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Thailand and the Vietnam War

theblether
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Thanyaburi Mac Platinum Member

Thanyaburi Mac

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Good article here on CTs up in Nan, 1973

Mac

R 1080 . R 1081
4 years of blood, sweat and fears:
Bangkok Post Sunday magazine
December 9, 1973
John McBeth
Two provinces with a common problem - terrorism.
[to to the url for the article.
In both Tak and Nan provinces of the North, harassment by hostile hill tribes has halted or severely disrupted work on building new roads.
Terrorism forced the Government to seek private companies to take over construction of these strategic highways, but it didn't make much difference.
Work on the Tak-Umphang Highway is stalled until the beginning of next year when a joint force of civilians, police and soldiers will provide protection. It will be the first time in Tak's history that the Army will be operating there.
Not so in Nan. For six years the Army has been conducting manoeuvres in this strategic region bordering Laos. Yet the sniping; the ambushes; the killings continue.
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chiang mai Star Member

chiang mai

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Simple but quite extrodainary photo's Tywais, the first one reminds me of the bars in Soi 0, Bucksin Joe's, in Bangkok in the 1990's.

Tywais Star Member

Tywais

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Simple but quite extrodainary photo's Tywais, the first one reminds me of the bars in Soi 0, Bucksin Joe's, in Bangkok in the 1990's.

Thanks chiang mai. Nearly all the bars and housing/huts around the area was built from discarded corrugated tin and plywood from the base construction. Spent a bit of time sleeping in the huts in back along with the ducks, chickens and a million mosquitoes. Drink of choice when on a bender - Singh/Mekhong whiskey mixer. Think cheap boiler maker. biggrin.png

Ace of Pop Platinum Member

Ace of Pop

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USAF units in Thailand during the Vietnam (American) War - A History Lesson

http://thailandaviation.blogspot.com/2010/05/usaf-units-in-thailand-during-vietnam.html

This is very good documentation on the U.S. Air Force Presence in Thailand during the Vietnam War

I thought when I got assigned to SEA I was finally getting out of SAC - no such luck ended up in the 4285th Strategic Wing (SAC). Still, better than the missile silos on the plains of North Dakota, the main reason I volunteered for Vietnam/Thailand. smile.png

120px-Shield_Strategic_Air_Command.png

Operation Arc Light

Operation Arc Light was the 1965 deployment of B-52 heavy bombers to Guam. The B-52 bombers were directed at:

• Targets in South Vietnam not requiring deep penetration of Laos, Cambodia or North Vietnam.

• Targets in North Vietnam that were approved by Washington 24 hours in advance.

• Targets in eastern Laos with the approval of CINCPAC, CINCSAC and the U.S. Ambassador to Laos.

• Targets in the remainder of Laos that were approved by Washington 24 hours in advance.

By 1969, about 65 percent of all Arc Light sorties would originate from U-Tapao. In 1972 there were 54 B-52 aircraft stationed in Thailand, with missions commonly flown in three-plane formations known as "cells". B-52's were also employed in a tactical role when ground units in Vietnam in heavy combat requested fire support.

...

Other missions of USAF at the U-Tapao included supplying other U.S. occupied Thai installations with equipment and materiel; support of the U.S. Army, Navy and Coast Guard units in the area; and jurisdiction for what has become known as the Sattahip complex. This complex included a nine-berth deep water port, a Coast Guard LORAN station, three U.S. transportation units, and approximately 10,000 American servicemen and Thai nationals.

More in this pdf article on Utapao's history and involvement - Historical Brief

Was LORAN any use near enemy waters,as it worked of beacons they could zap. .I heard it was more accurate in open oceans.No GPS then, or was there.?.

ESDinBKK Apprentice Member

ESDinBKK

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Great pictures Tywais. Remember the place on the Sattihip Utapao road that served food and booze. Had a huge python, a monkey on a perch atop a pole, and a few chickens to feed the python. Seems the monkey took a like to one of the hens, as they preened each other and such. Whenever the owner went to get a chicken for the python, the monkey would grab his chicken by the leg and run up the pole and hide her in his hootch. I guess it seemed funnier with a few mekongs and singha s in you.

Tywais Star Member

Tywais

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Was LORAN any use near enemy waters,as it worked of beacons they could zap. .I heard it was more accurate in open oceans.No GPS then, or was there.?.

No GPS. The US launched its first satellite in 1958, just 10 years before I was in Thailand and still before the 1st manned mission to the moon. GPS came around in 1973. In a way, LORAN was the predecessor to GPS. Performs the same function, just different technology - terrestrial based - and of course accuracy/distance. From wiki - LORAN suffers from electronic effects of weather and the ionospheric effects of sunrise and sunset. The most accurate signal is the groundwave that follows the Earth's surface, ideally over seawater.

Tywais Star Member

Tywais

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Great pictures Tywais. Remember the place on the Sattihip Utapao road that served food and booze. Had a huge python, a monkey on a perch atop a pole, and a few chickens to feed the python. Seems the monkey took a like to one of the hens, as they preened each other and such. Whenever the owner went to get a chicken for the python, the monkey would grab his chicken by the leg and run up the pole and hide her in his hootch. I guess it seemed funnier with a few mekongs and singha s in you.

Does ring a bell. Seems that place was the first time I had water buffalo for dinner. Ordered what they said was Chili on the menu and got some kind of soup with black meat in it. Wasn't bad actually, slightly better than shoe leather, especially as you say, with a few Mekhongs/Singhs to wash it down. smile.png

Ace of Pop Platinum Member

Ace of Pop

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The Communist Party of Thailand, 1960's and 1970's resistance......

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communism_in_Thailand

As mentioned by member Chiang Mai earlier, the Phetchabun Mountains were a Communist stronghold, I was down that way the other week and it's quite spectacular. It would have been a nightmare to attack by land......

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phetchabun_mountains

I'm led to believe that the insurgency started in 1965 and lasted through until 1984, long after the Vietnam War ended. When you look at the terrain you can see why, I'll look further into this but again if anyone has any more details please post them.

The Phetchabun Issue is a Touchy One.Some old Thais i've spoken too say it was Contrived , a Witch Hunt.Those Guys were pissed of by being conned out of their land by BKK Mafia. Could be True, as they defoliated the area,and only the henchmen gained, not the rank n file..Yet the same group agree about Communists Danger in other areas mentioned.

JDGRUEN Platinum Member

JDGRUEN

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By 1969 Thailand had 12,000 soldiers in Vietnam.......

http://www.vietnamwar.net/Thailand.htm

Part of my duty with the 46th. Special Forces Company (Airborne) for the year I was in Thailand in 1967-1968 was a temporary deployment (two months or so ) to Hua Hin to help in the premission training program of the Thai Troops who had volunteered to go to serve in Vietnam.

I has read that the Thai armed forces were very tough & effective combat troops, do you have comments. Were Thai troops involved in any war crimes, as the South Koreans were alledged to have done so?

I helped train them ... but I obviously could not determine their true toughness while in training. But every article I have read on the subject including in some links I have posted here in this topic thread, speaks to the stellar performance of the Thai troops that volunteered to fight in Vietnam and Laos. I have read one report of an atrocity committed against the Hmong people ... I do not have details. While not excusing any bad behavior - I think one has to look at the overall track record in times of war. It is my personal opinion, had the South Vietnamese been the caliber of the Thai troops we would be reading different history now.

JDGRUEN Platinum Member

JDGRUEN

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Yeah I think all the filet mignon and chateaubriand at the time was water buffalo. A little chewy, but not bad.

Back then I ate Water Buffalo burgers one day in Hua Hin on the beach. Still a little chewy and really really red - strong flavor ... but done over the grill with lots of seasoning it wasn't too bad...

chiang mai Star Member

chiang mai

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Define Irony: moving from the UK to the US at age 19 and having to fight the draft and avoid being sent to SE Asia, only to grow older and spend most of the time trying to figure out how to stay here.

(it's not really a struggle to stay here but the contrast between the events in my life made me pause and reflect).

JDGRUEN Platinum Member

JDGRUEN

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Here is a very good article (another long read) that covers what role Thailand played and what went on in Thailand during the Vietnam War. But it seems that everything written on this subject is a virtual book ,.. so get a refreshment - settle back and read a while ... These articles that have been posted serve well to get a better perspective on Thailand and S.E.A.

http://journals.hil.unb.ca/index.php/jcs/article/view/292/465

Tywais Star Member

Tywais

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Post commenting on moderation removed. Further such inflammatory comments or comment on moderation will find the member suspended to read the forum rules.

Tywais Star Member

Tywais

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I think it's brilliant that these photos have survived the years.

All my shots then were taken as slides. Stored back in the US in dry conditions and if I didn't forget, silica gel later. It was only recently I got a high enough quality scanner that had the ability to do very high resolution scans of my slides at 9600 dpi. Obviously these have been scaled way down for here and most had to do post process dust removal.

My regret is not having taken a lot more. Problem was, my cameras were stolen on my first day in San Francisco going for 3 weeks weapons training. It was a while before I could buy another one. sad.png

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