I am sure I mentioned to you Thu An had been an opera singer. The type of opera is Cai Luong and is performed by troupes who travel the countryside. They give live performances at hamlets and villages. Cai Luong has fallen out of favor as a live performance for the citified masses who now prefer pop, rock and roll and everything else modern and western. Out in the boonies, Cai Luong can still draw everyone except the young guys who would rather shoot some billiards and drink beer.
Author: SgtGrit
And there I Was
And there I was, surrounded, on the eve of Tet, a lone American in Da Nang, without a weapon. But the circumstances now are a little different than 34 years ago when I was lost in Da Nang after curfew. Now I am surrounded by beautiful Vietnamese women preparing my bride for our wedding. Where I am now is in room 303 of the Thuong Hai Hotel sitting on the bed. We are about a click or two from old MAG 11 and about two clicks from Dog Patch. The hotel is new, near the airport and the city seems filled with young people who have never known the war.
Vietnam Photos
Here are some photos for you. I believe 'Out5' is just down the road to the left of the frame from 'Marine16'. Marine 15 and 16 were described to me as a place where Marines had compounds. As you can see the area is a huge industrial complex.
Marine 15 Marine 16 Out 5 If you look at Big tp Da Nang map you will see Dien Bien Phu ST running just under the big letters Q. Thanh Khe which is in the upper left. This street runs out of town to the left to the hills in the previous email. This road is the same road on the larger area map that runs out to Hoa Son. Hoa is a word for commune and may not relate to older maps that will have names of villages and hamlets.
PROJECT DAI LOC
PROJECT DAI LOC A group of 7th Marine Viet Nam vets continues to make history…this time, some 35 years after the war, with a humanitarian effort to build a health clinic in the village known so well to those who served in the Danang area.
TEAM 7 will consist of twenty 7th Marine vets who will travel to Dai Loc, Viet Nam and spend about three weeks building the clinic and also hosting a MEDCAP for the villagers. They will work hand-in-hand with a Vietnamese construction team, and when TEAM 7 returns home the clinic will be staffed and run by the Vietnamese government.
Declared Sane
Minh did a good job explaining the mental health check deal. He said the committee didn't accept a report from a US private doctor and I needed to be examined at a hospital.
Going there was an interesting experience and I have been having fun explaining this event with my colleagues here in the US. I knew no one at the mental hospital could speak English so I was expecting some mischievous fun. It started with the filling out of a certain form which was, of course, all in Vietnamese. Some of the lines I recognized from filling out the numerous visa applications and entry papers because they are bilingual. I know what a dia chi is, so I put in Thu An's street address. This caused a minor ruckus. The lady, of course, didn't buy it and wanted my US address. So I started over with a new form. From her reaction, these forms must be very expensive. On the next form, I didn't know what a few things were, so Thu An tried to help me, unsuccessfully. They do the same thing we do in Paris. If they think you don't understand what they are saying they say it louder the second time. I think she and the admitting nurse took over and finished it for me. I then had to sit across from another unhappy looking woman who looked it and me over for an exaggeratedly long time for no obvious reason.
Harrier at sunset
Heroic Marine Attacked at Welcome Home Party
Twitter Lance Cpl. Marcus Uribe recently returned from his tour of duty unscathed after months of fighting in Afghanistan. But just three weeks later, it would be an incident on U.S. soil that threatened the young Marine’s life.
Uribe, a 21-year-old Colorado native, was attending a welcome home party in Surfside Beach, Texas, when police say some uninvited guests arrived and stirred up a confrontation. According to news reports, one man aimed his pickup truck at a crowd of partygoers and stepped on the gas. Uribe bravely reacted, pushing a bystander out of the way. Story and Video
Iwo Jima Vet Leo Champagne’s
Here are a few pictures of Iwo Jima Vet Leo Champagne at Missouri Military Academy's Homecoming Assembly. Pictured from left to right are GySgt Robert Munson (in Desert MARPAT), Leo Champagne, and GySgt Tompkins (Woodland MARPAT) Mr. Champagne was our Guest of Honor for the Homecoming weekend. It kicked off with a assembly honoring Mr. Champagne then a speech by Mr. Champagne. I have been at the school for 11 years now and I have to say I have never seen an individuall hold the attention of the Cadets like Mr. Champagne did. I am a Veteran of 18 years with 2 tours in Iraq, and GySgt Tompkins is a veteran of over 22 and it was a honor for both of us to meet one of our living leagends.
Honor Flight Long Island
Hey Sarge,
Where else can you spend the day hanging out with a Marine who landed on Iwo Jima, a soldier who fought in the Battle of the Bulge, a seaman who survived Pearl Harbor and a pilot who flew 112 combat missions in Europe and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross?!
www.HonorFlightLongIsland.org gave me that chance. Check out the website to see what it's all about. On this day, I had the honor of escorting Harry S., veteran of Iwo Jima, to the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. and the Iwo Jima Memorial in Arlington.
Allen Dale June Code Talker
Sgt. Sgt Dale was temporarily in The Cheyenne VA hospital last year and early this year. While he was there I had an opportunity to visit with him. He had reverted to his native Navajo language, but he did say a few words in English.
We first met outdoors. I saw him being pushed in a wheel chair. i saw his red hat with Marines and Code talker on it. I immediately squatted down where he could see my Marine hat, and when he did, he sat up straighter and smiled and saluted! No doubt he was proud to be one of us. Next day at VFW breakfast I just happened to sit with Virginia and his grandson. She gave me two of his autographed business cards. So these will definitely become a keepsake!