U.S. Tourists in Vietnam Find Welcome Mat Is Out for Them

The first U.S. tourists to visit Vietnam since the end of the war, including several veterans, predicted recently that Americans soon would be visiting battlefields and tropical beaches there.

“The one message we got from the Vietnamese was: ‘We have an open door to America,’ ” said Bob Mulholland from Chico, Calif., one of eight Americans on what is believed to be the first U.S. group tour to Vietnam since the war ended a decade ago.

The tour organizer, Greg Kane of Westbury, N.Y., said his discussions with senior Vietnamese tourism and Foreign Ministry officials indicated that Hanoi would allow similar tours next year.

“It was an experimental trip. The Vietnamese wanted to see if it would work,” Kane said. “I don’t have an absolute commitment from them now but they were very, very upbeat. They just thought it was great.”

Kane said if approval is granted, he would like to take in about 300 American tourists in 1986, with most of them likely to be among the 2.7 million veterans of the war.

The first group, which went to Bangkok from Vietnam, included five Vietnam war veterans.

Joseph Bangert, a U.S. Marine helicopter gunner during the war, said that during the trip he met a former North Vietnamese soldier who had fought in the same battles at about the same time.

Still Speaks Vietnamese

Bangert, of Brewster, Mass., served in the northern sector of South Vietnam between 1968 and 1969 and still speaks Vietnamese.

“The man invited me to his house and we had a few beers together,” Bangert said. “He showed me a scar on his arm, smiled and said: ‘I got this from the Marines.’ ”

Brian Austin of Albany, N.Y., ran more than 30 convoys through the dangerous Hai Vanh pass in central Vietnam and was wounded twice. This time, he drove through the pass in an air conditioned minibus on the way to the old Imperial capital of Hue.

There, the group extracted M-16 rifle bullets and shrapnel from M-79 grenades from Hue’s old palaces, relics of fierce fighting during the Communists’ 1968 Tet offensive.

Memorable Moments

Some members of the group said the most memorable moments were conversations with ordinary Vietnamese and discovery of apparently warm feelings toward Americans.

Kane said the group visited Hanoi, Haiphong, Da Nang, Hue, Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), the seaside resort of Vung Tau and a number of other sites. The cost of the trip, including airfare to and from the United States, was $2,953 per person.