Another good one - thanks for sharing! Reminded me of the new boss we got for our Saigon office group, in late '71. He had just come from a Washington, D.C. assignment, and after he had been in Saigon a little while, he expressed his surprise at how much safer he felt in Saigon - the war zone - than in Washington, D.C.! And it really was a quiet time, at least for a little while, relative to the overall war. How quickly things can change. Your "Story" is a good reminder to appreciate the good in each day, as it comes. Thank you, Kat.
Thanks, Gary. It does seem significant that both you and Ann (the first comment on this post), mention how unsafe American cities did feel in the 70's . . . so perhaps the "leader" wasn't as full of hot air as I initially thought. And I know another Saigon resident in 74'75 that did say, for all intents and purposes, if you didn't hear the artillery going off at the edge of the city you would think it was a perfect Far Eastern idyll. It seems with every passing year, I gain new insights about the unique place Saigon holds in our shared history.
I burst out laughing when I read your mom relaying that leadership (would that have been the ambassador?) said that they were as safe or safer in Saigon than in a large American city. The recruiters for Army Libraries were quick to assure me that the “only” Special Services women who had died in Vietnam were killed in a jeep accident and a plane crash. Could just as easily have happened at home. They didn’t mention the USAID and humanitarian men and women who had been killed or captured during Tet ‘68. It was before Sharon Lane, Army Nurse Corps, was killed by a rocket in Chu Lai. Weirdly, though, I was living in and working in New York City after I came home in the early seventies. Things were pretty rough then, but I went all over the city and witnessed two gang invasions of the library where I worked, utilizing all the survival skills I had learned in Vietnam and thinking often, well this isn’t so bad. It’s just like Vietnam. So maybe he wasn’t completely wrong in his safety assessment. 😋
Ann, that is crazy--"this isn't so bad. It's just like Vietnam." I have wondered over the years, when I notice I am calmer in certain situations than others, how much that has to do with having had to navigate Saigon when I was 8.
I often wonder who that leader was. My mother once referred to Mr. P, so I wonder if it was Tom Polgar? Or would that have been below him to hold a meeting like that?
The deaths you mention gave me pause. . . how easily they fell/fall under the radar . . . how fragile is our time on this earth . . . Thanks so much (again) for sharing your stories. ~Kat
Another good one - thanks for sharing! Reminded me of the new boss we got for our Saigon office group, in late '71. He had just come from a Washington, D.C. assignment, and after he had been in Saigon a little while, he expressed his surprise at how much safer he felt in Saigon - the war zone - than in Washington, D.C.! And it really was a quiet time, at least for a little while, relative to the overall war. How quickly things can change. Your "Story" is a good reminder to appreciate the good in each day, as it comes. Thank you, Kat.
Gary Tyndall
Thanks, Gary. It does seem significant that both you and Ann (the first comment on this post), mention how unsafe American cities did feel in the 70's . . . so perhaps the "leader" wasn't as full of hot air as I initially thought. And I know another Saigon resident in 74'75 that did say, for all intents and purposes, if you didn't hear the artillery going off at the edge of the city you would think it was a perfect Far Eastern idyll. It seems with every passing year, I gain new insights about the unique place Saigon holds in our shared history.
I burst out laughing when I read your mom relaying that leadership (would that have been the ambassador?) said that they were as safe or safer in Saigon than in a large American city. The recruiters for Army Libraries were quick to assure me that the “only” Special Services women who had died in Vietnam were killed in a jeep accident and a plane crash. Could just as easily have happened at home. They didn’t mention the USAID and humanitarian men and women who had been killed or captured during Tet ‘68. It was before Sharon Lane, Army Nurse Corps, was killed by a rocket in Chu Lai. Weirdly, though, I was living in and working in New York City after I came home in the early seventies. Things were pretty rough then, but I went all over the city and witnessed two gang invasions of the library where I worked, utilizing all the survival skills I had learned in Vietnam and thinking often, well this isn’t so bad. It’s just like Vietnam. So maybe he wasn’t completely wrong in his safety assessment. 😋
Ann, that is crazy--"this isn't so bad. It's just like Vietnam." I have wondered over the years, when I notice I am calmer in certain situations than others, how much that has to do with having had to navigate Saigon when I was 8.
I often wonder who that leader was. My mother once referred to Mr. P, so I wonder if it was Tom Polgar? Or would that have been below him to hold a meeting like that?
The deaths you mention gave me pause. . . how easily they fell/fall under the radar . . . how fragile is our time on this earth . . . Thanks so much (again) for sharing your stories. ~Kat