And I don’t know why they finally chose me. You know, at that age you take that to heart.

One thing I heard was that I wasn’t pretty enough (laughs). I know there was a lot of consternation at the time a lot of people didn’t think I was right for the role. The two of us tested for it, and I really don’t know why they chose me. 'I certainly looked wholesome, and I think it's safe to come out and say it because she had a huge career - it was between me and Helen Hunt. Vung Tau is also home to Vietnam’s first links-style golf course.'The part was originally written Midwestern girl and she had blonde hair – I think 'the color of wheat' was the description of it, because she was from Kansas - and I didn’t look like that,' says Dana. Hotel accommodations run from luxury four-star operations to mini hotels and guest houses. A Rio de Janeiro–style giant Jesus, built in 1974, stands on top of Nui Nho (small mountain), which rises at the city’s southern end. It stands at the summit of a hillside park called Thic Ca Phat Dai. On one end of Vung Tau, beside Nui Lon (large mountain), a giant lotus sculpture raises its flower toward the heavens.

On Front Beach are most of the more expatriate-oriented hotels, restaurants and bars, while Back Beach caters to tourists and Vietnamese vacationers. Today, the resort town is split into two areas. Thousands of South Vietnamese continued to attempt escape via Vung Tau through the mid-1980s. One man told of having given all that he had three times to sail away, but the boat was forced back to shore each time he served three prison terms. Many boats were forced back to land, and their occupants were arrested and served prison terms. Some of the passengers made it to safety, while others perished. Fishing trawlers bulging with refugees set sail, never to return. After the war, Vung Tau served as an evacuation point for tens of thousands of boat people fleeing Communist rule. An article, “Vung Tau, Vietnam, Pleasure Capital of the World,” ran in Argosy magazine in 1969.Īs early as the mid-1960s, both Vietnam’s General Nguyen Khanh and American General William Westmoreland eyed Vung Tau as a possible evacuation route should that become a necessity. The downtown section was filled with dance halls and young women and soldiers poured into the clubs where the latest rock music blared. Some of the bars in town were reportedly joint ventures between Americans and Vietnamese. Many of the estimated 100 bars in Vung Tau during the war were named after American cities, towns or other familiar places, in an attempt to make the U.S.

The Vung Tau pages of the Vietnam Project at Texas Tech University.

For more photos and recollections of Vung Tau, check out this veteran site.

A large contingent of Australian and New Zealand airmen were also stationed in the Vung Tau area. Naval facilities, and a fully equipped repair depot, USNS Corpus Christi Bay, was anchored a few miles away. Today, spurred by the country’s economic vitality, oil exploration and a growing tourist industry, Vung Tau is bustling with development.Īs the American troop buildup began, Vung Tau became a point of debarkation for tens of thousands of GIs. During the Vietnam War, Vung Tau was a city of both war and peace, serving as an important and active port and as a favorite R&R spot for fighting men. The resort beach, long known as Cap Saint Jacques, had been a favorite getaway for the French colonials and the wealthy of Saigon since the late 19th century. Situated on a tiny strip of land shaped like a thumb extending into the South China Sea near the southern end of the country, it has long been a place of escape and of rescue, of refuge and of healing. It is a remarkable place, Vietnam’s seaport city of Vung Tau. When Vung Tau Was Vietnam's Hottest R&R Destination Close

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