The Tunnels of Cu Chi

A book that I have been working away on for quite some time is a historical accounting of the underground tunnels that were in Vietnam during the Vietnamese War called The Tunnels of Cu Chi… part of my interest in it lies down a rabbit trail, but suffice it to say that, as many Americans, I have been intrigued by different aspects of the Vietnamese war… this book tells stories on both sides of the conflict between the United States and the Viet Cong… there are amazing stories about how the Viet Cong lived and succeeded against the most powerful war machine in the world through ingenuity, subterfuge, and a nitty-gritty desire to not lose their lands… the other side of the story is the development of the Tunnel Rats… American soldiers that went into the war for a variety of reasons, but eventually found their niche and, for many of them, their purpose in the depths of the earth… neither side has a story that is your typical story of war glory, but both of them carve out their place in history in 200 miles of underground tunnels in the area of Cu Chi… Most of the Americans only entered the tunnels with a knife, a pistol and a flashlight, but often did not leave the tunnels with their lives… the Viet Cong give accounts of children being born underground, marriages being performed, burying entire American tanks under the earth, building meeting halls and dirt 'auditoriums' for entertainment, as well as extensive hospitals… this book was written in 1985, so I am sure that more has been revealed in the last twenty years that was not know then… nevertheless, it is an amazing story that may never be repeated in any war… not a long book, and worth the read…