Southeast Asia
1972 - 1973
A compilation of photos from my tour as an airborne Vietnamese linguist
Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia
B-52D's at U-Tapao air base, Thailand
Operation Linebacker II - the bombing of North Vietnam, December 1972
B-52D landing after a bombing mission over North Vietnam, a KC-135 tanker ready for takeoff
B-52D takeoff
Drone reconnaissance program
DC-130 drone mothership, B-52's on the ramp
The Buffalo Hunter drone
Air Vietnam
EC-47 "Electric Goon" reconnaisance aircraft
Seven of these planes were lost to hostile fire
Five were shot down and two were destroyed in ground attacks
Somewhere over Cambodia - 1973
(sounds like a Jimmy Buffet song)
On the ramp at Nakhon Phanom (NKP), Thailand
Coming home
Laos
Ho Chi Minh trail in Laos with some USAF input
Laotian roads used to tranport supplies south
Camouflaged road
Laotian air base
Laotian air base
Laotian T-28 attack aricraft
EC-121 Rivet Gym at Korat AB, Thailand
NKP, Thailand
HH-3 Jolly Green training in the Philippines prior to heading to Vietnam
Ready to go to work
The office
Vietnam
Going somewhere unpleasant on a CH-3 helicopter
Helicopter landing site/staging base in Laos
Helicopter landing site/staging base in Laos
Laos
Laotian roads used to tranport supplies south
Camouflaged road
More roads
Laotian air base
Laotian air base
Laos - downed aircraft wing
A Thai beauty
The flower girl
Mekong River from above
The Mekong River
A main road
Water buffalo
NKP
NKP monsoon
Vietnamese transport
Not part of the American chain...
Mekong - Laos across the river
Mekong River - Laos across the river
Girls wearing ao dai (traditional Veitnamese dress)
The Ho Chi Minh clock tower in NKP
It reads: The clock tower was a gift from Ho Chi Minh to the Vietnamese in Thailand. There was a significant "diaspora" leaving the country after World War II and with the extended conflict after that many families were banished or left for Thailand/Kampuchea. |
Rice paddies
Market
The modern rickshaw
Small temple
Buddhist monk candidates
Nicer temple
Inside the temple
Side view of temple
These last few photographs are technically not of Southeast Asia, but they are a part of the story.
Part of my tour of duty as a Vietnamese linguist involved aircrew duties on the RC-135M "Combat Apple."
The aircraft were based at Kadena Air Base, (Okinawa), Japan.
Airborne from Kadena
In the revetments at Kadena
Interior of the Combat Apple
Landing at Kadena
Aerial refueling over Laos
Refueling from the KC-135
During typhoon evacuation at Clark Air Base, Philippines
B-52G's at Kadena for Linebacker II
(Some photos courtesy of my colleagues from the 6908th and
6994th Security Squadrons and the 6990th Security Group)