Reminiscing
Many times the things we remember from past history are the experiences that are unpleasant or unusual rather than the norms we are used to. While serving in Vietnam, several things I experienced comes to mind. My story follows.
Reminiscing
I served in the U S Army in Vietnam in 1970. During the time I was there, I had the responsibility to insure we had spare parts for helicopters so I had to drive through Pleiku, South Vietnam, to pick up parts almost every day. The city was off limits to all Army personnel, so I never stopped on the trips. I was able to see a lot of things I will never forget.Here are a few of these memories.
There was a river that ran through town. The locals built bridges out over the river and built elevated crapper buildings out over the water. It was a common sight to see crap falling from the house into the water while several people fished just downstream. I guess just downstream was a hot spot because of the almost continuous supply of fish food being dropped into the water. I always wondered what the fish they caught there would taste like.
In the city center there was a huge open market. They had a line of tables from which they sold fish, chicken, and various fruits and vegetables from baskets. Just behind each table there was a pile of refuge about five feet tall. The piles contained fish guts, spoiled fruits and vegetables, and other organic waste. There were so many flies on the piles that they looked almost black. These same flies were also buzzing the fresh items on display in the baskets on the tables. The locals must have had stomachs of iron to be able to eat stuff out of that market and not get deathly ill. The worst part of driving by was the terrible smell. The smell alone was almost enough to make you sick.
There was one area of town where the ladies of the night were very prominent. When I would drive by, they would come out of their houses raw naked and yell and gesture at me to come in. There were hundreds of them. The area was filthy. As I said before, I never stopped in town the whole time I was there.
Occasionally there were large migrations of insects. One day there were thousands of yellow butterfly’s in the air. They passed through for several hours and they were gone. Another day there were millions of flying ants going somewhere. Again, after several hours they were gone too. I don’t know where they came from or where they were going.
Around the outskirts of town, I would often see dark skinned scantily clothed natives usually carrying crossbows or spears. These people were called Montagnards. They pretty much stayed to themselves and seemed like the type of people that you shouldn’t mess with. So I didn’t.
On several occasions, I drove past South Vietnam Regular Army personnel carriers with Viet Cong bodies strapped to the front like deer. The bodies were nearly ripped apart by what ever hit them. It looked like they may have been hit by a 50 caliper machine gun. A rather gory sight.
When I saw the kind of sights mentioned above, it made me feel very thankful for all I have here in the good old USA. You don’t realize how good things are here until see the bad stuff in person.
Bill sitting in the cockpit of an OH-58A Helicopter on Artillery Hill near Pleiku, Vietnam.
Curly Jack and Serano with our Air Section dog Ajax on Artillery Hill in 1970. When they got ripe, we ate those bananas off that tree in the background.
Thank you for reading Reminiscing,
Hawg Jaw Bill