Draft itinerary and costs for 50th anniversary program in Indochina

(revised 10/14/24)

Below is the current version of the itinerary of the program the Fund for Reconciliation and Development (FRD) will organize in Viet Nam hosted by the Viet Nam - USA Society (VUS) for people who participated in the antiwar movement, worked on normalization of relations, or have addressed war legacies, including family members and friends.  Persons with a professional or collegial interest are also welcome.  There is personal flexibility at the beginning and the end, including the option to add a visit to Cambodia and Laos.

Participants will be responsible for international travel and for domestic costs of a fifteen day guided program in Viet Nam .  The estimated domestic cost for sharing a room in a group of 20 is $2,800 each.   A single room is $3,300.  Costs will be adjusted by number of participants.  Payment is in cash (USD or Vietnamese dong) on April 15th in Ha Noi. 

Breakfast, lunch and two dinners are included.  All other dinners are on our own.  FRD/VUS will suggest locations and often will invite guests.  Participation in group meals will be at an equal share cost.  Some menus will be pre-set and others a la carte.  

The maximum size group is 25.  Inclusion is by order of registration and payment of administrative contribution of $200.  If numbers dictate, additional groups will be created and adjustments may be made to the itinerary.

For planning purposes, expressions of individual, family and organizational interest are appreciated as soon as convenient.  No committment is required prior to January 5, 2025.  Write to jmcauliff@ffrd.org

If you are ready to commit, please complete a registration form and donate for FRD organizing costs at least $200 per person.  We are facilitating this trip but are not a travel agent or tour operator.  FRD is not legally liable for trip cancellation, transit or in-country illness or accidents.  We strongly recommend obtaining travel insurance when you book your flight.  International flight costs are usually less expensive if booked sooner.  Transit destinations include Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Korea, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and the Phillipines.

Registration forms are available by clicking here  https://form.jotform.com/73274097780970  The deadline for receipt with administrative support contribution and a copy of passport page is January 5, 2025.

FRD is ready to assist local and national peace organizations that wish to schedule their own autonomous program in cooperation with the Viet Nam - USA Society under the 50th Anniversary umbrella.

 

Proposed itinerary of FRD’s delegation to visit Viet Nam

From 15  April - 1 May, 2025

 

 

Sunday, April 13-15, 2025:     

Arrive in Noi Bai Airport

[option for jet lag recovery pre-program tourism April 13-14:  overnight in Ha Long Bay/ Ninh Binh/ visit to pottery village, etc. to be arranged by VUS on request] 

 

Tuesday April 15, 2025: HA NOI

arrivals for program

08:00pm  orientation meeting at hotel

Wednesday, April 16, 2025: HA NOI

08:00am       Visit Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, his House and Museum, Literature Temple

02:00pm      Visit Ethnology Museum, Hoa Lo Prison

06:30pm      Water Puppet Show

07:30pm       Welcoming dinner with VUS/VUFO

 

Thursday, April 17, 2025: HA NOI

08:30am       Presentation “Viet Nam: 40 years of Construction and Development” by

                     President of the Viet Nam Union of Friendship Organizations

10:00am       Meeting with current officials on US-Viet Nam relations

02:30pm      Visit Women’s Museum

04:00pm    Conversations with retirees from the war and pre-normalization era (with option to continue the conversation over bia hoi or dinner)

 

Friday, April 18, 2025: HA NOI

09:00am       Visit Garco 10 equitized garment factory 

     

11:15am       Meet with US Embassy

03:00pm      Meet with American business community

 

Saturday, April 19, 2025: HA NOI - TUYEN QUANG – HA NOI

08:00am       Travel by bus to Tuyen Quang

Visit Tan Trao where OSS assisted Ho Chi Minh 

04:00pm      Travel back to Ha Noi

 

Sunday, April 20, 2025: HUE

08:00am       Check out of Hotel.

Flight to Hue. Check in Hotel

02:00pm      Visit Khai Dinh Tomb & Hat Village

 

 

Monday, April 21, 2025:

08:00am       Visit Thien Mu Pagoda & Hue Imperial Citadel

02:00pm      Meeting with VUFO of Thua Thien Hue province

03:00 pm     Visit Hue National University

 

Tuesday, April 22, 2025: QUANG TRI 

08:00am       Check out of hotel.

Leave Hue for Quang Tri by bus

11:00am       Visit war legacies (land mines, UXO)

03:00pm      Meet with VUFO of Quang Tri province

Check in Hotel

 

Wednesday, April 23, 2025: QUANG TRI - DA NANG

                    Check out of hotel

08:00am       Leave Quang Tri for Da Nang by bus

02:30pm      Meet with VUFO of Da Nang city

04:00pm      Visit Da Nang Center Supporting for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin

                     Check in hotel in Da Nang or Hoi An

 

Thursday, April 24, 2025: DA NANG

08:00am       Visit Cham Museum

                     Lunch on own, free time at market

02:30pm      Visit East Sea Museum

04:00pm      Meeting at Dong A (private) University

                     Dinner with Da Nang People’s Committee to discuss economic and social

changes since 1975 and Doi Moi.

 

Friday, April 25, 2025: DA NANG - MY LAI - HOI AN

07:30am       Travel by bus to My Lai, Quang Ngai by bus

Visit Son My Village - war legacies (mass atrocity) in Quang Ngai 

Afternoon    Leave Quang Ngai for Hoi An.  Return to hotel

 

Saturday, April 26, 2025: HOI AN / DA NANG – CON DAO*

07:00am       Check out of hotel. Travel to Da Nang Airport

10:10am       Flight to HCMC. Arrive in Tan Son Nhat Airport

Transit to fly to Con Dao (Luggage checked through to Con Dao)

Check in Hotel, enjoy the beach, volunteer for turtle protection

 

Sunday, April 27, 2025:  CON DAO - HO CHI MINH CITY

Morning       Check out of hotel. Leave luggage at hotel

Learn Con Dao history, East Sea issues / Visit Tiger Cage Museum

Drop by hotel to pick up luggage.

                    Travel to Con Dao Airport

03:45pm      Flight to HCMC. Arrive in Ho Chi Minh city. Check in Hotel

 

Monday, April 28, 2025:   HO CHI MINH CITY

08:30am       Visit Reunification Hall & War Remnants Museum

02:30pm      Meetings with current and retired officials & Con Son prisoners

Tuesday, April 29, 2025: HO CHI MINH CITY – BEN TRE

08:00am       Travel to Ben Tre province and Luong Quoi Coconut Factory  

01:00pm      Lunch with business community; drive through of export processing zone

04:30pm      Meet with US Consulate

 

Wednesday, April 30, 2025: HO CHI MINH CITY

07:00am       Participate State/official events (parade and celebration)

Thursday, May 01, 2025: HO CHI MINH CITY Options

                     

                     1)  Depart Viet Nam for home or other countries, or

                     2)  Shopping/personal activities, or

                     3)  Cu Chi tunnels/Cao Dai Temple

 

Friday, May 02, 2025:  

.         Depart for home, Cambodia or other countries

Optional additions

Friday, May 2, 2025:  HCMC- Phnom Penh  Limo Minivan $35

Saturday, May 3, 2025 - fly to Siem Reap / Angkor Wat  10 a.m.

Sunday, May 4, 2025 -  fly to Phnom Penh  7:30 p.m.  

Monday, May 5, 2025 -  Tuol Sleng KR prison, meetings

Tuesday, May 6 -- Choeung Ek burial ground, meetings

Wednesday, May 7, 2025 -  Museum of Culture, free time, fly home or to Vientiane, 5:45 p.m.  $208

Thursday - Friday, May 8 - 9,  2025  Vientiane  meetings, market, etc.

Saturday - May 10, 2025   Depart to Bangkok or Ha Noi for flights home or private excursion (Mekong lodge, Luang Prabang, Xien Quang Plain of Jars)

If you are potentially interested in participating, please send a note to jmcauliff@ffrd.org to receive updates.

Registration forms are available by clicking here https://form.jotform.com/73274097780970  

The deadline for receipt with administrative support contribution and a copy of passport page is January 5, 2025. 

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*  https://vietnamnet.vn/en/visitors-flock-to-con-dao-to-participate-in-sea-turtle-conservation-2327259.html

The history of Con Dao is as turbulent as it is transformative. Once known for its infamous prison system during French colonial rule and later the American presence in Vietnam, Con Dao witnessed the suffering and resilience of thousands of prisoners who were confined on its shores. These prisons have now become places of pilgrimage and remembrance, a somber reminder of the past that shapes the collective memory of the nation.

In a remarkable twist of fate, the very isolation that once made Con Dao an ideal location for a penal colony has today turned it into a sanctuary for biodiversity. The islands have been reborn as a national park, with efforts to preserve their pristine nature and protect the rare species that call it home. Con Dao’s transformation from a place of confinement to a bastion of environmental conservation highlights its unique position in Vietnam’s narrative—a story of redemption and natural splendor that now defines this tranquil tourist destination.

https://asiapioneertravel.com/blog/con-dao/

"U S Navy challenges Vietnamese claims to seas around resort island in South China Sea" 

By CAITLIN DOORNBOS STARS AND STRIPES • December 28, 2020

https://www.stripes.com/theaters/asia_pacific/navy-challenges-vietnamese-claims-to-seas-around-resort-island-in-south-china-sea-1.656609

***********************************

Former Secretary of State and Vietnam Veteran activist John Kerry

"Anniversaries have a value, not in and of themselves, but what they can actually produce. Anniversaries can often be action-oriented events, forcing moments of redefining or improving or readjusting a relationship between countries,” said Secretary Kerry. “So as someone who invested many years in finally making peace, I hope you won't mind if I suggest something unconventional for next year. Next year let's mark those two anniversaries not by looking back, but by making sure that we are looking forward. Ending the war and making peace two decades later were never ends in themselves, they were hard fought openings to put the bitterness behind us and to work together as countries.”

at the Asia Society https://vnpeacecomm.blogspot.com/2024/10/asia-society-hostsviet-nams-president.html

Grass Roots Education by IMEP

The Indochina Mobile Education Project

Education and Activism at the Grass Roots

Tuesday, July 23, 2024   

Click here to view youtube recording  https://youtu.be/89rcAyJzgJw

The Indochina Mobile Education Project (IMEP) played a key role in educating people in communities throughout America about war damages and the human impacts of the U.S. military intervention in Vietnam and Laos. Its other purpose was to highlight an estimated 200,000 political prisoners held by the U.S. funded Saigon regime and to encourage letters to Congress.

From the fall of 1971 through 1976 following the end of the war, IMEP toured the country with large photo exhibits, films, slide shows and educational materials designed to help citizens understand the toll of the war.  Two people who had experienced the war as soldiers, humanitarian agency volunteers or journalists traveled with each exhibit visiting hundreds of communities in every state making thousands of presentations to churches and synagogues, civic organizations, schools and fraternal groups like Lions and Kiwanis Clubs.  At each stop, IMEP introduced audiences to Vietnamese food and music.  People were encouraged to reach out to their elected officials to call for the end of U.S. military aid and Saigon's repressive government. 

Ambassador Graham Martin reported to Congress  in 1976 that the indochina Resource Center and the Indochina Mobile Education Project had carried. on "one of the best propoganda and pressure campaigns the world has ever seen".

This webinar will feature people who traveled the country as IMEP organizers and tour speakers as well as local exhibit hosts in Colorado, Missouri and Massachusetts.

• Brewster Rhoads, Moderator, Massachusetts host for IMEP team
• Willi Meyers, Professor Emeritus, University of Missouri
• Sally Benson, national staff, IMEP
• Jacqui Chagnon, traveling speaker, IMEP
• Bob Chenoweth, former POW; traveling speaker, IMEP
• Judy Danielson, Colorado host for IMEP team

Sally Benson began her work with Ecumenical Voluntary Services on Ishigaki Island in the Okinawa Ryukyus in the summer 1961  She taught English in Tai Tung Middle School in Hong Kong 1963-64 and at the National Institute of Administration in Saigon with International Voluntary Services1967-1968.  She was a staff member of International Student House in Washington 1970-1973 and of the Indochina Mobile Education Project 1973-1976.

From 1975 to 1977 she was part of Mid-Atlantic Clergy and Laity Concerned's  "RRR" focus on diplomatic relations,  reconciliation, and reconstruction with Viet Nam. 

Sally worked with the  Asia Resource Center and was involved with organizing the Asia Pacific Center for Justice and Peace, and the Campaign to Oppose the Return of the Khmer Rouge.

Dick Berliner, John Schafer, Bob Minnich, Steve Nichols and Sally bought an old house in the wake of the Washington DC MLK Riots.  It became home for some IVSers returning home and for activists involved in trying to stop the American war in Southeast Asia It was a guest house for early delegations visiting from Vietnam

For over 20 years Sally and Steven Nichols with others have managed a foundation to help fund post conflict reconciliation and Agent Orange, UXO and environment related programs mostly in Asia.

Robert Chenoweth was born in Portland, Oregon and grew up both in Eugene and Portland.  He enlisted in the Army in June 1966 and was trained as a UH-1 helicopter crew chief.  He was sent to VN in January 1967 flying combat and combat support missions for the rest of the year.  His unit was based at Tan Son Nhut Army Heliport adjacent to the sprawling Air Force base.  He extended his tour for six months and after  leave came back to Viet Nam on January 22, 1968.  He was based at Qui Nhon and involved in fighting around the airfield and in the air.

Bob was shot down and captured February 8, 1968 during the Tet offensive.   He was released March 15, 1973 as part of the Paris Agreement on returning POWs and political prisoners. On return to the US, he and other POWs were charged with aiding the enemy because of statements they had made as prisoners.   Bob writes, "We raised our voices with the millions of Americans who were also protesting the war.  We just learned what was going on based on our military experiences and what we learned in captivity."

After release from the Army in July, 1973 he was contacted by the Indochina Peace Campaign and traveled with Tom Hayden, Jane Fonda, Jean Pierre Debris, Holly Near and Jeff Langley.  He also traveled for a couple weeks with Jacqui Chagnon and Roger Rumpf of the IMEP around the border area with Oregon and California.  About a year later Dave Davis asked Bob to travel with IMEP.  He was a film maker ("Year of the Tiger") who had been to Vietnam in 1973.  He did not have much experience with Vietnamese cooking, etc.  So I went with him in Pennsylvania, upstate New York, and Ohio.  I ended up meeting my wife in Cleveland.

Bob moved to Cleveland and continued with college that he had started in Berkeley.  He moved to Washington DC in 1975, worked at the Institute for Policy Studies and finished a degree in Anthropology.  He went to work at the National Air and Space Museum after school.  He'd worked part time at Natural History and developed an interest in museum work.  He went to work for the Naval History Center but was denied a clearance so worked as a civil engineering draftsman for several companies in the Northern Virginia, DC, Maryland area before moving to Hawaii in 1983.  He worked alot with the American Friends Servic Committee in Manoa, having gotten to know everyone when he came on an AFSC speaking tour  organized by Ian Lind.

Bob worked from 1984 to 1990 as museum technician at the US Army Museum of Hawaii then went to work as Curator of the USS Arizona Memorial with the National Park Service.  In 1992 he moved to Deer Lodge Montana to be curator of Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historical Park.  In 1995 he moved down the road to Nez Perce National Historical Park, near Lewiston, Idaho, on the Nez Perce Indian Reservation.  He stayed in that position until he retired in 2017.  

Bob lives in Moscow, Idaho, has two adult sons, both married, and mostly play music, build models, read and mess with gardening.

He has been back to Viet Nam several times since 2013.  He donated all of his POW clothing and items to the Hoa Loa museum and attended events marking the end of the war as well as the American Dien Bien Phu.  He has spent wonderful time with Lady  Borton and Chi Mai whoworked with Jane Barton, at. al. in Quang Ngai. 

Judy Danielson  was a physical therapist with Vietnam Christian Service from 1968 to 1970, teaching and working in the Saigon Rehabilitation Center for injured civilians, largely amputees and children with polio. She was on Denver staff of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) from 1973-1980 organizing against the war and co-led a campaign to close the local nuclear weapons plant with Pam Solo, which led to the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign.  Judy worked with AFSC's rehabitation project in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 1985-86,  and continued as a physical therapist in Denver until retirement in 2016.  She is currently with a campaign for a non-profit universal health insurance plan for Colorado and with the Colorado Advocacy Team of the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), lobbying against war funding.  She and her spouse Eric Wright, who worked in Quang Ngai with AFSC 1967-70, have 2 daughters and 3 grandsons nearby.

William H. (Willi) Meyers  Mennonite Concientious Objecter and agriculture volunteer with International Voluntary Services in Vietnam 1963 - 65 and in IVS Washington 1965-66 as Recruitment Officer. He resigned in protest of US Vietnam policy in September 1967 and worked with Don Luce and Gene Stoltzfus to establish the Vietnam Education Project with the United Methodist Church and the Friends Committee on National Legislation.

Professor Emeritus of Agricultural and Applied Economics at University of Missouri and formerly Co-Director of FAPRI and Director of CAFNR International Programs. Areas of teaching and research have been trade, agricultural and rural policy, food security, transition economics, and EU policies and institutions. He is also Professor Emeritus of Economics at Iowa State University and Adjunct Professor at School of Economics, Management and Statistics, University of Bologna. Other professional positions have been at USDA, World Bank, FAO, Christian Albrechts University-Kiel, and Open University of Catalonia. He earned a BA in Mathematics at Goshen College, MS in Agricultural Economics at University of the Philippines Los Banos and PhD in Agricultural Economics at University of Minnesota. He authored numerous publications on trade, agricultural and rural policy, commodity market analysis, food security and transition economics, including agricultural and rural policy studies on Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Hungary and Ukraine after they regained independence. He is co-editor of the “Transition to Agricultural Market Economies: The Future of Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine” by CAB International (2015) and “Handbook on International Food and Agricultural Policies”, World Scientific Press (2017) which includes a Vietnam chapter, “Agricultural and Rural Policies in Vietnam” by Pham Van Hung and Pham Bao Duong, colleagues from Viet Nam. 

Brewster Rhoads, a native of Philadelphia, PA, was active in the anti-war movement as a student at Williams College and as an organizer for the Coalition to Stop Funding the War in Washington, DC.  He hosted the Indochina Mobile Education Project for a week at Williams College in 1974.

Brewster was a VISTA volunteer in Western Massachusetts, Director of the Washington-based Coalition for a New Foreign Policy, Director of the Green Umbrella environmental sustainability alliance in Cincinnati and the SW Ohio Regional Director for Ohio Governors Dick Celeste and Ted Strickland.  He managed over 150 issue and candidate campaigns in SW Ohio.

Brewster is currently the Chair of the Board of the Ohio River Way, Inc., a nonprofit working to promote outdoor recreation opportunities on and along the Ohio River from Portsmouth, OH to Louisville, KY.

He also serves on the boards of Adventure Crew, the Mill Creek Alliance, the Ohio Environmental Council Action Fund and Innovation Ohio.

An avid kayaker and cyclist, he is the founder and chair of the Ohio River Paddlefest, now the largest paddling event in the U.S.

Brewster lives in the Mt. Washington neighborhood of Cincinnati with his wife Ann Lugbill, a whistleblower attorney. His daughters Elizabeth and Caroline live and teach in Lund, Sweden and Berlin, Germany respectively.

brewohio@gmail.com

Resources

2011 Yen Hoang Vu, “An Evaluation of Technical Efficiency of Small Farm Households in Chuong My District, Ha Tay Province, Vietnam” M.S. Thesis, University of Missouri.

2014 Hoa Hoang, “Three Essays on Rice Markets and Policies in Southeast Asia with a focus on Rice Consumption Patterns in Vietnam”,  Ph.D. dissertation, University of Missouri

2015 Hoang, H. K. and Meyers. W.H.  Price Stabilization and impacts of trade liberalization in the Southeast Asian rice market. Food Policy 57:26-39.