Viet Nam and Cambodia
June 2005
I have always been very interested in Viet Nam and the war and all of the mess that went with this war. For years, I wanted to travel to this country but didn't because of some misguided respect for my uncle who fought in this ugly war. I didn't want to insult him and so I thought I would wait until he died before I would step on these sad grounds.
But in March 2005, my dad died suddenly and I just felt as if time was running out and now is the time to go. So I booked a tour for June, 2005. I traveled for three weeks thought Viet Nam and Cambodia. There were five other people traveling with me: two sisters form England, a married couple for Australia and a woman from New Zealand who was recently widowed.
I left on June 23rd, the day after my dad's memorial service in Philadelphia. We had a funeral in March. But now, judges from the the federal courthouse, where he was a judge, decided to hold a memorial service in his honor. The entire court house was shut down for the day and judges, lawyers, politician, friends and family paid tribute to my dad. The end of the day culminated with the unveiling of a life size portrait of him which now hangs in his courtroom. The day was magnificent and truly an honor to him and an undeserved honor for us, his children. 
I left my family and headed to the airport for my flight to Ho Chi Ming City, a bustling metropolis of taxis, motorcycles and bicycles. I met lots of people during this three weeks, all of whom were willing to share their stories of survival after the war. And what amazed me was the fact that so many of these people did not have fathers. They either never knew their fathers because he was an American soldier just passing through. Or he had been killed by us or them or someone unknown. Or, as I heard most often, "I don't know. They come and got him one night."
It was hard to soak in the joy of my father's tribute as I wandered around an entire country of fatherless adults who had no closure on the death of their fathers.
