Seabees rebuilding old Route 1 between Phu Loc and Hue fight a constant tug-of-war with the Viet Cong who attempt to destroy at night what the Seabees have built during the day on June 30, 1968. (Andrew Headland Jr./Stars and Stripes)
This article appeared in the Stars and Stripes Pacific edition, June 30, 1968. It is republished unedited in its original form.
In the midst of war Army, Navy and other American military engineers are building roads for peace in Vietnam.
It’s a dirty, frustrating job with bridges sometimes being blown up by the enemy almost as soon as completed. But prospects are that long after the fighting is only an unpleasant memory commerce will be flowing over highways which are now dedicated largely to the exigencies of war.
The combined construction skills of hundreds of men and vast quantities of earth-moving equipment are being utilized in the effort to build highways as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Ambushes, mines and mortar attacks are among hazards faced daily by crews who push the roads through despite enemy opposition, just as pioneers did in the Wild West.
Much of the construction effort centers on rebuilding sections of old Route 1, the chief artery connecting Saigon with Hue, far to the north. A good deal of this road, which was originally built during the French occupation and stretches for hundreds of miles across the country, is in poor condition from lack of maintenance.
Some portions go under water during heavy rains. Builders say that eventually the entire highway may be upgraded, widened to an average width of about 32 feet, hard-surfaced and be capable of carrying great volumes of traffic between Saigon and the DMZ at 50-mile an hour speeds.
Seabees rebuilding old Route 1 between Phu Loc and Hue fight a constant tug-of-war with the Viet Cong who attempt to destroy at night what the Seabees have built during the day on June 30, 1968. (Andrew Headland Jr./Stars and Stripes)
Work being done by two battalions of Seabees under the 32d Naval Construction Regt. on a single 20-mile stretch of Route 1 between Phu Loc and Hue illustrates some typical building problems involved.
“It’s piecemeal road building,” said Equipment Chief Operator Fred McDaniel, Mobile Construction Bn. 133. “Roads must be kept open for traffic during the day and closed at night because Charlie shoots at you and sets mine charges.”
McDaniel pointed out that while roads are swept daily to remove mines that may have been inserted at night some types of explosives, such as those made of plastic materials, are difficult to detect.
Three water buffalo near Phu Loc recently paid the supreme penalty for stepping on a mine the Viet Cong had intended for Seabees.
One old reinforced concrete bridge at Phu Loc has been hit and repaired five times. “It’s beginning to become monotonous,” commented one Seabee.
A culvert-type bridge the Seabees completed in the area one day was blown up the same night and reconstructed the following day.
Seabees rebuilding old Route 1 between Phu Loc and Hue fight a constant tug-of-war with the Viet Cong who attempt to destroy at night what the Seabees have built during the day on June 30, 1968. (Andrew Headland Jr./Stars and Stripes)
Seabees ruefully recall it doesn’t always pay to be a good Samaritan. On one occasion they loaned five gallons of fuel to two uniformed strangers who said their jeep was out of gas. The transients, who were Viet Cong in disguise, poured the gas over a newly built bridge, set the structure afire and escaped during the confusion.
A huge rock-crushing plant at Phu Loc is providing 130,000 cubic yards of base rock estimated needed for the 20-mile stretch of road. About 158,000 cubic yards of dirt fill and 100,000 cubic yards of asphaltic concrete will also be needed to finish the job.
The longest bridge, a 380-foot timber structure, was constructed with 120 piles each 70 feet long and sunk 26 to 30 feet in the earth.
Another Seabee project which will be of general economic benefit to Vietnamese citizens is rehabilitating an old French water system. This calls for laying a 12-inch fresh-water pipeline 10 miles from Phu Bai to Cho Tham on the Perfume River south of Hue.
Helicopter pads, airstrips, fuel farms, post exchanges, hospitals, ammunition storage dumps and other building projects the length of Vietnam stand as creative monuments to more than 9,000 Seabees and other builders working throughout the Republic.
