate systems of trenches that allow people to move around without being seen. Farmers could go out to work the fields and injured people could be removed to the hospital without being easily seen.

Trench

When the US pulled out of Vietnam this area had to be cleared of thousands of bombs and landmines. The fields and roads were repaired so life could start again as a unified country started to take shape with Ho Chi Ming as their president under communist rule.  At the time the Vietnamese did feel that there best option for a peaceful society was to choose communism.  Now they have what they call a democratic communism.  This was explained that private citizens can now own businesses.  There are a lot of problems with a one party system through bribes and payoffs necessary within the government run departments.  We were told that the Police will stop motorists and demand money without any cause.