Dave,
Nha Trang?.before you. There was a MAAG there. We lived in Villa Marguiot (my French..long gone..spelling error..meant lizards.) It was an old French Villa with big lizards across the porch. It was at the Y in the road across from the Brother's Seminary and about a block from the beach. Behind us was a compound of long buildings with tin roofs that housed many Vietnamese families.

Only big ship I saw in the bay was from San Francisco. Some Catholic Charity group collected a lot of clothing to be donated to the people in the Highlands. So..4 of us had to help haul this stuff up in a couple of large military trucks that someone got..The village chief was all smiles as everyone in the tribe got things. What they did with the heavy jackets and such we couldn't imagine. The dresses and all were great, except they didn't wear any clothes and lived deep in the highland forests. The most popular items were a box of baby rattles. Everyone wanted one.

Many of the doners had included little letters wanting replies from the "natives." Well, no one spoke. We read a few but weren't cynical enuf to reply. Think it was just too hot. Anyway, the notes and letters ended up as good tobacco papers and fire fodder.

I didn't know the politics of it all, but in hindsight I guess it was a cover for us to go up into the Highlands since I now know the Americans were recruiting these warriors to help them against the Viet Cong. I guess they took myself and my small children along since my babies seemed to be able to make friends with other kids, I spoke some Vietnamese, and that brought the men around to invite us in for slurping eyeballs, etc. Great food if you overdosed on Bah Me Bah first!!

Looking back, don't know how Madame Nhu didn't get her hands on this stuff! Guess she checked it out and decided nothing there that would suit her for Saigon living. She squeezed her own people for anything she could get. The witch of Viet Nam!

Lived in Nha Trang for 2 years. My husband was a Marine Advisor to the Vietnamese Marines at Cam Ranh Bay. Lots of diplomacy required so as not to call the counterpart an idiot, most of the time. He gave us a pet boa for the house. Fortunatly, my husband had sense to let it loose before he got home and it ate the kids.

I had to learn the language cause no one spoke English. Was left alone a lot but had my kids amah. She took care of me, too, cause I was the youngest thing in the country and sure needed my ma. Got to travel up and down the coast pretty freely since Saigon was too far away for anyone to control us. Viet Cong were infiltrating everywhere and busy intimidating small village chiefs.

Yes, lots of tigers and snakes, then. Had to be careful and no one went out walking outside the village at night. Tiger got a man not far away from us. Snakes in Nah Trang weren't as big a problem as elsewhere. I was told it was because of the ocean the the salt air. Something kept them further inland.

Have my ititials carved inside an old French bunker on Cam Ranh Bay. Then, again, suppose it was bombed away! You had to get out to the Vietnamese Marine Base by small boat.

Oh yes, there was another boat that arrived in Nha Trang. It was full of military vehicles. No one knew how to drive them but they had to move from the dock to the compound. My mom and dad later told me how funny my description of this had been. I sat on our roof top and wrote the letter as the trucks went by. It was hilarious watching all these trucks coming along the road screeching brakes, grinding gears, jerking along. Don't think we thought to send any repair parts or anyhone who knew about repairing, anyway. Still minimum gasoline in town, anyway. Few had cars. Mostly traveled by cyclo. Suspect most of the trucks sat and rusted away...or were made into some useful household item.

No rubbish in the country. They really knew how to utilize any kind of discard. Masters of recycling.
Enuf.. Caroline