Robert Plumb returned to Vietnam in March 2018 after an absence of 50 years (returning on the exact month and day that he left the country in 1968). The Navy veteran and his wife explored the country from Hanoi to Saigon during the course of two weeks. Their stops covered the breadth and scope of Vietnam's geography from north to south: Hanoi, Ha Long Bay, Danang, Hoi An, Hue, Can Tho and Saigon (aka Ho Chi Minh City.) They came away with the impression of an ascending Vietnam, united after decades of conflict, encouraging foreign investment and eager to attract American tourists. The obvious focus in today's Vietnam is not its war-torn past but on the future that is driven by technology and economic growth.
After 50 years, a veteran returns to Vietnam
July 23, 2018
About the author:
Lt. Robert Plumb served as an officer-in-charge of a Swift Boat in Vietnam from March 1967 to March 1968. He and his crew completed over 100 combat patrols operating out of Cat Lo, Vietnam as part of Coastal Division 13. They patrolled the coast along the Mekong Delta from Point Ka Ga in the north to Nam Can in the south. Following his service in Vietnam, Plumb returned to the U.S. and, after receiving a graduate degree, worked for General Electric and then Fannie Mae for a total of 35 years. After retiring from Fannie Mae in 2005, he wrote two books on the American Civil War. (Your Brother in Arms, published by the University of Missouri Press in 2011, and The Better Angels to be published by Potomac Books – University of Nebraska Press in 2019.) He has been a member of American Legion Post 78 in Ridgefield, Conn., for over 30 years.
