Group Returns From Vietnam Surfin' Safari : Recreation: Teen-agers who traveled throughout the country introducing youths to the sport say they felt like they were part of a peace mission. Veterans had called those taking trip traitors.

By RENE LYNCH

Jan. 3, 1993 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

SAN CLEMENTE — For a dozen teen-age surfers from Orange and San Diego counties, it started out as a simple trip to introduce Vietnamese youths to the art of riding excellent waves off the pristine coast of Vietnam’s fabled China Beach.

But before the 17-day trip ended Saturday with their return, the youths said they felt like they were part of a peace mission forged with surfboards, boogie boards and way-cool T-shirts.

Josh Vesque, 16, Chris Ward, 14, and Phong Nguyen, 17, all of San Clemente, were called traitors to the United States by veterans of the Vietnam conflict and MIA-POW groups furious that they would reach out to Vietnamese teen-agers. One coach canceled his involvement in the trip because of the controversy.

But the teen-agers said Saturday they withstood the criticism because they believe it is time to end the hate that started long before they were even born.

“I wasn’t even alive during the war. It happened before me and I wasn’t part of it,” Josh said. “I know it was a bad, bad thing and stuff, but now I think we should be friends.”

For Phong, whose parents fled Vietnam when he was 7, the trip to his birthplace had special significance. While in Saigon, he tracked down his paternal grandmother, who shed tears of joy because she believed she would never again see her grandson.

“She was just overwhelmed. She just cried and cried for hours,” said Phong, who also acted as a translator during the trip. “I just wish the Viet vets were there. They wouldn’t call me a traitor. They would realize we are just trying to bring two nations back together through a sport. Isn’t there enough hate?”

The dozen teen-agers departed Dec. 14 and traveled throughout the country, where they were treated as celebrities and warmly welcomed by the villagers and government. To celebrate their arrival in each new city, Vietnamese officials would set off a barrage of firecrackers.

“I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but they treated us great,” Josh said.

The trip was sponsored by the Kalos Kagathos Foundation, a Laguna Beach group that encourages education through sports, said founder Bruce Hopping, 77. He also joined the youths on their journey to coach about 30 members of a Vietnamese swim team. The foundation name refers to a Greek philosophy of developing both mind and body, Hopping said.

The teen-agers are all surfing buffs who decided to go to Vietnam after learning that many youths in that country had never seen a surfboard. Unlike Southern California, most Vietnamese consider the ocean primarily a source of seafood--not a playground. But that will change, the youngsters insist.

“I’m sure they’re surfing right now,” Josh said. “They were really stoked about surfing.”

“At first, they were really scared of the board. They didn’t understand how you could stand up on it in the water,” Phong said. “But after we showed them, they were really eager to learn. Most of them picked it up quickly.”

The highlight of the trip was a surfing competition between surfers from the United States and Bali at China Beach, a wartime recreational area for American military personnel. The U.S. kids took first, second and fourth places. A separate competition was held for Vietnamese surfers, Josh said.

Chris said the warm-water waves off Vietnam hit eight feet, making for perfect surfing conditions. He and his fellow surfers each brought an extra surfboard to leave behind for their Vietnamese friends. Chris also left behind a boogie board.

The Vietnamese youths also went wild over the Americans’ brightly-colored surfing clothes and T-shirts, he said.

The foundation hopes a Vietnamese surfing team will soon become involved in international competitions. Plans are already underway to set up a beachfront school to teach young adults in Vietnam about beach management, how to lifeguard and sports, Hopping said.

Hopping said he hopes that the trip will help forge close relations between the two countries. There is still a U.S. economic embargo against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, but that policy has eased recently. Many American businesses hope they will soon be allowed to take advantage of Vietnamese markets.

Hopping said it will have been worth the criticism the group endured if the Southern California teen-agers played a role in helping people realize that hate between the two countries is no longer productive.

Before the trip, veterans’ groups around the country wrote to Hopping to plead that he cancel the trip. A surfing coach at San Clemente High School who was scheduled to go along dropped out because of the pressure. But Hopping said it is time to put the past behind.

“There were mistakes made on both sides, but now it’s time to stop hating each other,” he said. During the trip, Hopping said that he met an American veteran who had been badly wounded during the Vietnam conflict but had remained there installing solar panels.

“He had a leg blown off, fingers missing and was blind in one eye,” Hopping recalled. “He heard we were coming and when we pulled up, he braced himself against a wall and began clapping. He said he was glad to see us.”