Nh́n lại cuộc chiến Việt Nam
Nh́n lại cuộc chiến Việt Nam
[IMG]http://danghoanghai.9.forumer.com/uploads/danghoanghai/post-15-1272634160.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://danghoanghai.9.forumer.com/uploads/danghoanghai/post-15-1272634181.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://danghoanghai.9.forumer.com/uploads/danghoanghai/post-15-1272634480.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://danghoanghai.9.forumer.com/uploads/danghoanghai/post-15-1272634540.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://danghoanghai.9.forumer.com/uploads/danghoanghai/post-15-1272634918.jpg[/IMG]
Nh́n lại cuộc chiến Việt Nam
[B]Nh́n lại cuộc chiến Việt Nam
MEMENTOS OF VIETNAM WAR
P1[/B]
[IMG]http://vnafmamn.com/memento.jpg[/IMG]
It's nice to start with an item related to VNAF, unfortunately what I have at hand right now is my own stuffs: the Republic of Vietnam currency. You may say these Piastre bills have no more value. Yes, but long ago these were my "real money", the money in my pocket when I left Vietnam in April 29th, 1975. What the hell I carried these "defunct" money with me when I left VN for America in 1975? Man, I wasn't sure I could make it on that fatal day so at least I still had some money to buy a ride home! After more than 30 years, the VNCH bills are still with me. They are my mementos!
I believe that all ARVN soldiers would feel a kind of melancholy when looking at these VNCH bills, because they remind a lot of happy moment at the beginning of every month (monthly pay day; hey, the Vietnamese military slang in 2nd Corps is: "bat cai luong"). Even though the thin, humble bundle of salary lasted only in..a few days. Then they wouldn't know where the next "real breakfast" would come from..! But one thing is for sure: instant Chinese noodle. Now looking back, the dangerous living days at war time seem to be the happy days of our lives, even with so little money. We take the fullest day, one day at a time; living happy day, day by day...All Vietnam Vets would agree!
How many "old timers" of Vietnam War era still bear along with their souls the so-called "mementos" like the VNCH bills I am going to post below. They are not just the mediocre objects at all; each of them can tell a simple anecdote, a true story or perhaps a...real legend.
SOUTH VIETNAM'S CURRENCY
[IMG]http://vnafmamn.com/mementos/coin.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://vnafmamn.com/mementos/twenty.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://vnafmamn.com/mementos/5hundred.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://vnafmamn.com/mementos/fivehundred.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://vnafmamn.com/mementos/thousand.jpg[/IMG]
SIGN OF THE FORGOTTEN PAST
MEYERKORD HOTEL
Meyerkord Hotel
[IMG]http://vnafmamn.com/mementos/meyerkords.jpg[/IMG]
THEN
Jim Stewart has just sent in a photo of the authentic sign of Meyerkord hotel in Vung Tau. I wonder whether it was the place where many US service men used to stay on weekend for convenience. "Number Ten" is ranked as a worst one in Vietnam War grading system, but this one goes... extra mile, "beyond call of duty": #11.
After more than 34 years (since April, 1975), who still holds on that souvenir while many others have forgotten?
Meyerkord Hotel
[IMG]http://vnafmamn.com/mementos/meyerkord_nows.jpg[/IMG]
NOW
Surprised, surprised! Guess where the Meyerkord hotel's sign is located today? In December 1968, Jim Early exchanged the sign (it had been taken down then) for a case of Schwepps tonic water and brought it home. It has been "retiring" in Washington DC till this day. Thank Jim Early for the updated photo. You are indeed owning a piece of Vietnam war history. The sign looks pretty big for personal luggage. I wonder how the guy...smuggled it back to the States? :0)
Nh́n lại cuộc chiến Việt Nam
[B]Nh́n lại cuộc chiến Việt Nam
MEMENTOS OF VIETNAM WAR
P2
[/B]
NAM QUAN GATE
[IMG]http://vnafmamn.com/mementos/namquan3.jpg[/IMG]
Nam quan gate (the entry point to enter China at Vietnam-China border) for thousand years belonging to Vietnam as a national historical landmark has been recently handed over to Red China through a shameful Vietnam-China land and sea territory treaties. The treaty signed by Hanoi regime as a concession to China in exchange for "blessing endorsement" and protection from "the ancient enemy" of Vietnam. The following pictures show Nam Quan gate in the early time of Indochine period, plus some photos (taken by Dr. Hocquard) of the ancient Vietnam's military fortresses at the moment right after being defeated by French Army and Navy.
Some patriotic movement against agreements on Vietnam-China land and sea territory treaties signed by leaders of the two Communist regimes have been intensifying during the last few years. Vietnamese patriots in Vietnam and overseas are raising their voices louder and louder in fierce criticisms against the Vietnam Communist Party and its government for the so-called shameful concession of Vietnam territory to China.
[IMG]http://vnafmamn.com/mementos/namquan_area1.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://vnafmamn.com/mementos/annam_fortress1.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://vnafmamn.com/mementos/annam_fortress3.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://vnafmamn.com/mementos/annam_fortress2.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://vnafmamn.com/mementos/annam_fortress11.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://vnafmamn.com/mementos/annam_fortress10.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://vnafmamn.com/mementos/annam_fortress4.jpg[/IMG]
Nh́n lại cuộc chiến Việt Nam
[B]Nh́n lại cuộc chiến Việt Nam
MEMENTOS OF VIETNAM WAR
P3
[/B]
[IMG]http://vnafmamn.com/mementos/helmet2.jpg[/IMG]
[B]THE FRENCH GUILLOTINE OF COCHINCHINE
THE AUTHENTIC GUILLOTINE IN VIETNAM
The VN GUILLOTINE [/B]
A French photographer took the photos of one of the last Guillotines in Vietnam (perhaps there are two more). This authentic guillotine is similar to the model Berger of 1872. Rusty but still in good shape, the Guillotine seems to be displayed as a museum piece in an old prison at La rue Grandiere in old Saigon (today Ly Tu Trong street).
This is really an eerie, haunted machine, even the damned, atheistic Vietnamese Communists didn't dare to chop it off for sale as scrap metal as they used to do on most historical antiques left over in Vietnam. Who wants to claim this memento? :0)
See more pics of scary machine below
[IMG]http://vnafmamn.com/mementos/guillotine8.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://vnafmamn.com/mementos/guillotine10.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://vnafmamn.com/mementos/guillotine3.jpg[/IMG]
[B]VIETNAM BAMBOO GULAG'S "PAJAMAS"[/B]
[IMG]http://vnafmamn.com/mementos/ARVN_pow.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://vnafmamn.com/mementos/pajama.jpg[/IMG]
ARVN POW commandos Rare photo of ARVN POW in captivity (wearing "Gulag Pajamas")
Prisoner's uniforms What the heck is this? Good Wills or Salvation Army's second hand pajamas? Nahhh...! But former US POW's in "Hanoi Hilton" will regconize it right away the "dear clothes" they used to wear during their imprisonment in Vietnam. The different is the color: theirs are in redish brown; this one is in day gray, the Gulag pajamas reserved for ARVN troops after April. 1975.
A friend of mine, T.Tran, also a class mate in Military Academy spent some 6 years in Vietnam Bamboo Gulag after April, 1975. His "war crime": Joining ARVN to defend South Vietnam. Finally the guy came to the States under the Humanitarian Operation program. He was broke from soul to body, had no precious materials to bring with him to the US but...the Gulag pajamas.
The pajamas you see on the right has been issued to him in 1977 at Long Giao Gulag camp (I keep saying "Gulag", because it's the most correct term to call the system of hard labor camps that Hanoi regime has built to imprison all ARVN's officers and South VN officials). The second suit of pajamas was issued to him three years later, and not every prisoners has the "privilege" to receive the prison uniforms. Why my friend still keeps these "stupid clothes"? Perhaps, because it was a real life, priceless lesson needed to be reviewed and learned, not only for himself but for many next Vietnamese generations. And if no one can perceive the value of it, at least it was a memento on this website.
After all, if we had a chance to do it again, we would do it exactly as we did before. But this time, much much better!
[B]"SAFE-CONDUCT PASS"[/B]
[IMG]http://vnafmamn.com/mementos/chieuhoi1.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://vnafmamn.com/mementos/chieuhoi2.jpg[/IMG]
Safe-conduct Pass sample Safe-conduct Pass sample
If you were familiar with this SAFE-CONDUCT PASS you would smile bitterly when seeing them again for such an ironical situation: South Vietnam and all its allies (whose flags have been printed on the Safe-conduct Pass paper) have lost the war.
During the war, South Vietnam government has created many "Chieu Hoi" (Open Arms) programs, opening a chance for the Communist-disinclined troop to lay down their guns and cooperate with the local authorities. Safe-conduct Pass was part of the Chieu Hoi program in which the leaflets would be spread (usually by airplane) out across the Communist controlled areas.
When South Vietnam was finally sold out in April 1975, no one provided ARVN troops such a "Safe-conduct Pass" to go home. So to whom these mementos belong? Perhaps the ones who believed in and carried these passes to our sides were the big losers.
PS: The Safe-conduct Pass was guaranteed and signed by Air Marshall Nguyen Cao Ky, Recently the guy came back to Vietnam and cooperated with Hanoi regime on many "projects", I wondered if he remembered to bring along this Safe-conduct Pass?