A Gifted Historian Was Our Guide
By Mathew J. Brennan III
My name is Matthew Brennan. My son-in-law and I left for Vietnam to visit a place that
continued to exist only in my memory. Vietnam is now a thriving and vibrant nation. The war is
truly over. Our journey was blessed by the services of Mr. Vu, a wonderful guide, and a man
with an encyclopedic knowledge of Vietnamese history.
With Mr. Vu in An Lao valley
For ten days, we walked the grounds of so many battlefields, former camps, temples, palaces,
museums, churches, memorials, and monuments that I am sure to miss listing a few of them,
but I will try: Da Nang, Hue, Dong Ha, Hoai An, Quang Ngai, Qui Nhon, An Khe, Pleiku, and
Kontum.
LZ X-Ray, Ia Drang valley
We saw the imperial palace compound, the massive citadels of Quang Tri and Hue, the tombs
of two emperors, Camp Carroll, the Rock Pile (from a short distance), French fortifications, The
beautiful Lady Buddha at Monkey Mountain, the giant Buddha at Marble Mountain, and Lang
Vei Special Forces Camp, Khe Sanh, Camp Evans, Chu Lai, the Que Son Valley, LZ Ross, the
memorial at the site of the destruction of French GM 100, Dak To, the Plei Me Special Forces
Camp, and the Tea Plantation. We walked and drove stretches of the An Lao Valley and Kim Son
Valleys (Crow’s Foot), and walked parts of the X-Ray battlefield in the Ia Drang Valley.
Our trips to the places named were accompanied by power walks, Mr. Vu’s detailed maps, and
his informed commentary. It was an honor to meet a historian of such passion. Like I said, we
were blessed.
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