Slides Lewis Barger

........................170 Photos.
LB - 1

LB - 2

LB - 3 I’m ready, where are they? - Don’t ask what’s smoking behind me, you probably don’t want to know.

LB - 4 Took a lot of work to keep the weapon systems working. There were a lot of “field modifications”

LB - 5 Sometimes, we had other visitors who thought our bunkers were just a fine place to live. Turned out they were wrong.

LB - 6 Supposed to be deadly poison, no one wanted to be the test case.

LB - 7 A little evening relaxation.

LB - 8 Whatever comforts we had, we built.

LB - 9 We didn’t get the high class lumber.

LB - 10 These are the guys that kept us in the air.

LB - 11 A crew chief’s work is never done.

LB - 12 A door gunner’s either. With 6 M60’s, there was always something to clean.

LB - 13 Major Delvy – Major Francis X. Delvy

LB - 14 A never ending gin game.

LB - 15 A hot afternoon, nothing to do but sit and sweat. Nobody minded an alert, the air got a lot cooler about 2000 feet up.

LB - 16 Obviously after we got wired for electricity, but before we got the tin roof. We made a parachute silk liner that kept the worst of the heat out.

LB - 17 Leaving for dawn patrol in the rainy season, what a treat.

LB - 18 No use drying before you get back.

LB - 19 The 155 SP Battery out our back door, H & I fire every night.

LB - 20 Lloyd never did get his maps folded right, but then, he never got lost either.

LB - 21 The old hooch, ready for its new tin roof. Man - are we uptown or what?

LB - 22 Not a lot of space, not a lot of neat.

LB - 23 The Ops Tent.

LB - 24 Don’t know how, but they kept up with where we all were.

LB - 25 Check out the radio gear, about 200 lbs of it.

LB - 26 Here I am in my space.

LB - 27 The home of Centaur 6, he had a little more space.

LB - 28 It was the 60’s after all.

LB - 29 We had some of the first permanent power in the Division, until Lighting 6 found out about it.

LB - 30 Most of our supplies still came on the daily convoy.

LB - 31 Was grateful to get the photo, after a while you tend to forget that not everybody lives in tents and wears OD everything.

LB - 32

LB - 33 Quiet day on Road Security at Go Dah Ha.

LB - 34 One nice thing about the big 540 blade – you always had some shade.

LB - 35 The kids liked us, so they only put battery acid in the Coke part of the time.

LB - 36 A Centaur Aerorifle hauler – UH 1D

LB - 37 Hard to imagine all the VCs started out like this.

LB - 38 We always bought the kids a drink first, if they didn’t drink ‘em, we didn’t drink ‘em.

LB - 39 Big sister keeping a sharp eye on the proceedings.

LB - 40 They know a soft touch when they see one.

LB - 41 Have to wonder where these kids are now, and how do they remember this.

LB - 42 The local retailers.

LB - 43 Tanks, you just got to love em. - But how do I get back to the box of C’s?

LB - 44 Bad news on the way to somebody.

LB - 45 A couple that didn’t get away. - But they got a free helicopter ride!

LB - 46 They get them started young.

LB - 47 Tough guy – - Wrong place - Wrong time - Holding the wrong stuff.

LB - 48 Quite a haul, this was a good day.

LB - 49 Most of it was made in the USA, but there’s some Chinese stuff mixed in.

LB - 50 At least this much won’t be coming back up to us.

LB - 51 Practically new Chi Com rifle.

LB - 52 VC first aid book.

LB - 53 Mr. Menzl with a VC flag – they even let the slick drivers hold it.

LB - 54 Mr. Dunbar, my sometimes co-pilot – when he couldn’t get out of it.

LB - 55 Chinese tracer ammo – the green stuff.

LB - 56 Me and my best friend.

LB - 57 Went through a few of these in my day.

LB - 58 Nobody wants to see these bad boys coming at you.

LB - 59 Ready to load on the next bird.

LB - 60 The light scouts flew these things the whole time I was there. They stayed up high, no speed or protection.

LB - 61 A suspicious bunch if ever I saw one.

LB - 62 They were always blindfolded when in our area.

LB - 63 They came in all shapes, sizes and ages. The frail looking ones were sometimes the toughest.

LB - 64 ARVIN Intelligence Officers always came to question any prisoners.

LB - 65 Some look happy, some look worried.

LB - 66 The “Old Man” making sure everything is done right.

LB - 67 Our reports said this guy was a local area VC commander.

LB - 68 I think they let this one go after he was questioned.

LB - 69 They always did their best to look poor and innocent if they were going to be captured.

LB - 70 A lot of unwanted attention.

LB - 71 They got food and water if they asked for it.

LB - 72 Some souvenirs from the guys we caught. Wasn’t that nice, they were willing to share their bullets with us

LB - 73 They weren’t all bad shots.

LB - 74 What have they got against radio antennas?

LB - 75 A little close to some important stuff.

LB - 76 I think we counted about 4o holes this particular time.

LB - 77 LRRP’s coming in from a tough surveillance mission.

LB - 78 Flying is good, crawling in the rice patties and jungles is baaddd.

LB - 79 We almost always had to risk life and limb to pick them up – but I think they were worth it.

LB - 80 They took a few things with them, what’s surprising is, they also brought it back.

LB - 81

LB - 82 Christmas 1966 at Cu Chi. - That’s not Santa - and that’s no sleigh. - But we were glad to see her anyway.

LB - 83 D Troop Infantry Platoon - Coming in from patrol – Getting ready for the Christmas Celebration.

LB - 84 The Young Hero getting into the spirit of the season. - Don’t know where the hooch decorations came from.

LB - 85 Staff Sgt. Grazzanio and his elves at work

LB - 86 Troops and kids of Cu Chi and Tam An Hui.

LB - 87 The troops had more fun than the kids, who mostly didn’t have a clue what was going on.

LB - 88 There’s always one.

LB - 89 Who knows what they were thinking. - But the goodie bags they got overcame lots of other questions.

LB - 90 A good day for all concerned.

LB - 91 More Troops and kids of Cu Chi and Tam An Hui.

LB - 92 Everybody, smile for the cameras.

LB - 93 Days like this make you wonder what the fighting’s all about.

LB - 94 Loading up to go back home.

LB - 95 Guess you enjoyed it on TV – cause what we saw was the backs of the TV crew. - This is what the troops saw of Bob Hope –

LB - 96

LB - 97 Big Canal south of Saigon.

LB - 98 The puff of smoke is artillery landing – We were really interested in knowing where it was coming from.

LB - 99 Country side just south of Tay Ninh, I think. - Viet Nam from 1500 feet AGL looks nice.

LB - 100 Lush and green, lots of places to hide.

LB - 101 Army? Let’s see, what are the clues?

LB - 102 Looking north east toward Tay Ninh.

LB - 103 Highway 1, we looked at it every day.

LB - 104 Good rice paddy area.

LB - 105 Most of the villages were on this highway.

LB - 106 One of the larger hamlets.

LB - 107 These puffy clouds could close up fast, leaving us VFR on top.

LB - 108 In many ways, a very pretty country side.

LB - 109 Now this was really dangerous - traffic in Saigon.

LB - 110 A Saigon neighborhood.

LB - 111 Slums are slums, no matter where you are.

LB - 112 Vehicles come in great variety.

LB - 113 No one yields to anyone.

LB - 114 An open spot, warp speed ahead.

LB - 115 Back to normal.

LB - 116 Guess we must be near the airport.

LB - 117 Oh yeah, Tan Son Nhut – from the ramp side. This is where we parked when we flew in

LB - 118 I got the privilege of riding the convoy back to Cu Chi.

LB - 119 Waiting to get into the American compound to work.

LB - 120 The kids all came out every day.

LB - 121 The drivers carried bags of hard candy to throw.

LB - 122 The Burbs.

LB - 123 Grab the candy before the next truck arrives.

LB - 124 Well past the burbs.

LB - 125 Just a boy and his buffalo.

LB - 126 Boy is this a long straight road.

LB - 127

LB - 128 Sunset over the harbor of Vung Tau

LB - 129 Vung Tau Fishing Fleet

LB - 130 A great place for thunder heads – if you like that sort of thing

LB - 131 A Sunset walk on the beach

LB - 132 Vung Tau Harbor -

LB - 133 House/Office in Vung Tau

LB - 134 We were customers so we got to share the meal, it was good as I remember

LB - 135 The Court Yard

LB - 136 Looking out over the main residential area

LB - 137 Fishing fleet headed out.

LB - 138 Don’t know how these guys got to go back home.

LB - 139 The kid in back is repairing fishing net with 10 fingers and 10 toes – Ham in front wouldn’t move.

LB - 140 Going to spend time on the beach, got to have a hat. - How could you resist?

LB - 141 Everybody selling something to the G.I.’s

LB - 142 Those stationed at Vung Tau (AF and Navy of course) had a nice place to get in an early morning run.

LB - 143 Don’t know who this was - but obviously having a good time

LB - 144 Best treat on the beach? A fresh pineapple trimmed for you right on the spot

LB - 145 Local entrepreneurs

LB - 146 You get a job young – making jewelry and decorations

LB - 147 Fresh Fruit Market – looked a lot better than it smelled.

LB - 148 Our garbage dumps were a source of great wealth

LB - 149 If it didn’t rain a lot, I don’t think you could stand it.

LB - 150

LB - 151 Tan Son Nhut – waiting for that big silver bird

LB - 152 On the way to Taiwan – we thought. - Big Typhoon thought otherwise.

LB - 153 Guess we’ll go to Hong Kong instead.

LB - 154 Approach to Hong Kong

LB - 155 Hong Kong

LB - 156 Hong Kong

LB - 157 Hong Kong

LB - 158 When in Hong Kong – You have to buy stuff – It’s in the rules.

LB - 159 Finally got to Taiwan – just a couple of days late. - The kids were playing some sort of game, I added interest by throwing a hand full of coins out my window.

LB - 160 Our friendly Taiwan tailor – we were a little short on civies. Measure today, get them tomorrow.

LB - 161 Don’t know what it was, but sure had nice decorations

LB - 162 National Art Museum

LB - 163 Buddhist Temple

LB - 164 Buddhist Temple - Interior – or maybe Confucius, don’t know how to tell.

LB - 165 Taiwan – a beautiful place - Chiang Kai Chek’s name cut into the mountain side. They really like him here.

LB - 166 Me, with various famous entities –

LB - 167 Taipei street scenes - Where the big guys hang their hat.

LB - 168 Inside the Art Museum

LB - 169 Inside the Art Museum

LB - 170 The End and Beginning