Mike Clatterbuck

May 3, 2016
                                                          Return To Cua Viet

     In April of last year, I took a one-month trip to Vietnam and spent a day visiting Cua Viet, where I was based from July of 1968 through May of 1969,  as a member of the 1st Searchlight Battery assigned to the LCPL Division.  To get to Cua Viet, I traveled by car from Hue up Route 1 to Dong Ha, where I had a reservation at the Saigon - Dong Ha Hotel.  As my car approached the hotel, the first thing that caught my attention was a massive statue honoring Le Duan, who became the paramount leader of Vietnam after Ho Chi Minh died in 1969.

 

     When I arrived at the hotel, I was surprised to find that it was situated just next to the Dong Ha bridge on part of what used to be the Dong Ha LCU ramp.

      From the top floor of the hotel, looking northeast, you can see the Cua Viet river and the hotel swimming pool, which is where the ramp used to be. 

 

     After checking in to the hotel, I walked down to the river to find a sampan driver who would take me to Cua Viet and back. We agreed on a price of two dollars and then headed to the local “gas station” for a fill-up before beginning our trip.

      The 8-mile trip from the Dong Ha bridge to the mouth of the Cua Viet river took a little over one hour. The sights along the way were pretty much the same as I had remembered them to be. However, significant changes were apparent in Cua Viet harbor.

     Where LCPL’s, PBR’s and other US vessels used to dock, there are now armed Vietnam Coast Guard cutters.
 

     There are also a number of relatively large fishing boats that spend 3 to 4 days at a time fishing in the South China Sea and bringing back large catches in refrigerated holds.

The piers are used for a number of activities that range from drying cuttlefish to taking romantic wedding photos! (In the background is a new bridge that spans the Cua Viet river.)

 

      Remembering the beautiful sunsets at Cua Viet, I decided to wait until dusk before heading back

to Dong Ha. By the time we were halfway to Dong Ha, we were traveling in darkness. That’s when all kinds of memories, both good and bad, started flooding back!