Two
poems for two cities: Dien Ben Phu, Viet Nam and Lo Ke, Viet Nam
Poem
for Dien Ben Phu
NEW SENTENCE NAPOLEON
His
Excellency’s Empire
Was finally ended
By the Viet Minh
At Dien Ben Phu
In 1954
Using
His Excellency's
Signature move:
Dragging cannon
Up the back slope
Of a hill
By hand.
Poem
for Lo Ke
IRON TRIANGLE
"Battlefield
Viet Nam,"
'Showdown in the Iron Triangle'
The 3rd Brigade
was
moving into
the Iron Triangle,
at
Lo Ke, South Viet Nam (3/5/66).
The Viet Cong (NLF)
Ninth
Brigade
attacked from the northwest.
Intense
us air
and artillery strikes
drove
off
the
attackers.
Two
days later,
the American
1st
Brigade
with a battalion
of
the 171st Airborne,
swept into
War
Zone D.
An entire Viet Cong
regiment
attacked the positions.
Skillfully
directed
American firepower
had
averted disaster.
Hundreds of Viet Cong
had
been killed
by artillery and air strikes.
However,
to the intense frustration
of
U.S. commanders,
after the fights,
the
Viet Cong regiments
had simply
melted
away...
Commanders were determined
to
make contact
with the enemy...
The
big battles
that the Americans
hoped
for never did materialize.
(Above:
the
view from JJ Tindall's house; way in the misty
distance (a well-chosen day for a photograph obviously),
The John Hancock Center, the world's third tallest building.)
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