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Project Jenny KLIK - 1st Inf Di v Women in Vietnam RELATED-- To AFVN To Saigon To Vietnam Further Afield Index
From: Jim White
Dated: June 16, 2020
Subject: Have you ever had one, two or three?
According to your message of September 29, 2012, you thought you were at Bragg in the class after mine. I left on July 19, 1970 but am not sure exactly when your class started. I missed being Distinguished Graduate by 0.1 point (out of a 100 max). I think someone used an M-1 pencil because I was the Class CO. However, I must also admit I was not that great at the run through the woods. I did discover a short cut but instead of taking it, I would post myself at the cut off and make everyone run the course as intended. Might not have made me very popular among those who wanted to shorten their run but that wasn't my problem.
I think you are right about the pronunciation of Ao Dai / Ao Yai.
I do remember Tu Do (spelling?) Street but seldom went to the bars there because the girls were rather "pushy." I did go to the Blue Diamond Chinese Restaurant on Tu Do perhaps a half-dozen times with various friends, some who were with AFVN and some who were not.
Note: The next two messages were sent under the subject "Have you ever had one, two or three?" Webmaster
From: Frank Rogers
Date: June 14, 2020
Subject: Have you ever had one, two or three?
Howdy Jim, I know we were not in the same class at Bragg because I would not have been the Distinguished Graduate if we had been. If I remember correctly from what you posted before, were we one class apart. I don’t remember the dates of mine, but from the building where we studied Vietnamese I could see people outside taking a break during the investigation of the doctor, Captain MacDonald, who was discharged but later convicted of killing his wife and kids. I also remember the daily run through the woods after class. One thing my Vietnamese niece corrected me on is that the traditional dress ao dai which we pronounced as “d” is actually as “y” - ao yai. Remember Tu Do Street in Saigon?
FrankR
From: Frank Rogers
Dated: May 24, 2017
Subject: Monkey Mountain
Hello Ralph,
I was at Da Nang June to November 1971, doing TV News and DJ as an Army SFC. Forgive my lack of memory for this time and others, (including this morning).
One event I do remember is the typhoon when one man fell through a trap door that blew off . Another is when a visiting officer set off a flare that went through the wall into the “mess hall,” just missing someone inside.
I think McNeese* (or Mc-something) was a MSGT on the Mountain. Other names escape me. One man was of Asian ancestry++ and the ARVN guard at the bottom of the mountain would not let our group go through until he showed his ID card, something he felt was discriminatory as he was in US uniform.
I did have another of those “hard to believe if it were in a movie incidents.” I was going to an exchange or mess hall down the mountain and met a Navy Chief who was on a ship with me as a PO 2 Machinist in 1958-59. I guess not too impossible, as one time I was at Clark AB in Army uniform with my wife and saw the Captain of that same ship in conversation with other officers. He came over to us after and I could introduce him to my wife as the one who had done me a very big favor. That’s why my son is his namesake.
Keep safe,
* Chester McNeese, MSG, USA, was the NCOIC at Da Nang in 1970-71.
** Most likely Tado Urasaki, SP5, USA, came to AFVN in October 1970 and was first assigned to the Engineering Section in Saigon.
He had been born in Japan and then had moved to the US and was later drafted.
LTC Lawrence W. Souville, USA, AFVN OIC with Merlita Rogers (wife of SFC Frank Rogers, USA).
Taken sometime in 1971.
Frank Rogers SFC, USA
Saigon / Da Nang 1970-71
The reason I went into the Navy was to go to electronics school to get that First Class, so I'd increase chances for a radio job as DJ plus. I was working with the usual Third at the time, doing DJ and all those other jobs we were allowed under that class. I got enlisted with an "electronics field guarantee." A guy I went in with got ET school, but I was sent to EM school even though all my test scores were higher than his.... Explanation to me was that I had such a high mechanical score, I should go to the "Knuckle Busting" rate. Bummer! So, when my time was up, I got out and went into the Army where I was given a Broadcaster MOS. Never worked on a First Class because I stayed in for a career, then worked TV in Japan so it wasn't needed.
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