Returned to Vietnam?

Question

Have any Vietnam Combat Veterans besides me returned to Vietnam? I have been back twice in 2005. One was a 17 day trip in April when I took 12 of my patients from Hanoi to the delta. The 2nd was October 2005 when I went back with a film crew from the History/
Military channel for a 10 day trip with 7 of my patients primary to the III Corps. The film has been shown on the History Channel since December 2005. The name if the Film was "Going Back" Vietnam.

Answer 1

my neighbor is a vietnam vet but he doesn't want to talk about it.
i want to thank you for what you did over there. i'm sorry most americans weren't grateful when you came home.

Answer 2

I have never visited Vietnam, and I am not a Vet, either.
I am answering your question since no one else did (at the time I wrote this answer), and to tell you many of us would be interested in hearing a Vet's ideas on Vietnam today.
I'd be interested in seeing "Going Back", when I get the chance, and hearing your (and other Vets' opinions - is Vietnam any worse off today under 30 years of control by the Communist Party? By what I have seen, it is business as usual, and Americans are welcome.

Answer 3

My Dad served in Vietnam (USAF 1964-1965). I was born in the U.S., visited South Vietnam and started school there in 1971, I recently visited Vietnam Aagain starting in 2005. I have met many American Veterans in Vietnam, and quite a few who have lived there for many years, during my recent visits to Vietnam.

The most famous Vietnam Veteran to return to Vietnam is Pete Peterson. He was the first U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam since the Vietnam War ended and the first U.S. Ambassador ever in Hanoi. Mr. Peterson was a prisoner in the "Hanoi Hilton" for seven years. His residence in Hanoi while Ambassador was the Hanoi Towers, which sits on the original location of the Hanoi Hilton. Mr. Peterson was very instrumental in the rapid normalization of relations between the U.S. and Vietnam.

One Veteran that I met is a chemistry professor at a major university in Hanoi. He has lived in Vietnam for 20 years.

Suel Jones, who was a marine in Quang Tri and received three purple hearts, had lived in Hanoi for nine years. He had done a lot of work with the Vietnam Friendship Village, which is a project created and funded mostly by American Vietnam Veterans to help children affected by dioxin find a means to become productive in their society. His counterpart is an NVA veteran, who was in combat at the same time and same place as Suel and received two gunshot wounds from the war. They are now great friends and drinking buddies.

Chuck Searcy is the Hanoi representative of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund and has lived in Hanoi for 12 years. Chuck has developed many humanitarian projects in Vietnam, to include Project RENEW. Project RENEW supports efforts to assist those affected by unexploded ordinance (UXO) issues in Quang Tri.

Ong Jon, who is a regular here on Yahoo Answers, is a Vietnam Veteran who has visits Vietnam on a regular basis for the past nine years. His favorite place is Nha Tran, which he considers his hometown. Ong Jon is too humble to admit that he is quite a humanitarian, and has helped the Vietnamese people in a variety of ways during his visits.

I have met many more Veterans who have recently visited Vietnam or decide to live there permanently. They all have different reason for why they came back to Vietnam, but they all seem to have something in common too.

They all see the Vietnamese as the nicest, friendliest and most forgiving people that they have ever met in their lives. This had affected every American Vietnam Veteran that I have met in Vietnam, and they all have become humanitarians in small or large part to the Vietnamese people. A Vietnam Veteran that I met in Hanoi told me this: ”My government told me that I was going to Vietnam to help the Vietnamese people. When I got there, I soon found out that it was a lie. Now, I’m in Vietnam doing what I was supposed to do in the first place.”

If you’re heading back to Vietnam, you will want to contact Chuck Searcy. He can be very helpful in getting you and your fellow Vietnam Veterans oriented while there, and clear channels for you to have more access to the country than the common tourists do.

One last thing…

I want to thank you and all of the Vietnam Veterans. Your efforts saved the lives of many in my family. It had been unpopular for too long to say such things publicly because our government and media had done everything they can to bury the positive things that happened to discount the Vietnam War as a big mistake. Many Vietnam Veterans, like your self, have gone back to correct what our government screwed up and the Vietnamese people are grateful and will welcome you with open arms.