From October 1964 to March 1965 I was the lowest ranking member of a five-man American “advisory team” stationed in a small Vietnamese village called Tân Ba on the bank of the Dong Nai River. At night we could see the lights of Biên Hòa air base across the river Read More …

A day or two after my arrival, Major Giam informed us (through me as his interpreter) that he wanted us to move into a different house. It was located at the highest point in the village, just slightly higher than the rest, but one of the basics of military tactics Read More …

In the center of the living room, where the television would be in an American home, the old man had a shrine with a picture of a big eye in the center. This reminded me vaguely of the CBS television eye, but actually it was a depiction of the “One Read More …

On October 31, 1964, I rode the helicopter up to Phuoc Vinh, the zone headquarters, to spend one night and pick up some supplies. That night, while I was sleeping at Phuoc Vinh, the Viet Cong launched a mortar attack on Biên Hòa airbase, across the river from Tân Ba, Read More …

One day the old man told our Major C. through an ARVN interpreter that in all his seventy-eight years he had never been up in a helicopter. So we talked one of the American pilots into taking him up for a ride, sort of as a small gesture of thanks Read More …

Thirty years later, in 1995, my son Nick and I hired a car and a driver in Biên Hòa and set off to find the village of Tân Ba. I had a general idea of how to get there, but didn’t know where to turn off the main road, so Read More …