Back To Vietnam As A Tourist
While I was in the Navy in the 60s I spent some time in Vietnam and I wasn’t any happier being there than the Vietnamese were happy having me there. The politics of the Vietnam war were very divisive in America at the time and brought out a lot of anti-war sentiment.
The Zippo lighter was ubiquitous in the U.S. military going back to before WWII. Almost everyone smoked and the Zippo was THE lighter. Military units bought and provided Zippo lighters with their unit emblem attached or engraved to their men.
As part of a trip to Southeast Asia my wife and I spent some time visiting Vietnam. That trip included A couple of days in Saigon (even today nobody calls it Ho Chi Minh City) and one afternoon we were shopping on Dong Khoi Street, an upscale shopping area. The area is centered on the Opera House, the Rex Hotel and the Hilton featuring a number of upscale shops.
Standing on Dong Khoi Street looking in a window of a collectables shop, we realized we were seeing dozens and dozens of American Zippo lighters being displayed. The first thought was how did they come by hundreds of U.S. military lighters from dozens and dozens of military units? The first thoughts weren’t particularly good and my wife reacted with serious concern. Initially my reaction was similar but then I thought back to those days in country. While some of that initial fear may be valid the Zippo lighters were solid, well made, reliable and pretty inexpensive, and everyone wanted them. Working with the South Vietnamese military it was an inexpensive gift that was very appreciated and we often carried a couple on us for gifts or for barter. In the months that I served, I probably gave away almost a dozen of our unit’s Zippo lighters to Vietnamese we worked with. Hopefully that was a majority what we were looking at??
Another craft in several shops was art created from 50 cal shell casings. You could find boat models, tanks and keychains and pens made from war brass.
The Intentional Travelers 