Said her father, Paul Smallwood: "She's seen more of Vietnam than I have."

Paul Smallwood, 47, was born in Vietnam. His name was Nguyen Thai Ha. His birth father was killed during the war. Paul, always the entrepreneur, can remember climbing mango trees and selling the fruit on the street, sometimes within earshot of bombs and gunfire.

His mother married a U.S. Army sergeant, who adopted the Vietnamese boy. The sergeant, who died in 1984, got his adopted son and Vietnamese wife out of South Vietnam in 1974 months before the country fell to North Vietnam.

Marianne is the oldest of three children born to Paul and Anita Ilagan Smallwood, a Philippine immigrant whom Paul met while he was in the Air Force and before engineering school at the University of Illinois.

"I'm proud of her, and I envy her," Paul Smallwood said of Marianne, who is home for a few weeks this summer in the middle of a two-year hitch in Vietnam. "She quit a great job to do this."

Vietnam remains a nation with a one-party Communist government. But the country has opened itself in the past 20 years to foreign investment in factories, tourism and medical facilities. Vietnam is still dirt-poor, corruption remains an issue, and it invests too little in public health, critics say.

Two Vietnam combat veterans, Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and John Kerry, D-Mass., were dispatched to Vietnam more than a decade ago to negotiate treaties that led to diplomatic, commercial and educational ties between our countries.

Vietnam President Nguyen Minh Triet visited President Bush in Washington last month, marking the first White House visit by a head of state from Hanoi since the countries were at war more than three decades ago.

For some, a bit surreal

This is all good news, albeit a bit surreal for Vietnam veterans Bob Carlson and Dave Roberts, a couple of businessmen with Minnesota ties who were in the thick of the war. The two old warriors are pleased that commerce and cultural ties between our countries have supplanted the killing and despair of 1967-68. They're pleased that Marianne represents Minnesota and America so well.

Roberts, the CEO of Graco Inc. until he left to run a North Carolina company last month, was a grunt in 1967-68, including a stint at Khe Sanh, a Marine fire base in central Vietnam that bore weeks of artillery and small-arms assault.

Roberts returned to Vietnam in 2005 to tour state-of-the art plants that used Graco equipment. He heard some one-sided propaganda from government tour guides about the "American War." But on balance, he found friendly people, modern plants and hard workers saving for homes and a better life for their kids. And he toured a couple of his former Marine bases.

"What struck me was how small it all seemed compared to 40 years earlier," Roberts said. "Maybe that was because I was riding in an air-conditioned van rather than humping my way across mountainous terrain with 75 pounds on my back."

Carlson, a West Point-trained engineer and the retired CEO of Vadnais Heights-based Reell Manufacturing, led troops in battle against crack North Vietnamese Army units. The eight-year Army officer is a bit ambivalent about returning.

"Reell has for some time employed many Southeast Asians," Carlson said. "Many of their stories, particularly the stories of those who were in Vietnam during and after the war, are amazing ... stories of incredible hardship, but ultimately stories of triumph and success.

"At the same time, I harbor no bad feelings toward the Viet Cong or North Vietnamese against whom I fought. They didn't start the war. They were simply like us, serving their political leaders. That country has suffered greatly under colonial powers and deserves success and prosperity."

Marianne Smallwood and other Americans who teach, do business and tour in Vietnam are our ground forces today in a campaign that seems to benefit both countries.