
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, June 17, 1995                   TAG: 9506190008
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: F.J. GALLAGHER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

VET PLANS 1ST-CLASS FINISH TO THE VIETNAM NIGHTMARE

In 1965, Michael Bishop was patrolling the jungles of Vietnam. As a member of a rifle company assigned to the 101st Airborne, Bishop and fellow riflemen were on the front line, trying to dislodge North Vietnamese guerrillas from the elaborate network of tunnels they had established.

Ultimately, that effort culminated in the first major battle of the Vietnam War, the one near Ia Drang, where the Americans suffered a casualty rate that approached 75 percent.

Now, 30 years later, Bishop said he feels a need to close the book on that chapter of his life. He is betting that a substantial number of the other 3.5 million American veterans who served in the Vietnam War do, also. Last month, he incorporated his company, Vietnam Tours Inc., with the intention of booking tours tailored to the individual experiences of Vietnam veterans.

"This is the first phase," Bishop said. "Ultimately, what I'd like to do is create a sort of seminar with the intention of providing a real completion to the war, which never really has been done before."

Vietnam Tours is not Bishop's first business venture. Before he moved to Roanoke last year, he sold his interest in a San Jose, Calif.-based data communications company, Personal Computer Applications, which he had founded. Money from that sale is funding his Vietnam venture.

Bishop hopes to offer tours for Vietnam vets in each of the four geographic areas, or corps, designated by the U.S. military in the war effort.

"For example," he said, "if you were in Saigon in 1974, you could go up to the top of the American Embassy, which is currently vacant, and sit in one of the evacuation helicopters."

Bishop's idea, he said, sprang from all the attention given to World War II veterans who last summer returned to Europe for the 50th anniversary of D-Day, the Allied invasion of Normandy.

"I noticed how powerful an experience it was for them, and I said, `Why not us?' After all, this is our 20th anniversary," he said.

For help in organizing the company's resources, Bishop has formed a partnership with a Vietnamese businessman, Trung Trinh, who was in the South Vietnamese government. After the government collapsed in 1974, Bishop said, Trinh served five years in a communist "re-education camp."

Together the two have mapped out a business plan and marketing strategy they hope will attract investors.

Initially, he said, they plan to advertise in publications put out by the more than 200 U.S. veterans associations. Although he and his partner have yet to finalize any of the tours' itineraries or costs, his long-range plans include establishing two rest-and-recreation centers - ``R and R,'' the soldiers called them.

"They're going to look very military on the outside," he said. "Sort of like one of those MASH compounds you see on TV. Inside, though, it's going to be first class all the way."

Bishop plans to visit Vietnam for a month, beginning next week, to finalize the details of the venture, including guides, interpreters, hotels and transportation details. The company's Vietnam headquarters will be in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon.

"Business relations between Vietnam and the United States are pretty much normalized now," Bishop said, pointing out that several major U.S. companies already are doing business in Vietnam. "I see this as a further development of the business network between the two countries."

by CNB