I have always wanted to go to Vietnam. It's been on my bucket list for years. As a child, I only knew it as the place where the Vietnam war was happening. And that my Uncle David was there. Lt. Colonel David Hunsicker was an Air Force reconnaissance pilot. I remember being at my grandparent's house when Uncle David called from Vietnam via a Ham Radio operator. It was the first time I ever spoke on the phone to someone who wasn't in the United States.
After returning from Vietnam, Uncle David served in the Pentagon for 20 years. I even got to visit him there once when he was working for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
I've learned a lot more about Vietnam since then, but my Uncle was definitely on my mind in 2019 when I paid a visit to the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon. (I recorded a short "selfie" video about my Uncle during the visit. It is linked below.)
The museum has a number of planes and other war craft left behind after the Vietnam War. By the way, in Vietnam, the war is not called "The Vietnam War." It is either "The American War" or "The War of American Aggression." In fact, the original name of the museum was the "Exhibition House for Crimes of War and Aggression."
I looked for a reconnaissance plane, but they didn't have one. But they did have this Air Force plane on display.
If my uncle David were still alive (he passed away in 2018) he probably wouldn't recognize the Vietnam of today. It's a modern country and doesn't look like what you might expect in a Communist country. And the food is delicious. The Vietnamese will proudly tell you they have the healthiest cuisine anywhere in the world.
Notes
We taped two episodes of the TV program "Peruanos en el Mundo" during our visit. One in Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) and the other in Hanoi/Ha Long Bay. I've linked both of them below.
Dates of Travel
- September, 2019
Places Visited
- Hanoi
- Saigon (Ho Chi Mink
- Ha Long Bay
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