|
 |
| Peter Thom (35Sqn sumpy) and Bob Meyer (35Sqn inst) showing the results of a "time filling" paint fight. |
Unless there was an aircraft in the hanger for a "D", which would give the blokes something to do, once all aircraft were pre-flighted and sent off for the day, there was not a lot to occupy the blokes until the aircraft came home again towards last light when they would have to be fixed, fuelled, oiled and afterflighted. During the day, in the late 60’s, the sumpies, ably led by Neil Harris, set to and built a beach buggy for use at back beach. They scrounged seats, wheels, dif, axles, brakes, engine, steering system etc from everywhere, and had it finished apart from the all important drive shaft which eluded them for some time, until Neil came up with the idea of swiping the front-shaft from the CO’s Jeep. This got the beach buggy going, but it left the CO without the use of the 4WD facility on his Jeep. We never heard whether or not he ever got stuck, or if he ever found out.
 |
| Jack Gleeson, 35 Sqn Loadmaster, "Taking it easy" |
Entertainment on base was pretty good, and was designed to keep the blokes from seeking out horizontal dancing partners down the street. Airman had their Ettamoga Club, a Kingstrand hut transformed into a little bar with heaps of atmosphere. It was named after the cartoon that appeared in the magazine Australasian Post. Ken Maynard, the creator of the cartoon, visited Vung Tau and left a number of purposely created cartoons which decorated the walls. VB, Tooheys Flag and XXXX, as well as Yankee beers, sold in the Club for 12¢ a can as did goffers (soft drinks) - if you didn’t drink alcohol you were known as a "goffer scoffer". That was the era when Bacardi-coke was "the drink", and many a private party was built around it. New-comers to Vung Tau were always caught out by the old hands who would offer to buy the Bacardi, if "you grab the coke". Trick was a 40oz (1,140ml) bottle of Bacardi cost about $1.35 while a slab of coke cost $2.88 (12¢ a can).
It was also the time when a lot of blokes were introduced to the stereo FM tuner/amp for the first time, as these were still very rare "back home". They were sold at the Yankee PX, and most blokes bought one and awoke each morning to "Goooooooood Morning Vietnam" on AFVN radio (the power of music), just like in the movie. National had just released their excellent R100 shortwave receiver, which was also a favourite, and most blokes had one so they could listen to the footy or the cricket, or just to keep up with things at home, via Radio Australia.
| A bloke was on his deathbed. His wife was maintaining a vigil by his side, she held his fragile hand and tears ran down her face. He looked up at her and said:
"My darling I have something I must tell you". "Hush dear", she said, "don’t talk". "I must" he said, "there is something I must confess to you". "There’s nothing to confess" she said, "everything’s OK, go to sleep". "No, no, I must die in peace", he said, "I slept with your sister, your best friend and with your mother". "I know", she said, "that’s why I poisoned you!" |
Back in the late 60’s, an Aust dollar bought US$1.15, (things have changed) and all pays were first converted into Yankee dollars then made in MPC (Military Payment Certificate) which was a kind of Monopoly money used by the US armed forces as a means of keeping down black market activities. It didn’t, but that was its purpose. Most blokes quickly discovered that you could buy just about anything "down town" for a carton of Salem cigarettes(green gold), or a couple of cakes of Lux soap-you didn’t need money.
| If you’re into ancestry stuff, and want to know who else in the world has your name, try logging onto http://www2.egosurf.com/ (yep-the www2 bit is correct)
You can type in your name and it will search the net for similar names. Try it!! |
 |
 |