MDCARMA volunteered one of his 'Nam shots a while back and he got me to thinking there might be one or two more of mine I hadn't dug out yet. So, I went a ramblin' through the old shoebox and came up with a few.
These were taken with a Minolta SRT-101 with a 58mm f1.4 lens. Scanned on my Minolta Dimage Scan Elite II, and worked on PSE.
I lived in Saigon for about 4 months. Rest of the time I was "on base" in one of the open-air green barracks that populated Tan Son Nhut Airbase. So here are a few visual memories, and I hope that MDCARMA dusts off some of his old Kodachromes and gives us a look at his shoebox sometime.
This image below is from an Ektachrome-X slide taken in 1968.
This fellow is a fruit/vegetable peddler making his rounds. Behind him, looking straight at us is his significant other. Who knows, a few kids could be back there somewhere in the cart.
If you look closely at the vehicle, you can see it really has a lot of utility designed into it: The roof appears to be metal, with riveted or tacked edging on it for longevity. The canvas sides may allow the carrying space to be sized vertically to the load being carried. The wheels have knobby rubber tires on them, which were undoubtedly good for withstanding the mud of monsoon season. The horse itself is not large, and was likely sized for the peddler’s needs. (Why feed more animal than you need to?)
This image below is from an Ektachrome-X slide taken in 1968.
Typical Saigon trinket stand. These stands were ubiquitous, and I ignored them. Now when I look at it, I sure would like one of those Air Vietnam travel bags, or a silk map of Vietnam (did they only depict South Vietnam?) or a small piece of mahogany furniture, or yes, that little stack of Kodak yellow boxes we see there would be nice. Chances are I was looking for a bar instead.
And what thread of mine would be complete without an airplane shot or two?
The shot below is from an Ektachrome-X slide taken in August, 1968. I think I took this through a borrowed aftermarket 90-210 telephoto.
This is a Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF) C-47 "Gooney Bird". As old as the type was then, nearly every military force in the world was operating them. Tan Son Nhut was an airbase of gigantic proportions. From certain locations on the flightline, aircraft of all types seemed to stretch to the horizon.
The photo below is from a 1968 Kodachrome II transparency.
RF-4C Phantom II recon birds of the 460th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing (TRW) in their revetments at TSN. On the far right is what I believe was called a "Scat Back" T-39 transport. Myself and three other enlisted buddies flew in one of these for a week off in Bangkok. This was a courier route, and we stopped at just about every airbase in Thailand. We flew back to TSN on a C-130 Hercules with a dozen or so other guys. In the center of the Herk's cargo hold was an 8 ft. high wooden crate about 30 feet long. Through the open top we were all intrigued to see.........corn. That's right, thousands of ears of unhusked corn. Best at times not to ask questions, you might just ruin a squadron's well-deserved clam bake.
