VINH MOC
The village of Vinh Moc is just north of the Ben Hai River mouth along the South China Sea coast. The town was just north of the DMZ and was an important supply point for Con Co Island some 28 km offshore. Heavy American aerial and artillery bombardment starting in 1966 drove the locals underground. Following some 18 months of construction by hand, a combined military base-civilian refuge was opened in the 2.8 km of tunnels set out on three levels dropping down to some 26 meters below the ground surface. On the surface, trenches and bomb craters are still in evidence. One 'drilling bomb' scored a direct hit but luckily for tunnel inhabitants, the bomb did not explode. The resulting bomb hole was converted into an air shaft. A small museum near the tunnel entrance that visitors enter the complex through - there were 12 entrances overall - fills you in on some of the history and details of...
