Vietnam History Tour - led by Tim Page

Ho Chi Minh Trail & Vietnam War Retrospective
By Award Winning Veteran Combat Photographer
Tim Page

POSTPONED TILL 2005 - Tim has been injured and therefore the trip is postponed until next year, about the same time of year.

During mid-February,award winning combat photographer Tim Page film maker Marianne Harrisa rare insider's expedition into Vietnam & Laos

Taken at the battle of the IA DRANG --- the battle made famous by
Mel Gibson's film - We Were Soldiers Once and Young,
photo by Tim Page

Along the way they will meet and interview historical figures and those who were connected with the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Among these are Ho Chi Minh's personal photographer and a number of his contemporary colleagues, officers and generals who built the Trail and soldiers who traveled down the Trail. Then meet those who actually lived on the Trail: the lowland Lao and "Lao Theung" who were literally squeezed between the titans USA & Vietnam. Local people & village headmen describe moving whole villages into nearby limestone caves to escape bombing, and ancient Pathet Lao soldiers & commanders talk of when they shot at the US planes overhead with everything from flintlock rifles to Soviet anti-aircraft pom-poms.

From Tim's book: The Mindful Moment
photo by Tim Page

The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was the longest military conflict in U.S. history. The hostilities in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia claimed the lives of many hundreds of thousands of local civilians and military. More than 58,000 American military died, and another 304,000 were wounded. The Vietnam War was a military struggle fought in Vietnam from 1959 to 1975, involving the North Vietnamese and the National Liberation Front (NLF) in conflict with United States forces and the South Vietnamese army. From 1946 until 1954, the Vietnamese had struggled for their independence from France during the First Indochina War. At the end of this war, the country was temporarily divided into North and South Vietnam.

North Vietnam came under the control of the Vietnamese Communists who had opposed France and who aimed for a unified Vietnam under Communist rule. Vietnamese who had collaborated with the French controlled the South. In 1965 the United States sent in troops to prevent the South Vietnamese government from collapsing. Ultimately, however, the United States failed to achieve its goal, and in 1975 Vietnam was reunified under Communist control; in 1976 it officially became the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. During the conflict, approximately 3 to 4 million Vietnamese on both sides were killed, in addition to another 1.5 to 2 million Lao and Cambodians who were drawn into the war.

"Hands Working" taken on the HCM Trail in Laos, and "Hippy/Tank," taken during Tet

The Ho Chi Minh Trail large number of men and materials through Laos into the U.S.-backed Republic of Vietnam. This network of footpaths, trails, and roads, became known collectively as the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Ultimately the Trail came to serve not only as a supply line, but hundreds of miles of the network also became staging areas from which attacks could be launched over huge areas in the south. At its peak in the early
1970's this complex had over 12,000 miles of access ways. American forces confronted many obstacles in their efforts to stem the flow of traffic along the trail. Most options were limited by the unremitting terrain along the trail, most of it obscured by triple-canopy jungle. This severely compromised the effectiveness of superior American air power. To boost the effectiveness of their aerial clout, the Americans created a number of special operations, or "black" units and conducted hundreds of cross-border missions in Laos. These small ground teams not only identified targets and called in air strikes but also undertook direct-action missions, battle damage assessment, and the planting of mines and sensors. The People's Army of Vietnam employed a number of effective camouflages, deception, and patrol techniques against both the air and land assault of their enemy. Hanoi also devoted substantial intelligence resources to the penetration of American operations, including the use of barmaids, drivers, and other local personnel as spies.

"Untitled" - A nun walks past body.
photo by Tim Page

As a result of these measures, the American casualty rates rapidly mounted, reaching as high as 50% by 1969. In addition to the losses, these cross-border operations never seriously impeded traffic along the Ho Chi Minh Trail system. The Trail continued to deliver 2-3 times more materiel than minimum estimated needs.

Tim Page left England at 17 to travel across Europe, the Middle East and to India and Nepal. He found himself in Laos at the time of the civil war and ended up working as a stringer for United Press International (UPI). Tim's photographic career began in Laos, where at the age of eighteen he covered the civil war for UPI. He photographed the war in Vietnam for the Associated Press, UPI, and Paris Match. He was wounded four times, the final time almost fatally. He also found time to cover the Six Day War in the Middle East in 1967. He returned to England in 1979.

The role of war-photographer suited Tim's craving for danger and excitement. He became an iconic photographer of the Vietnam War and his pictures were the visual inspiration for many films of the period. The photojournalist in 'Apocalypse Now', played by Dennis Hopper, was based on Tim.

Tim was the subject of the BBC film Mentioned in Dispatches. His search to discover the fate of his friends Sean Flynn and Dana Stone, who disappeared in Cambodia, was the subject of another film, Darkness at the Edge of Town, in 1991, more than twenty years after they vanished.

The Vietnam War was the first and last war where there was no censorship; the military actively encouraged press involvement and Page went everywhere, covering everything.

It was while he was recovering in hospital in spring 1970 that he learnt that his best friend, housemate and fellow photographer Sean Flynn, son of Hollywood actor Errol, had gone missing in Cambodia. Throughout the 70's and 80's Page's mission was to discover the fate and final resting place of his friend and to erect a memorial to all those in the media that were either killed or went missing in the war. This led him to found the Indo-China Media Memorial Foundation. With his friend Horst Faas, photo editor for Associated Press and double Pulitzer Prize winner, they co-edited the book Requiem. The book commemorated the work of all the dead and the missing war photographers from all nations, who were lost in the thirty-year struggle for liberation.

His interest and passion now is covering the aftermath of war and bringing the world's attention to the plight of the innocent victims - the bystanders. He helped start MAG (Mine Action Group) and has returned to Vietnam and Cambodia over 40 times to run photo workshops, do assignments and to photograph the maimed - who are still being injured 30 years on. Tim's return in 1994 to Cambodia led him to found the Indochina Media Memorial Foundation.

His books include Tim Page's Nam (1983), Sri Lanka (1984), Ten Years After (1987), Page after Page (1988), Derailed in Uncle Ho's Garden (1990), Mid-Term Report (1995), Requiem (1997) and The Mindful Moment (2001).