3 24 PHU MY

When we got to Phu My, Duane went on an excursion from the ship and Arleen went by van to a nearby town.

So, first we will look at Duane’s trip.  He left about 7:15 and travelled for 3 hours.  He went north of Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) to Cu Chi where there are 250 K of tunnels in an underground city.  These tunnels were used by the Vietnamese as sleeping rooms, dining rooms, hospitals, recreation areas and for hiding and ambushing from.  He was shown how they could stage attacks and disappeared.  

You can see how the escape hole disappears.  No wonder our servicemen could follow or figure out where they went.  And look how small the hole is.  They had to be small people to get in and down.

As I said they had kitchens in the tunnels.  In this example, they had a big fire going in the stove.  Where does the smoke go?  They have a tunnel just for the smoke.  A chimney that runs at a slight angle upward away from the complex about  20 yards, usually to under a tree.  There they built a concrete slab to dissipate the smoke.  Can you see any.  Even blowing up the second picture, you cannot see any smoke that was coming from the big fire shown below.  

The purpose was to avoid detection from the air.  It works very well, still. 

They have removed the top 3 feet of tunnel roof so tourists can enter and experience the tunnels.  When upper rooms were being used, they were high enough and big enough for many people to use at one time.  There were also lower rooms and tunnels.  These were much smaller and used for escape and evasion and to access the fighting.  They have enlarged some of these tunnels, so tourists can see them.  Duane was able to get into the enlarged tunnels by crawling on hands and knees.  He couldn’t lift his head to look forward.  These were the “enlarged” tunnels.  Only a couple of younger, skinnier people on the tour were able to enter through the entrances.  Duane could not.

Duane also got to see some of the booby traps that were used by the Vietnamese.  They have been fighting to keep invaders out of their country for thousands of years.

This is a trap used in an earlier generation when they were fighting invaders on horseback.  When a hose stepped on this camouflaged spot.  There is a hinge in the center, so the surface would move.  The horse would jump back and throw his rider into the pit.  And see what is in the pit….