We traveled along
on Highway 1
Singing songs
chewing gum.
From Hue to Quang Tri
Bien Hoa too.
Everywhere we went
saw something new.
Vills and hootches
a pagoda or two.
So far from home
so lonely, so blue.
Young kids were we
sitting in those trucks.
Each one wondering
how fate would place his luck.
We endured the dust
took in the sights.
A Vietnam so beautiful
yet somehow not right.
The convoy stretched forever
seemingly for miles.
We sat packed together
laughed and smiled.
Never saw the mine
placed in the road.
The world exploded
fast as a shift in the load.
Men screamed out in agony
as metal tore through their clothes.
Bodies flew up and out
'Medic, ' a constant shout.
Never saw the gook
who placed the mine.
Only the blood
pouring like wine.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
Larry, I just read this poem for the first time. I remember Highway one, Was on it a few times riding from Phu-Bai to Hue. I have heard there is now a 4 lane expressway that goes from Danang to Hue. Also that most of the concrete STAR bunkers are still in place where my unit at Phu-Bai had been. I rate a 10