‘Mcnamara’s Wall’ Rebuilt For Tourists

Vietnam plans to restore some of the bunkers and electronic listening posts of a high-tech defense line between former North and South Vietnam as a tourist attraction, a newspaper reported Saturday.

The barrier, known as “McNamara’s Wall” after former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, was built to monitor North Vietnamese troops infiltrating the south during the Vietnam War. However, the belt of infrared detectors, acoustic sensors and watch towers installed near the old demilitarized zone failed to detect many of them.

Vietnam’s Military Science Institute and officials in central Quang Tri province have surveyed what is left of the line and plan to restore at least 980 feet of it, complete with a visitor’s center, the government Vietnam Investment Review reported.