In front of me, white sand beaches stretches as far as the eye can see. Waves are crashing against my feet, erasing my foot-prints behind me. I am walking along China Beach on Viet Nam's central coast, between the sleepy town of Hoi An, and the bustling port of Da Nang.
Over 40 years ago, this was the site where American Marines first landed in Viet Nam: Battleships docked off the coast, tanks rolling onto Vietnamese soil. My American history books label this as the Viet Nam War; In Viet Nam, it is called the American War. To the American government, the war was fought to protect liberty and democracy in the world; to the North Vietnamese, the war was fought to create an independent Viet Nam, free of Western colonization. To come to present day Viet Nam and not experience the legacy of war is impossible. Still exists are American hangers at Tan Son Nhat International Airport, the gateway to Viet Nam; Army bunkers still dot rice paddies in Central Viet Nam; children born with mental handicaps and limbs because of agent orange still exist throughout the country; children of American GIs, those with brownish hair and hazel eyes still walk through the streets, hawking their wares; craters made from bombs still exist, now used as duck ponds; and walls sprayed with bullets still stand in the Imperial City of Hue.
It is ironic that the North Vietnamese, the present day power in Viet Nam, fought long and hard to get rid of the Americans and its influences over Viet Nam, only to welcome them back with open arms 30 years later; only this time, instead of American soliders, guns, missles and artillery coming to Viet Nam, it is Nike, Ford, Hyatt, Hilton, Calvin Klein, and the list goes on. To the majority Vietnamese today, there are no hard feelings about America or Americans for that matter, rather, there is an opening of arms, a welcoming in, and a desire to put the past behind in order to step forward towards a future, with one another.
My walk along China Beach is a perfect reflection of this irony. Along this beach where the Americans first landed over 40 years ago now stand billboards advertising the newest resorts to be built within the next year. Those resorts are the Hyatt, Sheraton, Hilton and Crowne Plaza. The biggest and most recognized American names, coming back to Viet Nam and claiming a piece of this beautiful country. Just as the waves erase the footprints behind me, so too does Viet Nam try to forget about the sorrows of the past to look forward to the future.
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