Peter In Vietnam For Reunification Day
Since it’s America’s Fourth of July weekend, why not talk about my trip to Vietnam during their independence celebration?
I spent five weeks in Vietnam this spring to complete the Asian leg of my global ‘People’ photography series. I visited Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Hue, Danang, and Hanoi. I flew east from Querétaro, Mexico, to Dallas, then to Doha, and finally to Saigon on Qatar Airways.
My Vietnam visit was bookended by spending time with my son, Nick, and his friends in Saigon, and at the end of the trip in Hanoi, with my long-time Associated Press photographer friend, Richard. He was invited by the Vietnamese government to photograph the country’s April 30th Reunification Day celebrations..
A portion of my photography work related to the celebration, my “patriotic” series shot in Saigon and Hanoi, can be seen on my photography website. Go there. This is what I wrote about this series on the website.
Vietnam: Think Red
I traveled to Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, Vietnam, in April and May 2025. I hit Vietnam with my portable background and local assistants to record the essence of patriotism. My goal was to be in-country during the annual country-wide celebration of Vietnam’s Reunification Day. This holiday takes place every year on April 30th. It marks the day in 1975 when North Vietnam forces and their country-wide allies defeated the American and South Vietnamese armies to reunite as one country. It celebrates the end of what the Vietnamese call the American War and the start of a new Vietnam.
Importantly, this year was the 50th anniversary of the reunification of North and South Vietnam. It was a huge celebration, to put it mildly.
The idea of reunification is deeply personal for Vietnamese people – it is a day about freedom, unity, and healing after decades of division. As you will see, RED is the unifying color of my series. Add the yellow star, red flags everywhere, and you have a country-wide patriotic fashion statement.
My Vietnam ethnographic series adds to my portable street studio work in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Rajasthan, India; Selma, Alabama; and Venice Beach, California.
Many thanks to the many people who helped to make this Vietnam series successful. Best of all was the personal support, guidance, and assistance from the travel expert Huynh Mee of Hum Travel. She is now a good friend. If you go to Vietnam, give her a shout.
All Nice. But I had a major photo hiccup.
One of my photography plans included photographing the people who clear the thousands of land mines (the mines are still maiming children) in Quang Tri Province, which is on the old border of North and South Vietnam. Like many useful (as in human) USAID projects, it was severely broadsided by the Trump administration’s indiscriminate cancellation of all of the good works of USAID and the American people. Despite my pre-planning and on-the-ground agreement, I was told by the caring folks at PeaceTrees not to visit at that time. Their land mine funding had been cut overnight. Cool, huh?
The Vietnam War – Some Personal Thoughts & History
I have been to Vietnam twice. In each case, my fellow Americans ask me if the Vietnamese people dislike us because of our war that killed approximately 4 million people (including 58,000 Americans). The simple answer to this question is no. The Vietnamese have moved on.
It should be noted that the Vietnamese also beat the French army, whose occupation lasted roughly 67 years, from 1887 to 1954. The only good that came from the French occupation is the quality of the baguettes used in today’s famous bánh mì sandwich.
Back to the USA. Vietnam’s 50th anniversary should remind y’all that the American armed forces lost the war.
History shows that the American people were duped by their government into going to war. Don’t take my word for it… Robert McNamara, the war’s chief architect, served as Secretary of Defense under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, from 1961 to 1968. In McNamara’s memoir, In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam, he said that the Vietnam War was a mistake and that he knew it all along. Allow me to repeat: the war’s architect knew it all along.
A rather costly “mistake” in lives lost. A war that President Nixon continued for another 7 years.
Side note on American Power.
I rarely agree with Marjorie Taylor Greene, Steve Bannon, and Tucker Carlson. But, but…They think American war mongering, especially in the Middle East, is a tragedy. I agree.
That said, the United States government appears to love war. This war-love continues even though we are way better at losing than winning.
Peter, what do you mean we lose?
After the Vietnam debacle, we failed again in Iraq.
We also failed in Afghanistan.
Three failures. What was the total cost in dollars of the Vietnam, Iraq, and Taliban wars? Hard to tell. However, using some available data for directional purposes, let’s go with $7,000,000,000,000 – YO, that’s trillions. How many lives were lost? Incalculable.
Oh, back to Vietnam…. I preferred the Pho in Saigon to the bowls in Hanoi.
— I shot more than just the Red series. Two more traditional photos are below. The Vietnamese people are wonderful.
