Catherine Karnow
Vietnam

Whenever I visit Vietnam, I can never leave. I don’t know what it is, but Vietnam gets under my skin. Partially, it’s the people. They are strong, intelligent, beautiful, and incredibly hardworking. They will always remind you of their remarkable history, a tiny part of which is our history too. So there is that deep bond between us, Americans and Vietnamese.

In Vietnam, you are always reminded of the war, our war, the American War, as the Vietnamese call it. Flying over Vietnam you see a line of perfectly round large ponds, with cows drinking water. Then you see that they are bomb craters. You are in the midst of a stunning landscape, vivid green high mountains plunging to the sea, and you realize that you are on the famous Highway 1. The historic, pristine, white-sand beach that stretches for miles (turquoise water, surfers) is China Beach, once the site of a huge U.S. military base. You can hardly imagine that once there were hundreds of soldiers and choppers raging in the sky like some Hollywood film.

Catherine Karnow is a photojournalist.