Notes from Vietnam...

Joe Galloway finds a little time in his busy schedule to write.

"...finished in hanoi. now in hue. heading for saigon. home may 2 or 3. shot a few pix. laptop works just fine; writing this on free broadband connection in my hue hotel room....go figger! joe"

Cryptic and short as usual, but Joe gets a zillion emails a day and I know it's hard to answer all those while on the road. But free broadband....in a communist country. That's a better deal than I have under the capitalist system! Moving from Hanoi to the old historical capital city of Hue, Joe writes again.....

ref hue, looks right good. even the citadel which was heavily damaged in 68. lots of new construction too. folks seem right prosperous round here.

Hue would be one of my first choices while touring Vietnam. It was once a grand and beautiful city that during the Tet offensive in '68 was nearly ground into the dust by the fighting. It also is a good reminder of why we fought that war, the North Vietnamese Army brutally murdered 1000's of citizens in Hue who were loyal to the government...men, women and children. I asked Joe about the state of the city and he wrote back.....

"....ref citadel, well i walked thru the dang place. there's your occasional bullet ding in the big brass bells and urn and on the walls here and there. but cept for the queen mother's reception hall everything else done been restored. to include the famous flag tower....go figger jg"

It's not surprising that the citadel has been restored, it is an integral part of Vietnamese history, but the flag tower Joe mentions was basically a symbol of the American victory when we took the town back in '68, so it's strange that it would be rebuilt.

Can't wait to hear more from Joe and see some of the pictures he's no doubt taking.