Onto the Military Cave

Ho Chi Min was quite a clever fellow. In 1962 he was convinced that it was only a matter of time before America invaded in full force. He ordered the construction of various caves in the mountains. We visited one which even had a cinema and swimming pool! Of course it was only for top ranking officals of course, so they could recover. He was commander of the artillary forces on Cat Ba, which placed artillery on top of the mountain. The US stopped bombing this area after it lost 5 planes in quick succession.

One of the nicest moment of the trip was when this very nice old man began singing in the cave, a song that he song during the war. With the acoustics it really was hair raising. We recorded it on video which was cool.

On a visite une grotte qui avait ete amenagee pour que les colonels vietnamiens viennent s'y reposer en toute securite pendant la guerre. La grotte etait equipee d'une piscine, d une salle de cinema...Notre guide, un veterand, etait bien sympa. Il nous a explique comment il a descendu 5 avions americains qui venaient attaquer la grotte. Il a chante une tres belle chanson vietnamienne, qu il chantait pour remonter le moral des soldars, il avait une voix magnifique....