Why didn't they just blow the tunnels up rather than send tunnel rats down to possibly get killed like many did?

There was some intelligence received, I’m guessing.

Could have been POWs inside. The VC had hospitals in tunnels.

The tunnels were multi-level ,90 degree turns, almost impossible to destroy with explosives.

This is my understanding too

A good friend of mine was a tunnel rat in Viet Nam. He said he liked it, everyone made sure he stayed safe because no one wanted his job if he got hurt. Besides making sure they were clear there was intellegence to be gathered and such

Not much scares me but there's two things that can keep me laying awake with anxiety at night, sharks and imagining crawling through those tunnels.

It sure took a special sort of courage to go crawling through those tunnels.

Great book on the tunnel network "The Tunnels of Cu Chi."

A bit claustrophobic here.......Tunnels would be way beyond my ability......jk

Me too and that's before booby traps and people shooting at me