My number had come up with the draft before my Jan 1968 graduation from Fresno State College, writes Lance Nix, so I worked a part time job until I was finally inducted into the U.S. Army early June of 1968. By the end of October 1968 I was en-route to the Vietnam War. I was assigned to MACV Team 66 in the Mekong Delta as a member of the PHOENIX Program. October 1969 I returned from Vietnam and was assigned to a training unit with the 5th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colorado Springs, Colorado. I finished my service there and finally got my honorable discharge early June of 1970
This is a pictorial record of the people and places encountered during the “vacation” part of my tour in paradise with MACV Team 66 and the Phoenix/Phung Huoag Program in Dinh Tuong Province in and around the city of My Tho.
I try to remember Vietnam as being a working vacation. A few pictures from the “Working Part” of my “Big Adventure” in Vietnam from November 1968 to October 1969. It was a war, we were in constant danger, we were seeing, doing and experiencing things civilized men should not have to endure, but most of us survived and now it is over and time to move on.
River Front Kids in 1969
At the Mekong River front in southeast My Tho, Dinh Tuong Province, Vietnam.
ARVN soldier and his wife gleening the last fish from the drying rain ponds by the Binh Duc air strip west of My Tho in 1969. (Dinh Tuong Province, Vietnam) (scanned colour slide)
My Tho Contrasts 1969.
I caught these two ladies on film as they walked by the sandbags and razor wire around the military operational center at the south end of My Tho across from the Navy dock on the Mekong River.
Cuu Long Restaurant in My Tho — 1969
Captain Kozak, Luetenant Short and I had a nice Chinese lunch here. (Dinh Tuong Province in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta)
3 My Tho Produce Vendors 1969
At the My Tho market in the year 1969 (Dinh Tuong Province in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta).
At My Tho’s downtown market in Dinh Tuong Province, Vietnam, in the year 1969. (scanned colour slide)
My Tho’s downtown market in Dinh Tuong Province, Vietnam, in the year 1969.
Decorative-Vegies-For-TET–1969
At the My Tho market in1969. (Dinh Tuong Province, Vietnam) (scanned colour slide)
Marigolds for TET in 1969
Flower vendors selling for TET New Year celebration at the My Tho market in Dinh Tuong Province, Vietnam, in the year 1969.
Busy with mid-day shoppers at the My Tho market in Dinh Tuong Province, Vietnam, in 1969.
In My Tho’s eastside commercial district in 1969. (Dinh Tuong Province, Vietnam).
Shopping district in eastern My Tho (Dinh Tuong Province, Vietnam) in the year 1969.
A reminent from the French colonial days, the long loaves of french bread were plentiful in My Tho. (Dinh Tuong Province, Vietnam)
At My Tho’s market in 1969. (Dinh Tuong Province in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta) (scanned colour slide)
At the My Tho market in 1969. (Dinh Tuong Province in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta) (scanned colour slide)
Local men take a mid-day break for a little card game. In northeast My Tho in 1969. (Dinh Tuong Province in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam) (scanned colour slide)
Noodle Gobbler in 1969
Seen on one of my My Tho walk-a-bouts in 1969. (Dinh Tuong Province, Mekong Delta of Vietnam) (scanned Kodachrome slide)
In My Tho on the Mekong River, Dinh Tuong Province, Vietnam.
In My Tho on the Mekong River, Dinh Tuong Province, Vietnam in 1969.
The public park fronting on the Mekong River at the southeast corner of My Tho. (Dinh Tuong Province, Vietnam, in the year 1969).
In southeast My Tho by the Mekong River in 1969. (Dinh Tuong Province, Vietnam)
At the southeast corner of My Tho where it fronts on the Mekong River.
Intel Staff from Saigon January 1969
On the ferry on our way to Kien Hoa Province. These guys were down from Saigon. They had heard about the Coconut Monk and invited me to go with them for a visit on a day off from the war. Seemed so weird in the midst of everything to just go sight seeing but then the daylight hours were generally safe. It was the night when things heated up.
Jan1969
South Vietnamese war boat on the south shore of the Coconut Monks island in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta near the city of My Tho.
Vietnam’s Coconut Monk in his tower at the east end of his “floating” platform refuge at the very eastern tip of his island in the Mekong River near My Tho, VIetnam.
Young Visitor To Coconut Monk in 1969
Coconut Monk devotees holding services on the “floating” platform. (Mekong Delta, Vietnam, January 1969)
Stern view of water taxi approaching Kien Hoa Province from Coconut Monk’s island.
Approaching from the west, the entrance to the Coconut Monk’s complex and “floating” refuge as seen in the year 1969. (Vietnam’s Mekong Delta near the city of My Tho)
MyThoCityRiverFront-1969–img129
At the southeast corner of My Tho where it fronts on the Mekong River.
Street Brats in My Tho in 1969
On the street in front of the MACV Team 66 personnel residence, Hotel 1, in My Tho city, Dinh Tuong Province, Vietnam.
Veterans Day 2014, Fort Ord, CA
Back in uniform 45 years later. How time flies.
At the 5th Annual Veterans Day celebration sponsored by the Friends of the Fort Ord Warhorse and the City of Marina. This years event was in honor of the veterans of the Vietnam War.
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