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Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, Hanoi 31 M o v i n g o n Back in the old quarter, we once again sat around drinking cheap beer over ice, perched on plastic stools a few inches off of the ground. Besides the incident in Ukraine, the other big news was that ISIS was continu- ing its expansion, causing the U.S. to consider both air strikes and sending in ground troops. I watched oth- er young tourists having a good time, most of them wearing VC red stars on hats or T-shirts, and couldn’t help but find it callous. Yes, it was a rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight, begun on fabricated pretexts. But did it mean we should turn it into tacky souvenirs to be flaunted? At home, the only visible reminders that my dad was even here are the bullet and shrapnel scars on his body and the several purple hearts that he earned from them. Those same medals sit in a desk drawer gathering dust, serving only as reminders of other scars that will never fully heal. I’d had enough. We finished our beers, walked away from the other tourists and left Vietnam and its bag- gage behind — it was time to let go, get wasted and float down a river in Laos. I watched other young tourists having a good time, most of them wearing VC red stars on hats or T-shirts, and couldn’t help but find it callous. Yes, it was a rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight, begun on fabricated pretexts. But did it mean we should turn it into tacky souvenirs to be flaunted? A U.S. tank convoy during the V ietnam W ar