Posted on 03/29/2005 7:04:21 AM PST by Tailgunner Joe
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam - An American warship made a rare visit to Vietnam on Tuesday, a sign the two countries are looking to improve military ties 30 years after the Vietnam War.
Sailors dressed in white lined the decks of the USS Gary as the frigate docked in Saigon Port, where it is to remain for five days. The warship was just the third Navy vessel to make a port call in the communist country since the war ended on April 30, 1975.
The Stars and Stripes flew alongside the Vietnamese flag as the ship eased up the muddy Saigon River. Many of the more than 200 sailors aboard snapped pictures or videotaped its arrival.
Most were too young to remember when Ho Chi Minh City was called Saigon, but U.S. Lt. Cmdr. Quoc Bao Tran remembers fleeing the country by boat when he was 7, just before South Vietnam fell to the communist North. This was his first trip back.
"I'm overwhelmed, overjoyed and of course excited," he said. "I'm looking forward to seeing the place where I was born."
The visit marked the 10th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations. More importantly, it signaled a warmup in military relations between the former foes, officials in both countries said.
The two sides signed a landmark bilateral trade agreement in 2001, and business has exploded in recent years. But work in the sensitive area of military cooperation has only just begun.
As the United States and Vietnam find common ground on issues of counterterrorism and regional stability, future military ties will likely include more ship visits and high-level exchanges such as Vietnamese Defense Minister Pham Van Tra's historic trip to Washington in 2003.
"The most important thing for both of our nations and peoples to do is to continue to look forward, not backward," U.S. Ambassador Michael Marine said.
Some in Vietnam believe the U.S. military may be looking to their country as a future strategic area to establish a base to counter growing Chinese influence in Southeast Asia. But Marine said that was not the case.
A Vietnamese military official said the visit showed how far the two countries have come in the past 30 years. Col. Bui Van Nga, the highest-ranking Vietnamese navy officer to greet the ship, said he remembers when the two countries were enemies. "Now we must put aside the past, and I think we should look forward to the future."
The USS Gary is attached to the Seventh Fleet based in Japan. Two other ships in the fleet, the USS Vandegrift and USS Curtis Wilbur, made port calls to Ho Chi Minh City and Danang in 2003 and 2004, respectively.
Give me a f'in break.
Classy reply. He's right - though on the arms bit, it's to opressively control their people and neighbors right now. Given the chance, the'll get to the rest of us later.
People need to break out of their price obsession and take a look at what they are supporting with their purchases. It's like an established company with idiot managers, who buy critical elements from upstart competitors rather develop things on their own. In the short term they're covered, but they're sowing the seeds of their own destruction.
(And that's not even looking at the fact that the Vietnamese communists didn't want to help us with our dead and MIA. They tried to extort money from us to do this, and we refused.)
Should have done this in the 60's for their signing of the Articles of SURRENDER!!!
I said nothing of the kind. My comment meant only that the Viet Namese government deserves no support from the US. Nothing more. Anyone on these pages should know how I feel about Communists and their detestable cohorts in VN, Laos, Cambot and Burma. I was there in the 1950s, so no one needs to tell me what happened to these people.
"Why would anyone go to a Communist country? You must be from the left-wing Democrats love your enemy camp."
WTF are you talking about? How the hell does my cousin going on a hunting trip to Vietnam make me a left-wing democrat you idiot?
You are the IDIOT. A lot of my friends died for the freedom of that country which was denied by left-wing fascist demcorats.
I plan a return trip, hopefully we will open relations a bit more, you have to get a visa to travel there via mail, in Cambodia and Laos, you can get it on the border.
I went to the only fast food resturant in Saigon, a KFC, when it was built, someone made the mistake of saying to a Vietnamese government official (the last of the commies) that Colonel Sanders looked a bit like Uncle Ho, he was angrily rebutted "Ho Chi Minh was a General! This man was just a Colonel!"
I went there to scuba dive, and visit some historical sites from the war, I met dozens of vets who were going back, every one of them said they were treated extremely well, with dignity and respect.
Its a fascinating place.
"You are the IDIOT. A lot of my friends died for the freedom of that country which was denied by left-wing fascist demcorats."
I'm sorry about your friends but so did a lot of mine and I actually served in the military at that time. I don't know what that's got to do with my cousin. I think you need to get some help with you guilt and anger problems.
"I went to the only fast food resturant in Saigon, a KFC, when it was built, someone made the mistake of saying to a Vietnamese government official (the last of the commies) that Colonel Sanders looked a bit like Uncle Ho, he was angrily rebutted "Ho Chi Minh was a General! This man was just a Colonel!""
That's a hoot!
What sort of game animals did he hunt for? Most of the Tigers/Elephants had been killed off. I hope to hell he shot a few rock apes. I hated those little bastards!
COFFEE. Vietnam is kicking the pants off of Brazil and Colombia in sales of coffee.
Alternatively, the planning for a canal through Thailand continues...
"What sort of game animals did he hunt for? Most of the Tigers/Elephants had been killed off. I hope to hell he shot a few rock apes. I hated those little bastards!"
That's funny about the Rock Apes. I had a high school friend over there in the Marines stationed in Quang Tri province that told me stories about how much he hated the Rock Apes and used to fire at them with his M-79. He said the things would make lots of noise at night and they thought the VC were coming through the perimeter.
My cousin was invited (all expenses paid) by one of his Deer hunting clients to hunt Deer. Mostly he talked about the Tiger he saw and all the damned snakes.
Where'd you dive? I'd be interested in the details.
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