Unification Palace
If you were watching the news back in 1975 you would recognize this place. Now called the Unification Palace, back then it was the Presidential Palace where the President and administrator of South Vietnam resided. in early 1975 this place featured heavily in the news around the world when the Viet Cong army in their Russian built tanks crashed through the ornate gates of the Palace to signal final victory over the south and the might of the Americans and their allies. I was just 17 at the time but visions of this dramatic moment in time have been solidly scorched into my conscious for ever. A Viet Cong commander bounded into the palace from one of the tanks to confront the resident leader of South Vietnam, who was only 42 hours in the top job after the preceding president suddenly departed with a pocket full of loot of course. ‘I’m waiting here to hand over the keys’, or something to that effect, greeted the VC commander to which he famously replied ‘you can’t give something that you never had in the first place’. And so signaled the end of the Vietnam War, or the American War as it came to be known by the Vietnamese.
Im thrilled to be here to experience first hand this very place that played such a defining moment in our history as well as Vietnam. But for me the significance doesn’t end here. One of my idols, Neil Davis, a war correspondent at the time, risked his life to remain behind in Saigon after others fled, to capture this extraordinary moment on film. He is responsible for the vision of the tanks crashing through the gates that beamed around the world. He sensed there would be no danger to himself and this time he was right. A miscalculation some time later in a minor skirmish in Thailand wound end his life. He is a hero to me.
Another visual feature of this time was the helicopters landing on the American Embassy to take stranded America personal to safety. Americans and South Vietnamese rushed to the roof top hoping to be saved and there are dramatic images of non-Americans being kicked away.
But the day starts painfully early for me. I eventually arrive at my hotel in Ho Chi Minh city (HCMC) at 2am after a 4-hour flight from Shanghai (again I miscalculated the flight time). All up, 12 hours of flying!!
After not much sleep I threw my self at the city first thing. As soon as I stepped out of the hotel entrance I was smacked in the face with that typical chaotic traffic that seems to be a trademark of big Asian cities. I love it.
angusmccoll 