Have you ever been to Tuy Hoa? Are you certain? I passed through it many times and was there twice. I know I was there because I have a photo I took of Pat Rausch and Jerry Burkhamer in the Tuy Hoa airport on one trip and an Air Force cop gave me a speeding ticket on the airbase on another trip. A couple of times, heading north, as we came out of the Ca Pass, we stopped for a swim in the sea. Other than that, it is a blank. Generally speaking, that seems to be the case with Tuy Hoa. Attempts to research modern day Tuy Hoa have been frustrating. Nearly everything seems to point back to the Tuy Hoa Air Base, almost as if Tuy Hoa the city no longer exists, or never did. In fact, during my civilian career, I once worked with a man from Tuy Hoa. He didn’t remember much about it either.
It does exist, though. Tuy Hoa, with a population of about 200,000, is an agricultural center and fishing port, with some reliance also on forest products. The surrounding areas produce sugarcane, cotton and rice in the fertile lowland near the mouth of the Da Rang River. In the 1920s, many farmers from the area were relocated by the French to work on rubber and tea plantations in the central highlands. There are two mountains in the center of the city: Chap Chai and Nhan, atop which sits an 800-year-old Cham tower.
The Nhan Tower was built in the 11th and 12th centuries on a flat spot near the top of Nhan mountain, which is in the middle of Tuy Hoa. The base of the 23.5-meter tower is square and faces east, the direction of the rising sun and spirit. The four corners of the peak resemble lotus buds, and there is a monolith symbolizing Shiva, one of the major Hindu gods. The tower is built completely of bricks which have been found to be more lightweight, durable and compressive than the normal equivalents. The joints between the bricks are all but indiscernible, and how they managed this is a mystery even today. The tower is no longer used as a place of worship, but is instead a ruin from the French conquest of the area.
In travelling north from Nha Trang, we crossed from Khan Hoa Province into Phu Yen Province, of which Tuy Hoa is the capital, through the Ca Pass. I always understood, erroneously it seems, that its name was the Vung Ro Pass. The pass quickly rose up onto the side of a 1600-meter mountain and followed the coastline, with no straight road in sight. At places, it seemed that the mountain went straight up to the sky on one side and straight down to Vung Ro Bay on the other. The road surface was good, though, so the trip was generally pleasant as long as your passenger wasn’t too picky about keeping to one lane. There is a guard rail now, which I don’t remember being there before. Today, drivers have the option of taking the Ca Pass Tunnel. I imagine they stay in their lanes now, but they are missing out on a great view.
The population of the area is primarily ethnic Vietnamese (Kinh), but there are also minority populations of Cham, E De, and Ba Na people. While the Cham and E De communities are significant, the Ba Na communities are very small.
Phu Yen Province is one of the least industrialized provinces on the south central coast. What industry there is mostly processes local products such as fish, shrimp, cashews and sugar. There is also production of mineral water, beer, clothing, and cement. There is, however, a fairly large fishing sector, whose gross output ranks third among provinces on the south central coast. About a third of this output is from aquaculture, primarily shrimp farms.
One travel site describes Tuy Hoa as “sleepy and nondescript.” There appears to be no night life to speak of, with likely spots being few and far between. There are no shopping destinations of note, but there is a coffee shop on the beach. Tuy Hoa has miles of highly variable beach, all of it basically undeveloped, non-commercialized, and little used. It sounds like a good place to relax. There are plentiful hotels in the area, as well as restaurants.
About 20 miles from Tuy Hoa is the Mang Lang Church. This church was built in the Gothic style over 200 years ago by a French missionary Joseph Lasassange. More importantly, it stands in the village of Andrew of Phu Yen. Andrew, which is probably not what his parents named him, was born in 1624. What we recognize as Vietnam today was, at that time, the three separate countries of Tonkin in the North, Cochin China in the South, and Annam in the center. Present day Tuy Hoa and Phu Yen Province are in what was then Annam. In 1640, at the age of 16, Andrew began to take instruction from Jesuit missionaries. He quickly surpassed his fellow students and was baptized in 1641. He became a dedicated assistant to the missionaries, and soon joined an organization which vowed to dedicate their lives in service to the Catholic Church. In 1944, Mandarin Ong Nghe Bo returned to the province with orders from the King of Annam to prevent the spread of Catholicism in his kingdom.
Unaware of the king’s orders to the mandarin, Father Alexander de Rhodes paid Ong Nghe Bo a courtesy visit. He was immediately advised of the king’s decree and ordered to leave the country. De Rhodes left the palace and went directly to the prison where another elderly priest had already been incarcerated. The mandarin sent soldiers to the priest’s house in search of another catechist, who was, by chance, out of town on an apostolic mission. The soldiers instead found only 20-years-old Andrew. Not daring to return to the mandarin without a prisoner, they beat Andrew, tied him and took him to the palace.
The mandarin tried to convince Andrew to give up his ‘foolish opinions’ and Christian faith, but Andrew refused and declared himself ready to undergo whatever suffering necessary rather than to deny Christ. He was put into prison to think it over, where he was so joyful at the opportunity to suffer for his faith that people were astounded. He asked those who came to see him to pray, not for his release, but that God would keep him faithful to the end. The next day, he was returned to the mandarin, who sentenced him to death. He was led through the streets to a field outside the village to be executed. Christians and pagans alike followed the procession and witnessed his execution. Already having been stricken several times by a lance, as the scimitar was about to remove his head, Andrew cried out loudly in the name of Jesus.
In the year 2000, Pope John Paul II beatified Andrew. Every year, July 26 is the feast day of Andrew of Phu Yen, marking the date of his martyrdom. Andrew is an icon among today’s youth in the area.
