Post by Legion Etrangere on Oct 15, 2009 14:39:30 GMT -5
One of the many veterans we met was "Jimmy", a Vietnamese striker who served with 5th SF Group in Vietnam (there is a picture of him that will be posted to the 5th Groups website this week).
We met him while both the French Para's and SF Group were preparing for the parade. He walked up to us in the parking lot of Lee's Sandwiches, wearing a green beret and Bronze Star ribbon on his suit pocket.
We found later he served for many years fighting the Communists.
One interesting story he told us is that he visited the Dien Bien Phu battlefields only to find that the main "museum" on Isabelle (?) is trashed: there is food remains, wrappers, dirt, trash, etc. everywhere. The Communists have not been too interested in keeping the place shipshape (afterall, they lost *thousands* in their assault on the French and Viet guns manning the post).
We met him while both the French Para's and SF Group were preparing for the parade. He walked up to us in the parking lot of Lee's Sandwiches, wearing a green beret and Bronze Star ribbon on his suit pocket.
We found later he served for many years fighting the Communists.
One interesting story he told us is that he visited the Dien Bien Phu battlefields only to find that the main "museum" on Isabelle (?) is trashed: there is food remains, wrappers, dirt, trash, etc. everywhere. The Communists have not been too interested in keeping the place shipshape (afterall, they lost *thousands* in their assault on the French and Viet guns manning the post).