During the Vietnam War, Da Nang was a major base for both the U.S. and South Vietnamese forces. The first American combat troops landed there in 1965, and it became a hub for operations and supply. Today its beautiful beaches, including the one dubbed “China Beach” by the Americans and Australians who used it for R&R, boast resort hotels popular with tourists.
The past is somewhat easier to imagine at the former Victoria Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, known at the time as Saigon, which was used to house American officers and was attacked in 1966 by Viet Cong guerrillas. Three Americans died and the facade of the apartment building was damaged. That’s been repaired, but the faded and cracked balconies evoke memories of its past.
