As we ride from Phong Nha towards Hue we see a sign for a town called Khe Sanh on route. Not thinking too much about it, the sign prompts Eddie to hum the Cold Chisel rock anthem Khe Sanh to himself as he rides along. As we approach the town, it isn’t until we pass a sign for a military base that Eddie begins to wonder if the anthem is about this very town… it turns out it is! Arriving in Khe Sanh in the evening, we decide to get some rest and stay in the town an extra day to explore.

The following morning we jump on our bikes and visit the infamous military base where we pay VN $40,000 each to enter (less than US $2). Upon entry there are a couple of locals with war time trinkets for sale – items such as used bullet shells, dog tags, medals etc. which were left behind on the site. It’s not really appealing to us, giving us a bit too much of a morbid keepsake vibe, so it’s a polite decline and we walk on.

We walk up a central path which leads to a large white building on stilts, so we climb up some stairs and enter to find a small exhibition of photos and memorabilia. The photos and commentary bring the reality of what happened at this abandoned base to life. Perhaps the comments are accurate but as we move through it’s occasionally bordering on a little distasteful North Vietnamese propaganda – for example one comment underneath a U.S. bunker photo reads ‘U.S. Soldiers in bunkers, scared of their own shadows’ while North Vietnamese photo comments read ‘strong Vietnamese men winning the war’. Never-the-less as we read we navigate through to find out the facts and a very brief summary is below:

Basic Khe Sanh Timeline

• The timeline of events begins in 1962 when the U.S. military presence arrives. It’s a small base located just 14 km south of the DMZ (demilitarised zone) between north/south Vietnam boarder and just 10 km from the Loas boarder.
• It’s late in 1967 that the North Vietnamese army gain strength and the U.S. suspect an attack may occur on their base.
• In January 1968 the suspicion turns to reality and the battle of Khe Sahn begins.
• The massive assault on the base lasts for 77 days and is one of the longest and bloodiest battles in the war.
• The battle takes the full attention of the U.S. Army and their South Vietnamese allies, looking back historians believe this battle was a diversionary tactic because while this battle takes place the North Vietnamese army and Viet Cong forces launched the Tet Offensive; a series of surprise attacks throughout South Vietnam.

We leave the exhibition and then walk around the old base where we can walk up to two tanks, a helicopter and a large aeroplane filled with bullet holes, that were abandoned by the U.S. Army. We see abandoned missiles and various parts of destroyed artillery arranged into sculptures. We then walk along the old overgrown runway and can enter the old barracks and walk through the maze of bunkers.

The base itself is significant to the outcome of the Vietnam war and seeing the photographs, war trinkets and walking through the bunkers is a stirring experience – it’s not a manicured tourist spot but it is authentic. When we visited it was a scorching hot day and we couldn’t imagine the extremities of the environment during the battle.