A noodle shop's role in the Vietnam War

[unhappycamper]

Nguyen Kim Bach, 70, a member of the secret F100 Viet Cong cell that from 1965 to 1968 planned and helped carry out Saigon's part of the January 1968 Tet offensive, is pictured in front of the Pho Binh noodle shop where the plotters met.


A noodle shop's role in the Vietnam War
By Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times
Stars and Stripes online edition, Monday, May 10, 2010

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — For decades now, the Pho Binh noodle cafe, tucked behind a tangle of parked motorcycles on Ly Chinh Thang Street, has served its trademark dish — "peace noodles."

A survivor of Ho Chi Minh City's relentless real estate makeover, the seven-table eatery ladles out bowl after steaming bowl of the soup, made with strips of beef and piles of rice noodles, fresh basil and cilantro. Many of the appreciative customers are unaware of the very unpeaceful plot that unfolded long ago in the family rooms upstairs.

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Nguyen, 70, is one of the last living members of the secret F100 Viet Cong cell that planned and helped carry out Saigon's part in the January 1968 Tet offensive, using the noodle shop as their base.

The surprise attack on targets in the South Vietnam capital failed militarily. So, too, did the broader offensive by North Vietnam against more than 100 U.S.-supported cities and military targets in the south.

But it proved a political turning point, convincing millions of Americans watching reports on TV that the war couldn't be won. "We were beaten that day," Nguyen said. "But after that, the Americans started negotiating."



unhappycamper comment: We soldiers knew it all along. And this is the reason we do not see any of the carnage in Iraq and Afghanistan on the idiot box.