CAPITAL MILITARY ASSISTANCE COMMAND (CMAC) SAIGON - REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM SEPTEMBER 1968 to JUNE 1969 Text & photos (except where noted) by Brian Wickham Broadcast Supervisor - CMAC Information Office                 II FIELD FORCE Patch worn by CMAC personnel until July, 1969 bwickham@nyc.rr.com Visit Jim Finnegan's CMAC Web Site: SAIGON WARRIOR and Chuck Galloway's store: GALLOWAY CAMERA CMAC New CMAC patch from July, 1969 VIEW FROM THE WALLING HOTEL 5TH FLOOR Sunset over Saigon I arrived in the first week of September, 1968 and was assigned a room, with a balcony facing the street.  My roommate was PFC Bill Tekavic.  I had a mustache when I showed up but then a few days later decided it was too much bother so I shaved it off.  In the meantime I didn't see Bill for a while as he was the CMAC mail clerk and worked odd hours.  When we met again a few days later he asked me, "Where's the other guy?"  Our first meeting was so brief all he remembered was the mustache! Executive Deluxe Room at the Que Huong - Liberty 4 Hotel (from website) formerly The Walling Hotel My room in September 1968 (left) and now (right).  I see they moved the A/C, peeled the tape off the windows and changed the drapes.  We all had maid service for $10 a week (or was it per month?)  A Vietnamese woman, our mama-san, cleaned the room, shined the boots and did our laundry every day.  When I arrived the A/C wasn't working so we asked the mama-san if she could look into it.  $10 got us A/C that night!  The major problem was running water.  The water heater worked but the water truck showed up in early afternoon to replenish the supply.  By the time we got home everyone else had run the water dry taking showers, so we had jerry cans of water to use for cleaning and shaving.  Since Tekavic was already there and chose the bed away from the "blast zone" I got the bed by the window.  But once we got A/C I had the good spot. CATCHING THE BUS TO WORK       The paper boys who sold the Saigon newspapers every morning outside the Walling Hotel                           This was my first morning catching a USAHAC (US Army HQ Area Command) bus to work at the MACV Annex.  The paper boy had a selection of soft porn for the GI's to look at (good public relations!) and when their bus came a couple of GI's just boarded with the magazines neglecting to pay for them.  I'm sure they amounted to quite an investment for these kids - it was the only time I ever saw a Vietnamese boy in tears. PFC BILL TEKAVIC HAVING HIS RADIO ENGRAVED                       I figured I could get my Zippo done here and asked for just Vietnam, my name and years.  When I picked it up I found they decided to embellish it with "Snoopy" on the back.  And a very lame Snoopy at that!  Another 50 cents flushed down the tubes!  I could have just gone to the PX and bought a new one (and, as it turned out, have it engraved professionally) but I decided that this was a true lesson in relations with the East and worth keeping. Now it is not good for the Christian's health to hustle the Aryan brown, For the Christian riles, and the Aryan smiles and he weareth the Christian down; And the end of the fight is a tombstone white with the name of the  late  deceased, And the epitaph drear:  "A Fool lies here who tried to hustle the East."                                                            The Naulahka, ch. 5 (1892)  Rudyard Kipling PFC BRIAN WICKHAM New In-Country This is what I looked like on arrival (left) and a few days later (right).  It was hard enough shaving with cold water every morning so who needed to be careful and trim around a mustache?  Another factor was the heat.  Less hair - less perspiration dripping from it.  Did I mention it was HOT? After a few months when I was accustomed to the heat, as was everyone else, it was winter weather.  One morning everyone waiting for the bus crowded into the lobby of the Walling rather than stand out in the street.  It was 75 degrees out and we couldn't take the cold!  We were rolling down our sleeves to keep the chill off our arms.  Poor babies! Both photos by Sp5 Chuck Galloway Galloway Camera Sep 1968 - TRIP TO "FISHNET" or REDCATCHER FORWARD Forward HQ of the 199th Light Infantry Brigade Not much happened. Since the 199th LIB had it's own Information Section it didn't like CMAC poaching on it's territory.  So Chuck Galloway and I spent the night with them as guests, sleeping on mats on the floor under a corrugated steel sheet with an outer liner of sand bags, the whole thing arched between knitting looms. "Fishnet" actually was a former fishnet factory with all the looms still in place on the factory floor.  In the morning we had eggs, any way you want them, fried in butter.  For me that was a first, and last, in the Army! Chuck Galloway adds: "The night we spent in the fish net factory was an experience that I shall never forget. Not a breath of air was moving, except from the wings of those mosquitoes. The only relief from the mosquitoes was under the army issue poncho and that made me even hotter.  Finally falling asleep only to be awakened by the firing of artillery, I still think that trip was the beginning of the ringing in my ears.  I will never forget how those guys in that artillery unit had to live every day only slightly better that farm animals back in the States." We then wandered onto the highway where I took the two photos of a 9th Infantry Division convoy passing by.  I love that M-113 APC, as it just epitomizes Vietnam and the ordinary GI.  Who else would think of riding in a beach chair?  And in what previous war? When our CMAC deuce-and-a-half (2. 5 ton truck) came for us Chuck felt we were a little exposed, so he stayed at the ready all the way back to Saigon.  I was with CMAC only about a week so I didn't know what to think. Chuck is carrying an M-16 which, I believe, he brought with him when he was reassigned to CMAC during its formation.  We also had a typist from the 101st Airborne who also had an M-16.  I borrowed his weapon in those early days when I had to go out in the field, otherwise we who came in from the States were issued M-14's which weighed a ton.  Lt. Drake, in the Information Office, took pity on me and somehow got me an M-2 Carbine which was light as a feather.  Unfortunately it didn't have a sling, or the rings on the stock to mount one, so it stayed in my hand or had to be rested somewhere when I was working. Of course, the chances of losing it were increased by these circumstances but then no one actually owned it.  If I had ever reported it lost they would have said, "What carbine?"   THREE NIGHT VIEWS FROM MY ROOM - WALLING HOTEL OCTOBER 1968 Clockwise from lower left: 1) East along Pham Ngu Lao toward downtown Saigon 2) Across the tracks to the Le Lai Hotel 3) A helicopter sweeps across the sky near Tan Son Nhut and drops a flare Note: All taken the same night. THE "Y" BRIDGE - NOVEMBER 1968 The Y Bridge, so called because of its shape, connected Saigon with roads to Nha Be to the south.  It was an important link to hold from enemy capture or destruction.  Sp5 Chuck Galloway and myself were sent out to do a story on our OPCON (Operational Control) units defending Saigon.  In this case it was the 199th Light Infantry Brigade (Redcatchers) again. At the left is a picture of typical midday traffic on the bridge.  It looks kind of sleepy but actually the Redcatchers and the Vietnamese Police, or Canh Sat, stopped and checked non-military traffic all day long. Nothing much was going on so Chuck and I crawled all over the place to take photos.  At right is the Kinh Doi River from a pier of the bridge.  The piers were constructed to keep enemy scuba divers from planting charges directly on the pilings.  As an added precaution, the occasional concussion grenade was tossed in the river to shake up any divers who might be near. Being new in-country I found this odd, yet comforting.  Underneath the bridge was the Redcatchers' encampment and right across the heavily wired fence was a makeshift restaurant selling hamburgers, "egg omlits" and fried rice. We found a story to do anyway!  (Or maybe that's why we went in the first place.  Who can remember?) TheRedcatchers kept geese in a pen under the bridge to sound a warning if anyone tried to infiltrate their little compound.  It was said that Julius Caesar did the same thing to keep his legions safe from night attack. A few of Sp5 Galloway's Y Bridge photos were published in the Army magazine "Uptight" - Winter 1969.  "In Defense Of Saigon" was rushed together by me and I forgot to credit the color photos to Chuck.  He was a bit miffed! SCENES AT THE CHOLON PX (Left) Bill Tekavic poses with a bird being sold by a kid in the Cholon PX parking lot. (Right) Logan McMinn shops for sunglasses in the same parking lot. Entrance to the Cholon Exchange Cover of the Exchange Mail Order Catalog "RELAX! RIDE A USAHAC BUS." The ubiquitous "Snoopy" was on the back of every USAHAC route bus in Saigon.  It's no wonder he showed up on the back of my Zippo lighter.  You might have gotten the impression that Snoopy was the semi-official mascot of the war. CMAC HEADQUARTERS CMD COMPOUND (LE VAN DUYET) At right is one of the buildings in the Capital Military District compound occupied by CMAC.  This architecturally beautiful headquarters was built for the French Foreign Legion very early in the 20th Century.  Most of the compound was used by the Vietnamese Forces. The Information Office was not exactly high priority so we were stationed in the MACV Annex Building (left) at Tan Son Nhut Air Base along with a few other sections.  Our office was not air-conditioned but we had a dark room that was.  We also had a large refrigerator for photographic film which we kept stocked with Coca-Cola. Anyone could take a soda but they had to pay 10 cents.  I believe they cost us 5 cents a can at the PX.  The money went into a fund to pay for parties when any of us rotated home. When stocks were low we would take the jeep to Cholon and load up with soda and also with beer for use back at the Walling Hotel.  Each soldier was rationed four cases of beer per month so we had a few guys, who never bought beer, use their ration for the rest of us.  They in turn got their Dr. Pepper, or whatever, hauled to the hotel along with our Schlitz. Why so much beer?  Tekavic and I managed to find a large refrigerator on the second floor and hauled it up to the fifth.  We kept it stocked and I bought a 12 inch TV so we entertained a few nights a week.  A favorite was "Combat" with Vic Morrow, which we called "Like It Is".  We also got to see almost the whole third season of "Star Trek".  CAMP DAVIES - FLASH TOWER              The flash tower at Camp Davies View through an Army issue artillery ranging scope. I managed to climb every CMAC flash tower around Saigon accompanied by either Chuck Galloway, Logan McMinn or Martin Wilson.  The point of all this was to spot the flashes of any rocket launches and bring an artillery strike on the site within four minutes.  The Viet Cong learned to use time fuses and clear the area before the rockets took off.  In the long run that was no help to them as the real difference was the constant patrols of the 199th Light Infantry Brigade and the 3rd Brigade, 82nd Airborne which made it too risky to try further launches.  Plus the ARVN troops were getting quite good at unearthing weapons caches so there was fewer places to store rockets in the vicinity. THE OUTSIDE WORLD INTRUDES Perron reads about the bombing halt while waiting in the CMD Compound. Anything that happened anywhere else than in Vietnam was considered to have happened back in "The World."  When you went home you were going back to "The World."  Whatever we were experiencing at the moment was not happening in "The World." Notice that the jeeps are all "combat parked" head out so they can make a quick getaway in case of attack.  Also, the jeeps all have their canvas up.  When Maj. Gen. Richardson took over from Maj. Gen. Mearns he ordered canvas banned - not just lowered but completely removed from the vehicle.  Just in time for the rainy season! Chase Manhattan Bank sign on the road out of MACV.  My being from NYC, this sign always brought a smile!  I also managed to take a picture of myself in the rear view mirror à la Linda Eastman McCartney who did the same thing a few years later in London.  Everyone thought it was just 'sooo' hip!  Yeah! Right! She screwed up, just as I had. NHA BE RESOURCES CONTROL - INSPECTING DISTRICT TAXIS HEADING INTO SAIGON - December 1968 This looks worthless and intrusive now but it actually helped in discovering weapons parts being smuggled into Saigon. Two GI's from the 199th Light Infantry Brigade at the same checkpoint as at the left. Nha Be police chief with his advisor.  They were quite proud of the sign consequently Logan McMinn and I were sent to do a story on their efforts.  They told us that the bottom figures, in Vietnamese, were in kilometers per hour.  I said to McMinn that the bottom figures needed to be higher.  Somehow the advisor caught on and said the sign had to be repainted. Across the road from the police station was a little makeshift food stand - that's it, just those two things - police and food stand - and nothing else in either direction! Sp4 Logan McMinn (photographer) & Sp4 Dominguez (driving that day) pause for refreshment.  The third bottle on the table is mine.  We had a small discussion over drinking this stuff but decided it was bottled so how bad could it be?  Of course we drank it with ice and the glasses were less than spotless.  Anyway, no one got sick, but then who could tell? MEANWHILE BACK AT CMD - December 1968   The CMAC G3 monkey with Hutchinson.      Apparently this is how thoroughly they clean up outside G3! Back to the war... I knew there was some reason we were there that day other than to take pictures of a monkey.   A group of Thai generals toured the facilities escorted by the commander of the Capital Military District, Major General Nguyen Van Minh (in fatigue cap at left).  I'm not sure but I think it turned out to have been a case of, "You didn't see us.  We're not here." That would be very much like the time Lt. Drake and I were driving on the road to Gia Dinh just outside the perimeter of Tan Son Nhut.  A huge plane was coming in from our right front and the size was awesome.  The scale was outside my reckoning because I thought it was close yet it took a while to get to us and was enormous when it passed overhead.  It was a B-52. But then, I couldn't have seen it because according to what I have read, a B-52 never landed at Tan Son Nhut. Ever! And it continues.  The story that day was a briefing of Gia Dinh district leaders on something called The Phoenix Program!  I even got a handout publicity sheet when I walked in the door.  When we got back we were divested of all literature and told to forget everything we heard. VINH LOC - December 1968 or January 1969 This was why we went to Vinh Loc.  The government had set up a communal TV and radio powered by a hand generator.  I doubt anyone knew just what it was they were supposed to receive. Foosball!  That's what the kids in Vinh Loc were really crazy about. PHILIPPINE ARMY MEDCAP - LONG HOA HAMLET, GIA DINH Story on page 5 HARPOON - 31 Jan 1969, Vol 2 No. 3 The pictures speak for themselves. This was the Philippine Army's contribution to the Vietnam War; doctors, dentists, medics, etc.  Their CMAC Civil Affairs Advisor was Major John Skidmore who drove us out in his jeep, accompanied by the medical team and an ARVN security platoon.  This was a Viet Cong area and the hamlet had only recently been convinced to get medical help.  As we finished up Major Skidmore seemed kind of jittery. He advised us that we were in a dangerous area and would not be convoying back with the doctors or the ARVN security platoon, so he floored the jeep back to Saigon.  I never saw anyone pin a jeep speedometer until that day! (Photo right) A jeep is a notoriously unstable vehicle.  It's model number was M151-A1 but was known in some circles as the "Em-One-Five-One-Flip-One"!  As it turned out the major was an excellent driver. FIRE SUPPORT BASE STEPHANIE - 199th LIGHT INFANTRY BRIGADE       (circa) January 1969 We got word that an element of the 199th LIB had experienced enemy contact so our lieutenant thought it would be nice to pester these guys with requests for taped interviews.  I believe it was my first chance to use my new cassette recorder to get something other than "Hometown Interviews".  I wasn't feeling good about it, yet I sat down at a picnic table with a bunch of GI's and we talked about how we managed to get the jobs we had and how f**ked up life was.  They wanted to know where I had my fatigues tailored (going in, I thought that would be a bone of contention!)  I don't remember whether I gave them the Saigon tailor's address or whether they said they would never get to go there anyway. B/3/7, 199th LIB at CAMP BEAU Here they are lining up for steaks being grilled on split 55 gallon drums.  The cooks and servers are their own sergeants.  That same morning these guys had been in a difficult firefight and lost some friends.  A few were very bitter and, as I wrote above, I thought I might be inviting a Blanket Party if I tried to talk to them.  They opened up first, not me.  They were just a bunch of kids, mostly draftees, who were interested in everything around them so they started asking me questions. I don't know what it is about me.  I didn't like the job I was doing that day but I think I have a knack for going eye-to-eye in a difficult situation.  Even in their pain these guys still had room to make me feel at ease among them.  I'm proud of that and of them. E/1/505, 3rd BRIGADE, 82nd AIRBORNE - HOC MON     (circa) January 1969 The 3/82 had recently arrived in the Saigon area and was OPCON (Operational Control) to CMAC.  This was my first brief encounter with a few of them.  They seemed like they had been there for months. The mission here was to interdict road and canal traffic during the day and take enemy fire by night.  That's a heavy duty .50 cal machine gun on top of the bunker, with a belt loaded and ready to fire. They were side-by-side with an ARVN outpost (below) that had small boats for patrolling the canal. LIEUTENANTS DRAKE & MAHIN ROTATE HOME - February (?) 1969 The two lieutenants were at CMAC-IO  when  I arrived in early September.  While I was still at the Repo Depot at Camp LBJ in Long Binh, Lt. Mahin came up from Saigon to interview me for the job at CMAC.  When he finished he asked if I wanted to be in their unit.  I happened to ask where it was and only then did he tell me, "Saigon!"  I said yes, with a repressed sigh of relief.  He then told me I had been slated for the 4th Infantry Division up country at Pleiku.  I later read that the CG of the 4th Inf Div made his headquarters troops go on patrols in the bush.  Gee! Sorry I missed that! At Long Binh, the Replacement Center was named after Lyndon B. Johnson, hence LBJ.  But there was another LBJ at Long Binh - the detention center, or "Long Binh Jail." The saga of Lt. Mahin's disappearing cassette recorder! MAJOR GENERAL WALTER B. RICHARDSON (with walking stick) CMAC Commanding General BRIGADIER GENERAL EMIL ESCHENBURG CMAC Deputy Commanding General The record states that MG Richardson was Deputy CG of II Field Force and then became CG of CMAC in April, 1969.  This photo was developed by Kodak in Feb, 1969 and I do remember him being in charge at the time.  Richardson has the distinction of going down in history as the man who when asked about the difficulties of defending Saigon said that Saigon was about the same size as Philadelphia so the problems would be about the same. Aside from that impolitic slip the general had a distinguished Army career and was in General George Patton's spearhead to cross the Rhine at Cologne.  Lt. Col. Richardson was the first to put 3rd Army tanks across the river. The discrepancy in official dating may have something to due with when CMAC actually was established as a unit unto itself.  When the Army needs a new unit it doesn't draw up a new Table of Organization & Equipment (TO&E), it borrows an existing TO&E from a defunct unit as a paper plan to use for plugging in the various offices and staffing of the new unit.  CMAC was actually the 581st Military Intelligence Detachment, 66th Military Intelligence Brigade, on paper.  I suspect that CMAC was established in its own right around the time that Richardson appears in the official record and that he may have been doubling as DCG II Field Force, which would supercede his role at CMAC. Master Sergeant Loyal Fulcher explained this TO&E thing to me when he put me in for promotion to sergeant.  I asked why not Sp5 as any Broadcast Specialist would normally be.  He told me my slot in the TO&E was authorized for a rank of E5 Sergeant.  And he added with a smile, "Did you ever hear of an intelligence detachment that had an information office?"  I don't know what I was in the TO&E but it certainly wasn't a Broadcast Specialist. Sergeant indeed!  Fulcher was always looking for a way to cajole me into staying in the Army. TET - February 1969 PRESIDENT NGUYEN VAN THIEU LANDS AT CMD From Left: MG Nguyen Van Minh, President Thieu, Vice President Tran Van Huon, Lt. Gen. Do Cao Tri The top leadership were assembled to review plans for defending Saigon if there were a repeat of Tet, 1968. Center - Major General Nguyen Van Minh, Capital Military District CG Right - Lieutenant General (Airborne) Do Cao Tri, III Corps CG I don't know who's back is to the camera but I have a feeling it may be both generals' boss. Meanwhile the troops had to make other preparations.  Sp4 Don Christensen, graphic artist, rides shotgun in a jeep escorting the buses to and from work.  Aside from these talents Don blew a pretty mean blues harp. I had to pull this duty once, carrying a shotgun in the back of a jeep.  The rear seat had been reversed so two could sit facing traffic to the rear.  When we got to the Walling Hotel the jeeps, front and rear, had to stop traffic until everyone exited the bus.  It was taking a long time, people were getting antsy, then a young man on a motorbike right in front of me gunned his engine and started to roll forward.  I had to place the barrel of my shotgun against his chest.  I felt like s**t but he got the message. Left: CMAC clerks and drivers with flak vests and shotguns ride through Saigon on guard duty with the buses. Photo by Sp5 Chuck Galloway, CMAC photographer. Galloway Camera Story 0n page 6 HARPOON - 28 Feb 1969, Vol 2 No. 5 A few days before Tet, Staff Sergeant Charles Washington wanted to get some street photos of preparations for the holiday.  I drove the jeep to Cholon and we found some scenes that interested him.  I figured I would document the crowds that he attracted! On a trip to Long Binh, SSgt. Washington told me the provenance of the jeep I was driving.  I already knew it was "off the books" and that it had been Major Glant's jeep when I first arrived, but as we passed the big scrap heap alongside the rode outside the huge Army base at Long Binh he pointed at the pile of mangled truck parts and told me, "That's where this jeep comes from.  It was put together from parts in that scrap yard."  I had realized early on that something was up with this jeep.  Every time we drove it we had to find a water hose at each stop to refill the radiator.  When you have a motor pool jeep these problems get fixed right away - we took ours to a civilian garage in Saigon where Vietnamese mechanics worked on it.  One time when we went to pick it up there was a mechanic squatting in the open engine compartment! Aerial photo by Sp5 Chuck Galloway Galloway Camera The Walling Hotel (now a three star hotel) and the two sisters who worked at the desk, dressed for Tet 1969. It seemed to me that the population of Saigon knew nothing unfortunate was going to happen that day. By this time our army of paperboys had doubled in size, not to mention photogenics! A TRIP TO "THE KIDNEY" IN NHA BE PROVINCE - FOR WHAT? An unmarked Huey was waiting for us at Free World Helipad to take us to a hamlet in what was called "The Kidney" near the mouth of the Nha Be River at the South China Sea. It was early morning so my aerial photos of Saigon were too misty. This is looking East into the sun over the nearby paddies. Our destination (above), name unknown, purpose unknown, and (right) the future VC to greet us.   In the Army you show up at work and someone says, "Grab your stuff we are going to Nha Be."  No one says why or what it's about, you find out when you get there.  Rather than worry about it I just passed the time by taking photos.  At this point I still don't know what's going on but it seems the place is important enough to have an ARVN Ranger outpost.  You don't want to be here when it gets dark.  We are told there is gunfire almost every night. It's a rally for the local Popular Defense Force and medals are being presented. The place is thick with ARVN Rangers.  Maybe to make sure everyone has the proper attitude.  Maybe they mean ME! A little fun for the kids - I'm sure Ho Chi Minh wouldn't mind. And there's our lift - we are now out of here! We swing out over the South China Sea then turn West for Saigon Miles and miles of water-soaked land - we're about half way home. Finally - Saigon again. Camp Le Van Duyet, CMAC HQ as we drop into Free World Helipad. I had a great time sightseeing but I really don't know why I was there.  I suppose I could also say that in the larger sense! RECEPTION FOR BRIG. GEN. CHARLES GIRARD, NEW DEPUTY COMMANDER OF CMAC - March 1969 Left: Martin Wilson and Bill Tekavic in the honor guard. BG Girard works the reception line.  To his right is BG Frederic Davison, Commander of the 199th Light Infantry Brigade.  Girard succeeded MG Richardson as head of CMAC in November 1969 but fell ill and died in January 1970. BG Frederic E. Davison BG Charles Girard ARVN Ranger Brigadier General Lam Son, Deputy Commanding General CMD,  was known as the "Father of the Vietnamese Rangers" and was head of the ARVN Special Forces. The funny thing about most of these guys was when you were introduced they stuck their hand out to shake, an instant before you tried to salute! A VISIT FROM GYPSY ROSE LEE    Gypsy Rose Lee was the only celebrity to visit CMAC while I was there.  To her right in both photos is Sergeant Major Salvatore Cherry Story on page 3 HARPOON - 15 Jan 1969, Vol 2 No. 2 ETS - June 1969 Myself, Lt. Col. Paul Timm and MSG Berry on the roof of the MACV Annex for Berry's and my "Going Home" party. As with most cataclysmic periods in your life, this one came to an end quietly.  I don't have any color slides of CMAC developed after April 1969.  You do tend to lose interest the closer you get to going home! CMAC was the best assignment I had in my two years in the Army.  Overall everyone was a friend and very good at their jobs.  I know I had an opportunity, like few soldiers, to be a "fly-on-the-wall" but since I wasn't really a reporter or photographer I didn't bother to take notes.   Missed opportunities, you move on. THE CMAC NEWSPAPER The HARPOON was started soon after I arrived at CMAC.  Initially Lt. Mahin contributed most of the content and the editor was SSgt. Bird.  Not long after, we were joined by Sp4 Dave Tashman (pictured at left), a draftee like me.  Dave had worked for newspapers so he had "civilian acquired skills".  Soon he was the full-time editor and reporter, with me contributing a piece here and there.  My actual job was Broadcast Specialist but since I knew my way around a radio newsroom I was used mostly as a reporter.  Below are links to three editions of the CMAC HARPOON and also a piece I wrote for the Army magazine "UPTIGHT". HARPOON - 15 Jan 1969, Vol 2 No. 2 HARPOON - 31 Jan 1969, Vol 2 No. 3 HARPOON - 28 Feb 1969, Vol 2 No. 5 IN DEFENSE OF SAIGON - UPTIGHT Magazine, Winter 1969 FREEDOM BIRD World Airways Postcard I left the same way I arrived - in a coach seat on a World Airways Boeing 707.  I went to Bien Hoa, north of Saigon, where they searched my belongings for contraband.  They also looked inside cameras so I knew not to have film loaded but they also checked 35mm film cannisters to make sure they contained film.  We then assembled in a hangar and waited.   There was a soda machine nearby but nobody had any money!  I didn't think to reload a camera, or maybe they said "no photographs."  I don't remember.  At a signal we ran out to the plane in two files, one to the front loading ramp and the other to the rear, the same as in the postcard above.  I had the distinct impression they were wary of random mortar attacks so the less time on the ground, the better.  About 24 hours later I was at the Oakland Army Terminal processing out of the service. bwickham@nyc.rr.com Visit Jim Finnegan's Capital Military Assistance Command Website at SAIGON WARRIOR