Photos by steve russ : on the map, in Google Earth (KML)

When I was there I put orange racing strips on the hood of one of the HTs. In 69 or70

107 MM Rocket - July 9, 1970. Lucky day for us.. Landed in a ditch close to the building

I also have a pic of George's styro art. It's a polaroid of me leaning on the water fountain button with the water flowing and my crew chief, SSgt Bill Latimer hamming it up behind me from the latrine. Don't know if Panoramio will post it since it's an interior shot. The cartoon is the one where one of the guys (can't remember his name but remember he was TALL)holding his arm out 'holding' a 750 pounder on the chains. If I remember correctly, George was a cartoonist for Disney before going in the service. I seem to also remember he and TSgt 'D' (Damiano?)were friends. Speaking of D, he and I were trying to catch some sun on a couple chaise loungers he had after a shift when an incoming rocket landed down the street. I can still see his eyes as big as saucers when we looked at each other before hightailing it into the barracks! We were both getting short and wanted to get some color after being on nights all those months.

If you feel like sending me your email addr, I'll send you a few pics I have. I'll gamble and put mine here: steve@srphotog.com.

Good to hear from you!

This is looking SE towards the South China Sea. Taken while working Line Delivery from one of the revetments. The location is a guess, based on memory and the fact that you can just barely see the start of the hill along the left hand skyline that is situated to the southeast by the bay, a little over 3 1/3 miles away. If anyone has info on this bird and/or her pilot, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

Like Steve, I vividly remember my first day in country. Also flew into Cam Rhan around 9 pm and had to wait for a flight to Happy Valley. My friend, Bruce, from Seattle (and Lowry) napped out on a picnic table at Cam Rhan waiting for the snack bar to re-open at midnight after a cleaning. I awoke to the strange sound of foreign voices and saw a group of Vietnamese (ARVN) troops standing around me. I thought I'd been captured already until I saw their US Army advisor nearby. Welcome to the Nam!

I also remember the weird french fries the snack bar made. Basically mashed potatoes, squeezed thru a can with square holes in it, then fried. Hey,it was the closest thing to FF's we were going to get!

One other memory most of us had on arrival, I'm sure - the rediculous heat and arriving in summer class A's! At 9pm, we're getting off the plane loosening our ties (nothing like wearing a suit to a combat zone) and old timers walking around with field jackets and flak vests, trying to stay warm. I left 10 months later around the same time at night and was one of those guys sitting in the MAC terminal wearing my field jacket with yellow VO short-timers ribbon attached chuckling at the newbies wiping the sweat from their eyes!

This photo was taken September 12, 2007.