Vietnam

[Darren]

SeminoleWind

Thanks for taking the time to view it. For 13 months 20 days it was home. History can be 1. a wonderful thing. 2. a bad thing 2. a learning part of life. 3. sure never be forgotten.

[ocalasp76]

I googled lzsally and came up with some fond memories of being there.
Even able to see the bunker I lived in for 4 months while in base camp.
Noticed a typo in my earlier post. Not the 506th, it was the 501st.
Even went to Google earth and saw how it looks today. Seems to be a trucking shipping area. When we moved off sally to Phu Bai we left our pet dog 'Blu' there and came back the next day to get him. The locals had caught him and ate him. We wanted to call in an airstrke on the place after that. Should have nuked the whole dam country.
-JIM-

[Jane]

Yea, they were bad about eating dogs for sure. I hate to say this because I know everyone was not like this but in California we had alot of Vietnamese living there and whenever someone's pet, usually a cat, went missing, you knew they had caught it and eaten it. Like I said, I don't put everyone in the same category but they did eat cats and dogs. I had several cats stolen in my neighborhood and we had a family at the end of the street and we knew where our pets were going. I also know my ex said they ate monkey brains there alot also and I could not stand the thought of that either.

My ex's unit also had a puppy but I never wanted to ask him what happened to it because I knew it was probably taken and eaten. But I will try and find out for you what unit he and his friend Corky were in over there. I know they were together but just not sure where.

[Darren]

oacalasp76

looked up lzsally and took alook at differ web sites. Who would of thought when we came home, 40 years later we could go back by internet. Was not a person that took a lot of photos. Glad other people did.

[flvideo]

You talking about Eating dogs, I was walking down the street in New Deli India and came accross what I thought was a pet shop. I was admiring the dogs in the window. A GI that was stationed there told me thats not a pet shop thats a butcher shop. Made me sick. I went in the NCO club there and ordered a steak. It came and it tasted ok but it was tougher than my boots. I later found out it was a water Buffalo Steak. UGH! Bob..

[flvideo]

Jimmbo!

I looked at LZbetty site and it sure brings back memories. What year was lz betty built? I don't remember it but then agin my memory is fading. From a map I saw on the site its pretty close to Saigon. We landed at Saigon but I don't remember a field that close to Saigon. Did C-130's land there? I don't think I even owned a camera then. I wish I had taken pictures. Bob..

[ocalasp76]

Over here having a pet is a joy and companionship.
Over there it's just another mouth to feed. If it don't give eggs or milk or can pull a plow, then it's a meal.
We set off an ambush in the night on patrol. It was pitch dark and we reacted to the noise. Turned out to be a water buffalo. You would have thought we killed a whole family. The military paid a big price for that animal too. We had to pacify the chief to keep relations good with he locals.
That animal should not have been out roaming at 4am in a hostal area either.
Later we found lots of guns amd mortal rounds in that village, all made in China and used to shoot at us.....Oh well, nuff said.
-JIM-

[flvideo]

Yeah man I hear you. That wasn't the funnest time of our lives to be sure. I was there so early that I felt bad about being home starting a family when you guys were over there living in foxholes and eating MRE's. When we carried that stuff I use to take the peanut butter and jelly out and stash it. SORRY! I lived on peanut butter And jelly when we were in country. I guess I can't say that was the hi-lite of my life but the commradery was imense. I got closer to my crew than I have ever been to fellow workers any where. I think that comes from trusting your life to them. Bob..

[ocalasp76]

MRE's..........?

I would have loved the MRE's I've seen lately. We had the C rations in the cans and LRPS(long range patrol substance). Early version of the MRE,but hard to re-hydrate. Don't bite into the bean in the chili or you will break a tooth. At least the C's had fruit salad and peaches and pears.
BTW the MRE stands for "Meal Rejected by the Ethiopians".....LOL
Used to break open a Claymore mine to get C-4 and boil water in a canteen cup to re-hydrate the meal too. A ball about the size of a marble would do the trick. Just don't try to stomp out the ball after your done, let it burn out. One guy,a cherry, made a ball too big and stomped on it. The explosion sent him home without a right leg and only part of his hip.
Of course everyone was banned from using C-4 for cooking after that. Heat tabs just did not work as well.

Yup, made some good friends and lost a few, but I would not trade the education I got out of it all. Made some great friends in Germany too.
Be safe......
-GEM-

[Darren]

flvideo

Phan Thiet and lz Betty is 198km east of Saigon, right on the South China Sea. If you notice the old buildings when you were checking out lz Betty website, they were build by the French before they lost their war with the vc in 1954. In 1966 or 67 the American forces built LZ Betty. There was a airstrip that c130s and smaller fixwing and choppers used. As you can see their were a lot of differ units using the base. Beans and franks, peaches and pound cake was my favorite c-rations.

[ocalasp76]

Ah Yes......

the pound cake. Great for absorbing moisture from your foot locker. A 2 oz. cake could hold about a gallon of water or so...
Also take a cake from the can,cut it like a bisquit,insert c ration jelly(grape or strawberry). Mix a hot coco pack with just a little water to form a paste,spread on pound cake. Put a pack of chicklets on top and a toothpick with end dipped in diesel. Makes a great 'birthday cake'.

How about the 'short timers calender'? A steel pot helmet with a pair of boots sticking out the bottom. Starting at 100 days and a symbol to all that you are a 'two digit midget'.

"S H O R T"

AH YES.......MEMORIES.
-JIM-

[ocalasp76]

Remember ???????

All V/N vets on this board will remember these.

Latrine duty and the 'pisser' at Eagle Beach near HUE.

Note the concertina wire and mine field running close to the '2 holer' in first pic.
Also the '2 holer' is facing toward the berm wire. Might as well pull guard duty while sitting on the chitter.......
-JIM-

For those wondering. The crapper had a half barrel under each seat that stored your 'business'.
When the barrel was half full or so it was pulled out,topped off with diesel fuel and set on fire to burn off
all the contents. All this added to the aroma of this country. A crappy job.

[Darren]

got my orders

remember when you got your orders on where you were going to be shipped to when your tour was over. A lot of us would hang them on the wall with "FIGMO" On the pound cake deal, thats why I used the peach juice for.

[Jane]

My ex-father-in-law, who has now passed away, was in Vietnam twice. When they told him he had to go back a third time, he retired from the Army after almost 30 years or so. He is the one who brought him pictures, very gruesome pictures, but I don't know what happened to them after he passed away. He somehow managed to smuggle a gun home from Vietnam taken from a soldier over there. It was a Russian gun shotting at us. How we got it out of the country, I don't know, but it was his pride and joy for two tours of duty overthere.

Luckily, they did not have him and his son over there at the same time or else my former mother-in-law would have been crazier than she was. I went and looked at the site you guys were talking about and Ed had alot of photos like that and more. But isn't it funny after all these years and this Veteran's Day, we bring up Vietnam. It was a time when they did draft men for the Army and unless you really had flat feet or something, you might as well kiss your butt goodbye. And yes, I knew alot of guys who got drafted back then just like my ex did.

Jim, Bob and I now have something in common that I never knew we did - Vietman. I lived with a Vietnam Vet for 18 years and until the day we were divorced, he was hurt at the way he was treated when he came home. That always saddened me and still does. Whether we backed that war or not, men died over there doing what they were suppose to be doing and told to do. They should be honored NO MATTER what anyone thinks or believes. Just like the Merchant Marines should be treated just like any other Vet and honored also. My dad was a Merchant Marine at the end of the war and he was just as much in harm's way as any other soldier yet he never got any benefits from that although they are now trying to pass a bill to get them some.

But Bob and Jim, WELCOME HOME and thank you for doing your duty. I may not have liked the war but I sure as hell respect those that went to fight the war.

[SeminoleWind]

I was trying to summarize my post a few nights ago, Darren, did it perfectly.
"History can be 1. a wonderful thing. 2. a bad thing 2. a learning part of life. 3. sure never be forgotten."
Here's is the correct link to see where so many Americans lives were spent in the 60's and 70's, I'm sure a few lives ended there as well. God Bless.
http://www.lzbetty.com