ps water skiing at cat lo , did i leave cat lo out
lindsay pu;;in
30-Jul-2016 09:05
we came into the harbour at de long, on the other side of what we knew as radar hill,seen in photo, in an australian lmc from australian engineers 32 small ships squadron with a cargo of centurian tanks and earth moving gear in 1970. we had a lot of contact and dealt with the guys from the us river patrol base at cat lo. great crew. saw a bloke water skiing slolom in between water spouts from percussion grenades dropped from the tow boat, boy,what was does to men. lindsay pullin
Joe Meredith
05-Feb-2014 15:43
I was at the Vung Tau R & R center the weekend (OCT, 1971) when President Thieu was to be inaugerated. Does anyone else recall the wild party that occurred when the city was placed "off limits" and the wildest party I ever experienced took place there.
Jim Thompson
16-Jul-2013 22:17
I spent about a month recuperating in the 37th Field Evac. When I was able enough they bused us to the beach. We did calisthenics and ate pineapple on the beach. Some guys really didn't want to go back to their units. I still felt as weak as a kitten when they sent me back.
Bob
16-Jan-2013 02:42
There was always a rumor that the VC used the tunnels as a staging area . . . to go on R&R in Vung Tau. Think I still have a photo of the half sunken French ship just to the west of the beach area. Met one of the best girl friends of my life on the beach there.
Despite the are, this looks like quite a beautiful place and the photo certainly is beautiful. The notes by Tom are quite amazing. It is something I would like to see when I finally get over there.
Perhaps you know this and perhaps you don't. When Japan held Vietnam during WWII, they honeycombed this mountain with gun-emplacements to protect against any amphibious landing. I've been through most of the tunnels ... main ones large enough to drive a vehicle through with splinter tunnels running off of it and leading either to gun emplacements on one side or ammunition, barracks, etc on the other side of the main tunnel. Had we made an amphibious landing (ala Iwo Jima, Saipan, etc), the price would've been high as this mountain commanded the beach and the sea approaches to it.
I'd be willing to bet on that. This photo seems so tranquil that it's hard to imagine there was a war going on not far away. Both sides used Vung Tau to recuperate and rest, so it was a relatively safe area.