Weekend Trip to DMZ and Lao Border

This weekend we traveled with the students to the former border region between North and South Vietnam during the war and some other war-related sites in the area. The countryside up here in Quang Tri Province is beautiful, and one it is difficult now to recognize that this was one of the most heavily bombed regions of Vietnam during the whole war. One estimate says that about 3 times the total bombs dropped in Europe in WWII were dropped in Vietnam.

The reconstructed 19th century citadel at Quang Tri was the site in 1972 for a 3-month long battle for opposing sides during North Vietnam's Easer Offensive. As a result of this fighting, some 30,000 people died and North Vietnam took all of Quang Tri's territory for the duration of the war. Today there is a museum and a shrine for the unknown thousands (over one half of the total US casualties in the war) who died here in the ruins. More history pics from our trip can be seen at http://ucrss.blogspot.com.

After sightseeing around war relics, we headed to the beach for the night. The group enjoyed a very relaxing dinner at one of several shacks put up on the beach for summertime restaurants. Each shack includes a number of hammocks where patrons can swing to their heart's content. Here Scuppy enjoys here first hammock ride with her Ba.