Revisiting Long Bien Army Base

This writer landed at Bien Hoa Air Base in 1969. A few miles away lay Long Bien Army Base, the largest military post in the world at that time. The plane load of GI's was transported to the 90th Replacement Battalion at Long Bien for processing and assignments to units all over Vietnam. I was assigned to the 198th M.P. Company, an infantry unit whose mission was to provide protection at remote 1st Signal Brigade communication sites covering the length and breadth of South Viet Nam. My assignment was on Vung Chua Mountain, which lies between Qui Nhon and An Khe. The headquarters of my company was in Long Bien, which I only saw a few times for administrative reasons, such as going on R & R, processing in and out of country, etc. Whenever I spent a few days there, I was amazed at the size and amenities afforded those who were stationed there. There were movie theatres, swimming pools, USO clubs, two-story barracks as far as the eye could see, and every large headquarters company had their own bar. It seemed so permanent at the time. Naturally, I was interested to see what it looked like now. I hired a taxi driver (he was the driver for the Cu Chi sortie, too, so we got to know each other a little bit) for the morning and we went looking for it in the vicinity of the town of Long Bien, 25 miles away from downtown Saigon. There is nothing left of it! It is overgrown with trees and brush. We found the remnants of a blacktop road and a few bunkers on what was the perimeter. I was astonished. I guess wooden baracks don't last long in this climate. It was totally just swallowed up. I was standing around taking pictures and a gentleman at a nearby modest home home asked the driver what we were doing. After the driver explained he invited us in for some tea and another guy joined us. They spoke no English so the taxi driver sort of interpreted. It turns out they were former VC and we exchanged some limited war stories. They were so nice and we shook hands and laughed. They harbored no grudge against me and vice-versa. I gather that it was just a natural rite of passage for them to fight for their country and when it was over, it was no big deal, they went on with life, penurious as it is, but they seemed very happy. Pictures of this entry are: 1) the taxi driver and the two former soldiers. 2) me shaking hands with them. 3) old blacktop road. 4) bunkers on old perimeter.