written by Todd DePastino Our attention turned once again to the American War when we toured Hue on Day 4 of our trip. Hue burst into the American consciousness like a flash grenade on January 30, 1968, the first day of the Tet Offensive. Nha Do Gate to the south of the Old
written by Todd DePastino Our morning excursion in Halong Bay was a welcome respite from the bustle and war stories of Hanoi. Halong Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage site and visual wonder. Two-thousand islands (officially 1,969, the year of Ho Chi Minh’s death), each draped in thick foliage, stand like soldiers at attention
written by Todd DePastino One immediate difference I noticed in this year’s trip to Vietnam is the absence of Chinese tourists. In 2018 and 2020, we shared our hotels, tourist sites, and the streets with large groups of well-dressed Chinese vacationing in Vietnam. The sumptuous hotel breakfast buffets were strictly segregated—sometimes even by floor.
written by Todd DePastino In November and December, 21 of us—including five veterans who had served in-country during the war—traveled to Vietnam, from Hanoi and Halong Bay in the North to Saigon and the Mekong Delta in the South. Vietnam is a beautiful and often bewildering place, ancient in history and now yoked to
written by Todd DePastino Welcome sign at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi Vietnam is about as far as you can travel from the United States. It's literally half-way round the world. So, most of us who landed in Hanoi on November 28 for our two-week tour of Vietnam put in 24-hours
written by Chuck Myers Back in 2021, we welcomed Navy veteran Chuck Myers to our VBC Greatest Generation Live to give a virtual tour of the USS Hornet (CV-12). Chuck served as a junior officer on USS Yorktown (CVS-10) in the 1960s. Today, he volunteers as a docent with the USS Hornet Sea, Air,
