Foreword by General Sir John Reith KCB CBE
Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe and Colonel Commandant, The Parachute
Regiment
The Road to Freedom is an account, masterfully told,
of one of Indochina’s greatest military enigmas; the
Ho Chi Minh Trail. This book, wonderfully illustrated with
a wealth of maps and photographs, charts the author’s
journey from this main supply route’s beginning in
North Vietnam, through the mountainous forests of Laos
and back into South Vietnam to its end in what is now Ho
Chi Minh City.
This was a pilgrimage, the outcome of which remained
uncertain until it was completed; largely because the trail
has been shrouded in mystery since the end of the Vietnam
War, due to its inaccessibility to western visitors. Through
her painstaking research of military history and unparalleled
access to General Vo Nguyen Giap, Virginia Morris brings
to life the achievements and indeed sacrifices of those
responsible for building the trail; the Truong Son Army.
The account of her personal battle against adversity encountered
in the particularly inhospitable environment bears testament
to the brave TSA soldiers of Corps 559, who toiled to keep
supplies flowing to support their operation in South Vietnam.
As the first westerners to travel the trail, the author
and her husband have laid bare some of its greatest secrets.
The descriptions of the trail’s natural beauty are
tempered by those of the scars of war, both mental and
physical, which serve as a reminder of the tragedy that
befell Vietnam. |
