The Ugly American - Vung Tau - 1969
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Vung Tau is a city on the coast of Vietnam about 50 miles southeast of Saigon (80 miles SE of Cu Chi) that was home to the Army Aviation schools for training pilots in-country, including transitions to the AH-1G Cobra and the instructor pilot courses for the various aircraft. It was also one of the in-country Rest and Recreation (R&R) sites. It was a fairly secure location on a peninsula that extended into the South China Sea and had some very nice accommodations for GIs staying there as well as some beautiful beaches.
The Centaurs occasionally supported the Australians that were located at Nui Dat with Scout teams (one Cobra and one Loach). Often, they would request us for a whole day, but would release us after a couple of morning missions. It was not uncommon for us to go to nearby Vung Tau for the afternoon and then fly home.
On one occasion, we were released early. We decided to take everyone to Vung Tau for the afternoon. When you went to Vung Tau, you parked your aircraft at the airfield and rode a Lambretta taxi that could hold 5-6 Americans (or 10-15 Vietnamese). On this occasion, we walked to the gate and hopped in a Lambretta. The driver told us five MPC to go to town. Off we went.
We got to a bar downtown, and offered up the five MPC – and the driver said “no, no – five MPC each!!!” The Scout pilot with us said, “you guys go ahead and I’ll take care of this.” We all went in the bar and the Scout pilot joined us about five minutes later. We spent an hour or so grabbing some lunch, listening to music and talking with the bar girls, then decided that it was time to head for home.
We walked outside the bar to look for a taxi to take us back to the base. About 20 feet from the door, there was the Lambretta that brought us parked by the side. We walked down that way – no driver around – until we looked in the back. The unconscious driver was laying in the back of the Lambretta somewhat the worse for wear.
We did find a ride further down the street and made it back to the airfield. Not much was said about how the Scout pilot had “taken care” of the situation, but he sort of became infamous amongst the scout teams.
Looking back on this misadventure, I recall that as a young/immature GI, I pretty much only saw the amusement in the situation. But now that I’ve matured (some) over the past 50+ years, I’m somewhat outraged at our behavior. From my perspective now, I can see how this type of ugly behavior must have impacted the war, how the civilian Vietnamese must have become disillusioned by this type of behavior from invaders that were in their country ostensibly to save them from the evil communists.
Every veteran who served in Vietnam knows that the VC/NVA did some very horrific things to their fellow citizens – and virtually all of us were shocked at their behavior, but incidents like this (and many others) where the Ugly American came out leaves me wishing that at that time I would have had the maturity to protest and get help for the Lambretta driver. War/Combat does seem to bring out both the best and worst of all of us, depending on the situation. One of many of life’s hard lessons I learned in Vietnam, albeit too late in my life.