"You look like your gonna gag on that mate" advises a sun-aged Australian sitting opposite at the crude dining table. This is Manioc, Cassava or call it Tapioca, if you will, the carbohydrate that sustained the Cu Chi Guerillas in the relentless campaign against the 'Evil Americans'.
We are in an underground canteen, part of a subterrenean network totalling 260 kilometres. According to the over-dubbed black & white documentary this allowed the Viet Cong to appear and dissappear at will, exacting a heavy toll of US casualties.
One particular fierce young woman was decorated twice, once as 'Brave Exterminator of Americans' and later, 'War Hero American Killer'
The retired Aussie informs me about conscription from Down Under, "I think they just put your name on a marble and then pulled it out, I guess I was just lucky"
It's hard to imagine visiting "The Tunnels of Baghdad" in thirty years, to hear how brave freedom fighters beat back the 'Evil Americans' once again, while we eat some kind of middle-eastern flatbread.
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