Khe Sanh Veterans Association Inc.
Red Clay
Newsletter of the Veterans who served at Khe Sanh Combat Base,
Hill 950, Hill 881, Hill 861, Hill 861-A, Hill 558
Lang-Vei and Surrounding Area

Issue 50     Summer 2001

Short Rounds

Home
In This Issue
Notes from the Editor and Board     2001 Reunion News     Incoming     
Memoirs     Health Matters     In Memoriam     
A Sprinkling of your Poetry

Once a Marine Always a Marine

(Oklahoma City, April 1995)

    Two United States Marines were among the 168 ._ people killed by the terrorist bomb that destroyed the Alfred P Murrah Federal Building. The Federal Emergency Management Agency deployed teams of firemen and police officers from New York City to help search the rubble for survivors and recover the dead. Several of these volunteers were Marine reservists or former Marines. Police officer Michael Curtin, a Marine First Sergeant in the reserves, discovered a body pinned in the wreckage, wearing the blue trousers with the distinctive "blood stripe" of a Marine. He knew he had found the missing remains of Captain Randolph Guzman, executive officer of the recruiting station.

    Curtin asked permission to retrieve Captain Guzman's body -- dangerous laborious work. He found three former Marines to lend a hand. Manny Hernandez, another police officer, said, "It was something I had to do. I had a squad in Nam, and whenever we lost a Marine, he was never left behind. We take care of our own." The Marines' worked five hours with electric jackhammers to free the Captain's remains. Someone provided a body bag. Hernandez knelt and closed the dead Marine's eyes, "For the Glory of God," he said, "and the Glory of the Corps." The word somehow passed around the site that the Marines were bringing out one of their own.

    An Air Force officer provided an American flag. Officer Curtin draped it over the body, and the men worked their way clear of the building with their burden. Curtin was stunned at what he saw outside. "It was completely quiet, cranes stopped, rescuers stopped, people lined the street. Everyone was watching in silence as we brought our Marine out." The workers formed a corridor, removed their hard hats, bowed their heads. The veterans in the crowd saluted, tears in their eyes. Said Officer Hernandez, swept with emotion, "We are a band of brothers." Captain Guzman was in good, ever faithful hands. Semper Fidelis.

    No matter what you do, you will always be a Marine. Watch out for each other and always remember who you are and what you have become...a Marine for the rest of your life.

Jim Wallace
Vietnam 66-68
UAW National Veterans Advisory Committee

*****

Dear Ernie:

    I recently received your Spring 2001 Red Clay Magazine. I had sent in money and a "Remembranc Memorial" for 2ND LT Michael Thomas, my dear friend in OCS, Quantico 1967, who was KIA Jan 2C 1968 (Navy Cross Recipient). Thomas Esslinger, I & M Co 3/26., also remembered him. I am writing to see if you can find an address for Tom, and send it t, me. I have located Michael Thomas's brother Steve, who would like to hear from those who knew Michael.

Art Brooks
1ST LT 1ST Force Recon

*****

Dear Ernie,

    Just received the latest issue of Red Clay, thanks. You guys do a great job, please stick with it. I am writing in reference to the Editor's note on page four The Editor takes exception to the spelling of "Khe Sanh" as shown in the photograph taken at MCRD. Well, personally I think they are the ones who actually have it spelled right. Until about 10 years ago that is how I always thought it was spelled. The current "Khe Sanh" spelling, I think is the Americanization of the proper spelling, so I also just went along with it. I even had California License Plates made up with the Khe Sanh spelling.

    None of the above is to say who is right or wrong, just thought it was interesting. I seem to recall maps from our time during the Siege that showed it spelled "Khe Sahn." Keep up the good work.

Semper Fi
Tim Haley
C Co 1/9 60 MM

*****

Everything I Need to Know, I Learned in Bootcamp

By Robert A Hall

    Robert Fulghum's inspirational essay, "Everything I need to Know, I learned from Kindergarten," is one of the most read and reprinted articles of our time. Though I admire Fulghum's insights, I must have been a late bloomer. Everything I needed to know, I learned at Parris Island from three leather tough Marine drill instructors. The lessons taught by Sergeants William Harris, Michael Martin and Ezekiel Owens while training platoon 273 in the summer of 1964 have carried me through rough times, and led to what success I can claim in life. In college, in my earlier political career, and in my current job as an association manager, my DIs were always with me, guiding me, helping me, urging me on and kicking my tail when I need it. I may not think about them daily but for over 35 years, their training and spirit has been an inseparable part of my life. Schools, colleges, and even the other services educate the brain. Marine training burns deep in the heart and the bone.

    `I would like to share some of the lessons they gave me:

Space will not allow all the lessons learned by Robert Hall; the above is an excerpt of many more.

Robert A. Hall 
TartanMarine@aol.com

Copyright 2001
One Time Rights Granted to Red Clay

Editor's note:   
Former Staff Sergeant Robert A. Hall served as a Marine from 1964 to 1968, and was a radio relay team chief at Khe Sanh in 1967. He later served five terms in the Massachusetts State Senate. While a Senator, he rejoined the Marine reserves, serving from 1977 to 1983. Currently, he manages associations and is a part-time freelance writer. He lives with his wife, Bonnie, in Oaklyn, NJ.

*****

Cedar Point Information and Status Report

By Bill Donoghue

    There continues to be sporadic uprisings by minorities in Vietnam due to their treatment by the government. As a result, internal security police severely restrict movement of foreign visitors to many areas that need our assistance. Our efforts continue to be a protracted battle convincing officials that the Cedar Point Foundation has no political or religious goals.

    The Cedar Point Foundation's continued persistence does pay off. Government officials do remember us. Most non-government organizations come into an area, throw around a great deal of money for projects and then leave, never to return. Quite often these projects have no real impact on the minority people, but merely serve to line the pockets of officials, leaving behind nothing more than an empty shell of a building for some program (i.e., AIDS education) with no funding to actually run the program. And so it sits, an empty reminder of yet another unfulfilled promise.

    We continue to listen to the village elders' concerns and needs. We continue to chip away, year after year at these problems; water wells, medical aid, education opportunities for the children and now the latest problem, repairs to homes. In an effort to stop slash and burn destruction of the tropical forest, the Vietnamese government has prohibited cutting down trees. Unfortunately, typhoons in recent years have severely damaged most Bru homes. These homes are construtted of indigenous materials, thatched roofs, log support columns and wood floors and walls. It's illegal to cut trees to repair the damage. The Bru now have to use concrete support columns and fiber or cement tile roofs. The problem is that the average Bru makes only a few hundred dollars per year; barely enough to feed their family, there is simply no money (government or otherwise) to repair homes. Housing continues to be a problem that needs to be addressed. As the materials necessary to construct or repair their houses becomes sparser and scarcer, the Bru must turn away from traditional materials. The large logs that support their stilted houses need to be replaced with cement columns. The thatch roofs, which need to be repaired often, need to be replacedwith sheets of tin or fibro cement panels.

    The cost to do this does not come cheap, especially if your yearly income is just a few hundred dollars. The 12 concrete columns needed for a home cost about $35 each for a total of almost $500 when everything is figured in (transportation of materials, etc.) Another $500 is needed for the fibro cement roofing pandis and a final $500 for lumber to construct the floor and walls.

    The village elders are concerned that if just a few houses are upgraded at a time, that jealousies could develop that will divide the community. A typical Bru community consists of 20 to 30 families. With one home costing $1,500 USD, then $30,000 to $45,000 will be needed to rebuild each community. If we can find the money, we will be able to provide a low maintenance house that does not require the continual destruction of the rain forest. Bru time is now spent searching for scarce materials to cut down, and could now be redirected towards cash crop production. Use of non-indigenous materials to repair homes would just about eliminate slash and burn activity in the area.

    This trip was one of the most successful, even though we were not allowed into Thon Cheng. We were allowed into a new community (Lang Vay) and in front of village elders, were allowed to outline our plan for present and future assistance. It was quite apparent that money speaks and that a prime reason for success was the amount of this trip's assistance. Cedar Point must continue to search out new sources of funding and funding in greater amounts. It is extremely important that anyone with a vested interest in helping the Bru explores his or her personal contacts and determines if there is someone who is affluent and willing to assist us. Possibly, there is a silent donor out there who would provide substantial funding for each trip, which could make a difference.

*****

Our Khe Sanh Brothers Are Still Serving Their Country

Hi Jim,

    Sorry I haven't been keeping up with my e-mail. I took a new job since we last corresponded. I am now the only Aero Medical Evacuation Consultant to the USAE I work down in San Antonio at Brooks AFB. I am trying to build a new system for the Air Force. Since I left Aero Medevac about 25 years ago, it has gone down the tube. We are in really bad shape when it comes to moving our wounded. I'm sure you will recall when the U.S.S. Cole was hit last November. Well, the USAF is so low on cargo AE airplanes that we couldn't get to those guys in time, so we had to ask the French Air Force to fly their airplane over from Djibouti, Africa, and pick our sailors up. I'm doing my best to fix this as fast as I can.

    During the last administration, the USAF budget was cut by a total of 47%. Our AF generals did the best they could, but they had to maintain what we call the "Tooth to Tail Ratio." Tooth being our fighters, bombers, and tankers. Tail being our cargo or airlift aircraft. So they cut the tail off. They did not fund the repair and replacement of any of our cargo aircraft for 8 years. It almost makes me cry to think that the United States cannot even move our own wounded people. We are currently moving over 10,800 patients a year out of the Pacific Area.

    We are rapidly coming to the place where we will have to use an even older airplane that has been maintained for airevac. We will start using the KC135 soon. It is a tanker but has room on its upper deck for patients, if we do it right. The KC-135 is one of the oldest airplanes in the USAF inventory. You may recall it's civilian version, the Boeing 707, the first U.S. jet Airliner. It was maintained because it's part of the "tooth."

    Still we are not allowed to modify this aircraft in any way, so I am trying to build a system that will not require any aircraft modifications. I'm calling it Roll-on/Roll-off. I'm using the 463L Cargo Pallets to haul our patients on. To do this, we have to have the pallets re-built so they will hold two litter stanchions and three seats. I've got those being built right now. I also am trying to build a system so I can roll-on our medical oxygen system with the patients, since these airplanes have no oxygen for the patients in the back. They also do not have any electricity in the back, so I am trying to buy fuel cells to generate all the electricity we need. I am buying several other items, so I haven't let my .shirttail hit my back since I took this job.

    I hope that I can get some sort of a system cobbled together before we have another war because if I don't, we will haze a disaster on our hands. As you know, I live in Austin, and Brooks AFB is in San Antonio, some 87 miles away. So I am commuting back and forth every day and it doesn't leave me much time to eat and sleep, much less to answer my e-mail. So please forgive me for not writing more often. By the way, I quit a job that was paying me nearly twice what this one pays, because of the real need to fix the Aero Medical Evacuation System. I could not live with myself if our young troops had to die overseas because we couldn't get them moved back home. I could use a prayer or two if you have time.

Semper Fi,
Ira Johnson
M/Co 3/9

Publisher note:
Letter from Ira Johnson to our secretary, James "Jimbo" Wodecki

*****

A Battery Commander Remembers

    When I first arrived in Vietnam in 1967, I was assigned to HQ 3RD Marine Division. I was the Combat Operations Center G-3 Watch Officer on the midnight to 8 AM shift, and also briefed the CG at his Staff meeting every morning. My supervisor was a Lt. Col (don't remember his name but he was a cool guy) who told me that when he was out in the. field commanding a battalion, he used to c6t the tops off the C-rations packages and send them home as postcards. I did that at Khe Sanh with the notation, "Greetings from the underground paradise of the Far East."

    When I arrived at Khe Sanh, it was late November 1967, and everything was pretty quiet. The first task at hand was an inspection of the Battery area. First Sgt. Keith had the troops dig bunkers for housing instead of living above ground, so they were ready for any attack. The Battery was split up with 3 105s at the Combat Base, and the other 3 guns on Hill 881 under the command of 1ST Lt. Biondo. We also had 155 howitzers, 4.2, mortars and a search light platoon in the Battery area. The area was surrounded by barbed wire to keep the locals out. That proved to be a great idea as during the siege we never took a direct hit on t. he guns because the locals never could survey our locations.

    Shortly after taking command of the Battery, I held ú an inspection of the Battery and found that the living conditions in the bunkers was deplorable. I found we had a dog as a Battery mascot that had mange. We also had two ducks in an outdoor pen. The .troops did clean up the dog and their area. Later, during the first night of the Siege, I found myself in a bunker with the dog. When the tear gas in the ammo dump blew, I found myself sharing my gas mask with the dog. Later, one of the troops rotating to the states took the dog home with him. The ducks took a direct hit that first night and that was the end of them. The inspection was timely because a short time later, Lt Col Hennelly took command of the Battalion and held a full-scale inspection  of the Battery area.

    Christmas was not a very cheery time. The NVA broke the truce on Christmas Eve, and the traditional Christmas meal at the mess hall was typical of their terrible meals. I've had bad food before, but never any as bad as the food served in the mess hall at Khe Sanh. I want to point out that the mess hall was run by the grunts and not by the artillery. During the first morning of the Siege when the NVA was throwing everything they had at the Battery position, I heard a loud cheer go up from the troops. I looked over to see the mess hall burning down to the ground. "

    Later in the Siege, the 13TH Marine Battalion Mess Sergeant cooked up some sort of hot chicken stew type meal for the Battery. I sent someone to the Battalion HQ to pick up this culinary delight. We had the troops straggle up to a central location to get some of this hot chow. Due to snipers from the hills and incoming hitting at a moment's notice, I woul& n't allow large groups to gather in the open except when we were returning fire. The first guy on the scene for this special meal looked at me and asked how it tasted. I replied that Officers always ate after all the troops were fed. His reply was "You eat it first. If you aren't poisoned, then we'll try it." It was terrible. From then on we ate C-rations and loved them. One of the troops gave me an egg one night. They said they traded with the Air Force for the eggs. They probably stole them. First Sergeant Keith came upon the scene as I was cooking that egg, so I ended up with only half the egg.

    I thought I would go back and read the letters I sent my wife while in Vietnam to refresh my memory about the events leading up to the Siege. During the Siege, we received orders to 'burn all personal items, letters, etc., because they expected us to get overrun and they had evidence that the NVA was sending items like personal letters to the American Peace Movement through Jane Fonda. They would then harass the families back ifi the States. Whenever I visit a VFW post, they usually have the urinal target with Jane Fonda's face on it. Now that's a great way to take a leak. I noticed that the last time I started reading those letters was about ten years ago, and I had stopped with a letter written on 18 January 1968. Well, I didn't get much further today.

    Before the infamous attack on the Combat Base on 21 January, I thought it curious that continual requests from the grunts ~or artillery fire on NVA in the open were denied clearance. I became convinced that we were being set up as bait. I repeatedly requested that Regiment relocate the Ammo Dump, or at least split it up into various locations. The Ammo Dump was located between C/1/13 and the airstrip.

    Battalion sent Mark Swearengen, Liaison Officer from 2ND Battalion 94TH Artillery USA to my battery position. They didn't have any living quarters for him, so I had him bunk in with me. When the shit hit the fan, he headed to his post in the FSCC, and I didn't see him again until 25 years later at our reunion in Washington, DC. We started returning fire, but then they hit the Ammo Dump and the whole world was blowing up around us. We lost our wire lines, so we reverted to radio contact with Battalion and used runners to send commands to the guns. Some of the runners were wounded, so I went to each gun and told them to fire their final protective fires, and when they ran out of ammo to hit their spider holes. We had them dig those spider holes to protect against a direct hit on the gun. Unfortunately we lost L/Cpl Jerry O. Stenberg that first morning. He jumped into a spider hole and landed on top of another Marine and took a piece of shrapnel in the head which killed him immediately. The other Marine, whose name I don't remember, never got over that. Later, we sent him on R&R to China Beach where he was wounded and medevaced to the States. Great R&R that was..

    One thing that always sticks in my mind was the picture of two grunts walking to Graves Registration the next morning with the body of their buddy wrapped in a poncho. The dead Marine's arm was hanging out of the poncho and dragging on the ground. I stopped them and realized they were both in shock, so I just put his arm back in the poncho and let them continue on their way.

    Once the smoke cleared that morning, I was called to Battalion HQ for a meeting. The first thing the Bn C/O wanted was a casualty report and an ammo count. I remember we were fortunate enough to have only one KIA, but I don't remember the actual wounded count. As far as the ammo was concerned, we had only one green smoke round left. When I told the guns to fire until they were out of ammo, they really took me seriously. We probably really confused the gooks by throwing smoke and illumination at them. The Bn C/O briefed us on the situation with the news that 50,000 pissed off NVA surrounded us and there were only 5,000 of us. The airfield was no longer operational and we were out of food, water and ammo. I replied by asking that now that we had them where we wanted them, what the &%%# were we going to do with them?

    The decision was made to form a complete 155 Battery and 4.2 Mortar Battery, so that they were moved out of C Battery area. My three guns were then moved intd A Battery area to allow EOD time to remove all of the unexploded ammo that had fallen on us when the ammo dump blew up. I left Glenn Prentice and a few other guys behind with a 50 cal. Machine gun and a radio to guard the area. He is still pissed to this day that I left them behind, but they must have been quite effective because the gooks never tried to break through the lines. EOD never did show up to clear our area, so we moved back and did the clean up ourselves. Fortunately, none of us were injured due to exploding grade 3 ammo. Shortly after moving back to our area, they sent B Battery in to reinforce us, and we became a 9gun Battery which I renamed C Battery 1ST BN 13th Marines Reinforced.

    Battalion had a supply of green smoke sent to us for our St. Patrick's Day celebration. The only problem was that the order to fire the green smoke came down early the morning of March 17, and we were still surrounded by dense fog. We fired the green smoke but never got to see it. Some years later I ran into some of the grunts who said they saw it and really enjoyed our St. Pat's Day celebration. I still held on to my one last green smoke round and later that afternoon, I fired it north of Hill 881.

    We were under orders not to fire small arms over the heads of friendly troops and not to return fire without clearance. I remember seeing large-caliber machine guns firing from the hills to the north of the runway at C-I30s trying to land at KSCB. We kept reporting it, but no action that I knew of was ever taken. One morning one of the gun crews called into the Exec Pit to report an NVA mortar team setting up just outside the wire. I was sure that the grunts would take them under fire but nothing happened. I called in a fire mission from Battery A, then I was going to adjust them onto the target. I waited for what seemed like an eternity for the first round. Well, the first round arrived but it wasn't from A Battery -- it was from the NVA mortar, and it landed in the Battery position. I remember yelling over the wire line "What the hell was that?" and the answer came back from one of the troops, "That's your asshole NVA buddies dropping a round on the battery position." I called Battalion only to find that they were still waiting for clearance. I went out to the gun position, and we rolled the 105 out of the gun pit and down to the wire and blew them away with a direct fire round. That was just the first of many occasions when we took targets under direct fire with a 105 howitzer and also the first of many an ass-chewing from Lt Col Hennelly for opening fire without waiting for clearance. I told him that when we started to receive incoming fire, my guys were always on their guns firing their missions. Unlike A Battery whose wire lines always seemed to go down when incoming was hitting. My theory was that we were surrounded by unfriendly not friendly and that anyone who was shooting at my troops deserved to die quickly.

    I never could get Regiment to move the ammo dump from the crazy position it was in, right between the airstrip and my battery. On a clear and sunny day, I watched some Army troops throwing ammo from the back of a truck when one of the rounds went off wounding the two of them. I went in there with my two corpsmen to pull these guys out when the whole ammo dump blew up for the third time. I thought for sure that I was dead. My corpsmen got those guys out and made it back unhurt.

    Well, my tour finally came to an end. I left the Battery before they were to drive east out of Khe Sanh. I jumped on a helicopter and headed to Dong Ha. Unfortunately, I had to then take a convoy to Camp Carroll to report into 1ST BN 12TH Marines because the battalion had administrative control of C Battery. I finally got through that chicken shit meeting and headed back to Quang Tri to say goodbye to the Battery. On the morning I was leaving for Da-nang and my journey to CONUS, the NVA hit us again with rockets. I had the Battery open fire on the position which we could see, and we were able to knock it out. They tried to get us to cease fire; why, I'll never understand.

    I still have the plaque that the Battery personnel presented me at Khe Sanh. It reads "Capt. William J. O'Connor, the Best Battery Commander in Vietnam, from the men in Charlie Battery 1/13." That's something I will always treasure.

    Always remember in your prayers, our departed Marines: From C/1/13, Phillip E Sheridan, Delbert L. Leasure, and Jerry O Stenberg, from B/1/13, Allan H. Jordan, Louis C. Gel, and Ronald L. Dempsey.

Captain William O'Connor
C/O C Btry 1/13

*****

The Economic Development of Quang Tri Province

The Khe Sanh Plateau:
The Combined Role of The Economic Free Zone
 and National Highway No.9

By Gary W. Foster

    Located in the narrowest part of Vietnam, Quang Tri Province sits astride north/south and east/west national economic trade and development and will play an important role to the overall future development of the Republic of Vietnam. Primarily an agrarian based economy, western Quang Tri Province has been designated as an economic flee trade and development zone. From Lao Bao in the west to Hoang Hoa 25 kilometers farther east, the region is developing into a commercial, industrial, and agricultural economic area.

    National Highway 9 will be the springboard for this development, because it will improve access to and from Laos, Da Nang, and the Cua Viet Port. Hotly contested during the Vietnam War, the highway today is un-congested and quiet and continues to serve as the only corridor in an area once referred to as "Eye Corp."

    At present, as was the case in the late 60s and early 70s, National Highway 9 is a two-lane road crossing about 45 streams and rivers over reconstructed bridges of varying configurations. The alignment of the road today exists as it was then. The road is dangerous in places due to narrowness, blind curves (as at the Rao Quan river crossing), near proximity of villages, and diverse types of vehicles. Although the road is not as heavily traveled as Highway 1, which Highway 9 intersects at Dong Ha, it is nevertheless of major importance, especially to cross-border trade with Laos and Thailand. Its rehabilitation and upgrade will clearly reduce travel time, enhance road safety, and provide a strong foundation for the economic development that is planned in Quang Tri Province. Furthermore, it will provide improved travel times to Hue and Da-nang for commerce originating in Laos, thereby providing an efficient opening to new market opportunities.

    Spending any time in western Quang Tri Province, it is inescapable for one not to note that the major item of trade on a continuous basis is lumber, through the harvest of large trees, which originate in Laos, and, some say, are illegally transported across the border into Vietnam. The harvested lumber is transported across the border at Lao Bao to the Cua Viet Port where the timber is loaded on to large barges for further transport to future end-users. Another product of the area includes coffee, which has a pronounced history in the region since before the war and which continues to this day. Though rice is grown in the narrow valleys, rice from this part of Vietnam contributes little to the economy of the country. Other products include fruit and vegetables, but again like rice, these are of little economic consequence outside the immediate region.

    Khe Sanh village or Hoang Hoa hasn't changed much in physical presence. It is a narrow village which straddles Highway 9 and has grown in length along the corridor. The village has undergone some upgrades with a slight increase in population in the last year as economic activity has increased incrementally. This activity has occurred, more importantly, because it has become clear that western Quang Tri Province will realize an economic boom within the next year; and more so over the next three years when the upgrade and re-construction of Highway 9 will be completed.

    As many USMC vets who have returned to Quang Tri Province have observed, Khe Sanh today is a serene town that contains small roadside restaurants, a few hotels, and small shops. There is no major industry. Although there is hardly a sidewalk, one can walk the length of the town in less than 30 minutes. Once off the highway to either side, there is no real physical depth to the town. Obviously, maintaining a close proximity to Highway 9 is the key to the sustained livelihood of Khe Sanh's inhabitants and represents the thread supporting the small town's tenuous economy. One would also note that the townsfolk are receptively welcoming and friendly.

    One is never hounded in the town, but clearly any westerner, ostensibly assumed to be American, is a curiosity.

    Cottage type industries are beginning to be introduced to Khe Sanh, and these are typical of those found in more accessible Vietnamese villages, especially along Highway 1. However, there is little to export from them. The scrap metal trade, once reported to have thrived after the evacuation of Khe Sanh towards the end of the war, no longer exists. In fact, unless one knows what to look for, there are hardly any noticeable remnants of the conflict that ensued there 30 years ago.

    Small villages and localized micro population centers have sprung up in the valleys around Hill 861 and elsewhere. The villages are served today by the narrow road that accesses the old Khe Sanh combat base from Highway 9. The road leading to the combat base and to the hills beyond is now under construction at certain points. Plans are being developed for this road's future upgrade to a national standard that will require minimum maintenance. This improved road will provide access to an area beyond the surrounding hills heretofore inaccessible. Agriculture will be the primary focus in this rural area.

    Further east of Khe Sanh and to the right of the highway is a large development that has taken place only within the last year. This development serves as a reinforcement of the serious commitment that the Vietnamese government has made towards the development of the region through the use of an economic free zone and improved highway. The development includes all the elements of a large scale commercial or industrial park found throughout the United States today. Large flat concreted areas, tilt-up type construction for warehouses and manufacturing plants, and sophisticated grading and drainage and lighting are characteristics of the development. The development sits in stark contrast to the surrounding area, rendering other business establishments archaic and seemingly redundant. The current and future development will induce people from Dong Ha and beyond to move to the Khe Sanh Plateau because of newly created employment opportunities.

    There appear to be no plans for the development of the Khe Sanh combat base at this point in time. It is apparently considered a "vestige" (historical site) by the Vietnamese government and this may preclude any development. However, on the Khe Sanh plateau in general, agriculture is prolific. The area is covered with coffee plants, all being tended to by local farmers. The eastern end, and parts of the western end of the combat base, true to the surrounding area, are planted in coffee plants. Otherwise, the area of the base itself, excluding the exposed laterite area around the museum building is overgrown by trees and elephant grass.

    The Khe Sanh plateau itself represents important potential for economic development much like the lower part of the plateau east of Khe Sanh village, which is now under major development. There is plenty of room on the overall plateau for development. This continued development would induce further residential growth and migration of people from the outlying villages and from the larger commercial areas of the region.

    Highway 9, once reconstructed, will provide reliable service to nearby Laos and distant Dong Ha in the opposite direction, and to Hue and Da Nang further south, and will provide the residents of the Khe Sanh plateau with new access to commercial trade and destinations. Sleepy Khe Sanh village, once the intense focus of two opposing armies with diametrically opposed agendas, is about to' awake to a new type of turmoil, a turmoil that promises economic prosperity for the region. While few inhabitants of Khe Sanh have funds sufficient enough to travel even to Dong Ha, in time, with the combination of the enhanced commercialization of the economic flee zone and improved road transportation, all of Vietnam will be open to the residents of the Khe Sanh Plateau.

    Gary Foster is a Vice President with Stanley Consultants, headquartered in Muscatine, Iowa. He travels often to Vietnam and currently serves as Project Principal on the rehabilitation and upgrade of National Highway No. 9 in Quang Tri Province, Vietnam. He can be reached by telephone at 

(563) 264-6305.

*****

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