VIETNAM P.O.W. PRISON “HANOI HILTON” SITE NOW A HILTON HOTEL
We’ve been hearing a lot about John McCain’s prisoner of war experience in the infamous North Vietnamese prison dubbed the “Hanoi Hilton.”
But have you heard that the “Hanoi Hilton” site now includes an actual Hilton Hotel?
When I came upon that Hilton during a somber stroll after touring the small prison-museum in the Vietnamese capital, I stared in disbelief. Holy Ho Chi Minh.
The soaring Hilton was only steps away from the Hoa Lo Prison (a.k.a. Hanoi Hilton) with coffin-sized cells, manacles, torture instruments, and the flight suit, helmet, and parachute Navy pilot McCain wore when shot down over Hanoi in 1967.
What kind of branding is that? As soon as I was back in the U.S. of A., I asked a Hilton spokeswoman.
She e-mailed this explanation: “in recognition of past sensitivies (sic), and given the location of the hotel immediately adjacent to the Opera House, the word ‘Opera’ was added.” So the name is Hanoi Hilton Opera Hotel.
Well, my jaw dropped again – and not to belt out an aria, or to (mis-)quote Shakespeare. “What’s in a name? That which we call a (prison), By any other name would smell as sweet.”
Speaking of the sweet smell of success… Most of the Hoa Lo prison had been destroyed for the hotel complex, which also encompasses a skyscraper office/apartment building, a supermarket, and glittering boutiques.
Wait just a minute: Didn’t the Communists defeat the capitalists? All our Vietnam war casualties, P.O.W.s, violent protests over that defining event of my generation, and now glitz and glam more Hollywood than Hanoi? Their stock market? Gee, maybe their dong currency is getting harder than our dollar?
I vaguely remembered that Vietnam’s economic liberalization policy, called doi moi, began in 1986. And their economy was helped greatly by the normalization of Vietnamese-U.S. relations in 1995 — an effort led by Senators John McCain and John Kerry, also Vietnam veteran and former Presidential candidate.
Whoever is your Presidential candidate this election year, and whatever you think about our current wars, please vote. And that’s all you’ll hear here from me about politics.
