----- ARVN Veterans Remembrance Ceremony -----

[Legion Etrangere]

Yesterday, the Allied Cold War Veterans Association [ AFCWA ] took part in a first-ever Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces Memorial Service in Houston, TX in "Little Saigon", across from Hong Kong City Mall:

www.alliedcoldwarvets.com

Interestingly, we saw a 3-4 ARVN vets with 47/51's, 52's and a slew of French insignia - airborne wings, flight wings, etc. I even spotted a Foreign Legion FOB hanging from the pocket of an ARVN Marine. The ARVN airborne were present in force and the berets were pulled hard to the left.

Our thanks to Captain Tai [ Vietnamese Marines Association USA ], Col Vung [ ARVN Veterans of Texas ] and Rep. Hubert Vo D-TX, Distr 149, Texas House of Representatives for inviting us.

Afterwards we repaired back to a local Vietnamese noodle house for wine, pho, and comradeship.

/martini/

[lt13demi]

Hey Mick,

That's pretty cool! Thanks for sharing with us!

Renault

[fmf]

I recall here in Wis when they had the Welcome home parade for Desert Storm , the South East Asia Vets from Viet - Nam Cambodia and Laos were marching I was very moved , they did not get to go home after a year , their war went on and on until it was over , I respect them a lot

[Legion Etrangere]

fmf,

At the ceremony here in Houston, we showed up simply to pay our respects and stand off to the side ... but were invited to take part in the parade by the organizers. At first they had us standing in a rank behind the RVN Navy Veterans and then they moved us to the far left behind a sharp, current US Marine [ who was Vietnamese ] where we stood to attention.

The high point for me, and certainly the most emotional, was the color guard march past by the Republic of South Vietnam Marines who carried, besides our state and national color, the flag of Vietnam. To see their people stand up and sing the Vietnamese National Anthem and watch the march past was incredible; they are not a defeated people.

It's quite sad though ... no t.v. nations in Houston would cover the ceremony; we discovered through the organizers that one well-known television station refused to cover the affair, afraid that they would anger the current, Communist government of Vietnam [ and thereby lose access for news reports ].

Overall it was an incredible parade with ARVN Marines, Commandos, LLDB, Naval personnel, and several Buddhist monks, etc.

We later realized [ all three of us that participated ] were the only caucasions present.

Later, after this ceremony, a much larger event took place at Hong Kong City Mall [ which I could not attend ] that had well over 5,000 people in attendance.

I am going to be interviewing one of the VN Marines, who served in a French-led, Viet infantry company in 1953 ... and I want to find out who the Viet Legionnaire was that attended....

/martini/

[cookie]

Good luck with that Mick, sounds like there's a tonne of unmined information ready and waiting for you...

[lt13demi]

I concur 100%!!!!!!!!! I think the "down and dirty" of the entire conflict can be gleaned from the Viet vets. Especially on the Viet-French perspective. If these guys are willing to talk, you might be suprised at the answers to get. They were really between a rock and a hard place.... From a colonial perspective, it had to be like dealing with the devil in some respects....

I know the French really tried to convince the Americans (and for that matter the rest of the world) that this was no longer a colonial war. But a war against communism. And after the first several years of this conflict, I still believe there was sincereity in their message. Maybe I'm wrong... But it was basically too little, too late. As Fall had mentioned, Ho basically had the war won in '46!

Truly an untapped and overlooked resource!

Renault

[Legion Etrangere]

The ARVN veterans have several upcoming events in the next 2-3 months. Our group is invited to several, so I will seek out the veterans for interviews. The Viet para's and LLDB [ which seem to have many, older veterans from the early 50's ] may be the place to start. There were a half dozen LLDB [ Viet Special Forces ] at the event who were not in uniform and probably in their 70's - early 80's who may be former French Coloniale Army veterans ... I am not sure about that, but it it may be a good starting point.

/martini/

[Legion Etrangere]

Our ceremony this weekend went off without a hitch ...

The weather played a major factor though [ which topped 107 degrees ] and kept our numbers low [ we found out that hotdogs and beer won out, rather than honoring ex-patriot infantrymen who fought nearly non-stop for 20 years]. Although the turnout was small, we met members of "Thu Duc" - the ARVN Officers Infantry Training College [ 1951-1975 ]. They had 15 uniformed members show, including family members. Pics will be up this week. Our thanks to Bob vande Grift and Lawrence Frappier for attending.

We did speak with one ARVN veteran who served in the LLDB and with the EARLY Viet Para's [ how early I don't know, as this gentlemen's English was hard to understand ]. He pulled up his sleeves and showed us the wounds where he was shot and where the North Vietnamese tortured him; he spent ten years in a "re-education camp" before he was paroled and then fled the country. He wore six rows of ribbons but I didnt get a chance to recognize anything French. He had a large scar across the top of his head but I didnt understand if that was a wound from gunfire or from the Communists. We were honored however to get to know them and meet them at the event.

The AFCWA purchased several bottles of red and we toasted them at Sam's BBQ after the ceremony. Sam's owner, Tan Nugyen is from France [ he served several years in the French Army ] and moved here several years ago. Tan helped prepare my francaise remarks for the ceremony. Our group has been invited back to eat and socialize.

We were honored to have particpated.

/martini/

[lt13demi]

Awesome!!!!!!

Renault