"Songs of Saigon"

[thedrifter]

AWAY IN A HAMLET

Tune: "Away in a Manger"

Away in a hamlet,
No crib for his bed,
The little Westmoreland,
Lay down his sweet head.


DASHING THROUGH PLEIKU

Tune: "Jingle Bells"

Dashing through Pleiku,
With the First Air Calvary,
VC to my left,
And a Rhade on my knee.


DECK THE HALLS WITH VICTOR CHARLIE

Tune: "Deck the Halls"

Deck the halls with Victor Charlie,
Tra la la la la, la la la la.
'Tis the season to be jolly,
Tra la la la la la la la la.
Don we now our black pajamas...


THE FIRST HOTEL

Tune: "The First Noel"

The first hotel,
To be zapped was the Brink.
And the last was the Metropole,
Westmoreland thinks....


GOD REST YE, GENERAL WESTMORELAND

Tune: "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"

God rest ye, General Westmoreland,
Let nothing you dismay,
The First Air Cavalry,
Was wiped out yesterday.

The Big Red One will get it next,
Out at Michelin.

Oh, tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy,
Oh, tidings of comfort and joy.


O LITTLE TOWN OF BAN ME THUOT

Tune: "O Little Town of Bethlehem"

O little town of Ban Me Thuot,
How still we see thee lie.
The good Rhade are all at play,
Uprising in the night.

Yet in the dark streets shineth,
A blazing FULRO flag.
The bad Jarai will have to die,
As ARVN they do fight.


[T]WELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

Tune: "The Twelve Days of Christmas"

Note: Lucien Conein insists that the correct title is the "Welve
Days of Christmas."

On the first day of Christmas, the VC gave to me:
Some plastic in a Dauphine.

Second day...two hand grenades
Third day...three punji stakes
Fourth day...four fallen flowers
Fifth day...five claymore mines
Sixth day...six satchel charges
Seventh day...seven birds a shrinking
Eighth day...eight bar girls drinking
Ninth day...nine Saigon teas
Tenth day...ten tanks of napalm
Eleventh day...eleven Montagnards
Twelfth day...twelve butterflies


YOU BETTER BUG OUT

Tune: "Santa Claus is Coming to Town"

Oh, you better bug out,
You better get high,
Draw your weapon,
I'm telling you why,
Ho Chi Minh is coming to town.

He knows when ARVN's sleeping,
MACV is never awake,
He knows your ammo is never good,
So bug out for goodness sake!


'TWAS COUP DAY

[NOTE: Written by John Granger and Volney Warner, Psychological Warfare
Section, at the time of the coup. The version in the Lansdale collection is per-
formed by John Muldoon and the Cosmos Tabernacle Choir.]

'Twas siesta on "coup" day and all through Saigon,
Not a soldier was stirring, not even big Don.
The plans were all checked by Minh with great care,
In hopes that a victory they soon would declare.

The Nhus were all nestled so snug in their beds,
While visions of power danced through their heads.
With Diem in his nightshirt and Nhu in his cap,
Both settled down for a hot sweaty nap.

When out on the roof there arose such a clatter,
Diem rose from his bed to see what was the matter.
Then what to his wondering eyes did appear,
But 30s and 50s inspiring such fear.
('Cause they were all shooting, not there but here.)

The tanks and the hows and the planes how they came,
He started to think, "How short-lived is fame!"
Then all of a sudden his phone gave a jingle,
(This happened quite often since he was still single).

"Give up and live, or resist and die,
We'll give you 'til six to say no or aye."
He picked up his pants, down the staircase he flew,
"If I hadn't listened to dear Madame Nhu,
I'd still have control, instead of the coup.

"But now that it's here, I'd better get brother
To come up with crack troops and put down another
Attempt to take over the reigns of this realm,
And let me get back to steering the helm."

So putting his fingers up to his nose,
He gave them the sign that everyone knows;
And moving the bookcase so grand and so tall,
Uncovered a doorway into a hall.

This passage was secret, not even Nhu knew,
That this was built in for such a coup.
It led to an alley outside of the grounds,
To a spot that was in back of the loud banging sounds.

"We made it," cried Nhu with a voice loud and clear,
But Diem stated wisely, "We are still too near.
So let's take that vehicle parked over there,
I once drove an APC (It was a dare)."

They captured the driver and vehicle intact,
And moved it out smartly, (The vehicle was tracked).
Over the river and away from the coup,
Dash away, dash away, dash away Nhu.

And all you could hear as they drove out of sight,
Was "Merci beaucoup, don't shoot all night."
The next day we heard so few of the facts,
The rumors were flying about many pacts.

But one thing we feel is essentially true,
Some old is preserved, but there ain't no more Nhu.


X-MAS 1965, GETTING OUT OF "SYNC"

by N.A. DOC BLAND
Some of this is kinda fuzzy, but I am sure that I spent X-mas day of '65 flying
TWA to RVN.

Dec. 21: Leave Evansville, In....... Dad, mom, & and girl I had met while home
on leave, and spent two days and a real unforgettable night with. She give me a real
nice letter to read right before I boarded plane, turned out to be a "Dear John" letter.

Only the second time I ever saw my dad with "tears" in his eyes, remember wondering
"why." My dad had served in South Pacific during WW 2, with Marine Corps. After I
was in country about 3 mins I knew "why."

Had stop and change of planes in St. Louis, Mo. Next stop San Francisco.

Checked in Oakland Repo-Depo, think I spent a day or two here. Don't remember anything
except they made sure we had on Class A's summer uniform on and gave "strict instructions"
that we keep them on until we arrived in RVN.

Think we left from Oakland in daytime. On TWA.

Stopped at Seattle,Washington.... had to get off plane while they refueled. A
few of us got together and went to Booze store for a larger group. Had to run about
a mile in cold and snow on ground in short sleeves to store, as I remember we had to
go there because the airport was not allowed to sell booze by the Bottle.

When we got there the line was real long standing outside. We started at back and
asked folks if we could get in front of them, telling them we were on our way to Viet-Nam
and had to be back on plane in about 30 min-utes or so. Everyone was so nice and let us
go ahead of them, one guy even pitched in a few bucks, had one ass-hole that didn't want
to let us ahead of him about halfway through the line.

Some real big "logger" looking guy that was a few spots ahead, overheard this ass-hole,
come back and grabbed him by his shirt collar and took him off to the side for a little
"talk", someone at the front said right away "you guys hurry up and get right up front of
me," wonder what the "logger" said to the ass-hole?

Seems like it got dark real fast while here. Everyone got a arm load of booze,
think store manager even give us a few free bottles. So anyway we got back to
plane with 3 minutes to spare.

Next stop Anchorage, Alaska, Dec 24th, bright sunlight but real cold, had to get
off for some reason (fuel?).

All I remember is everyone was making comments about the cold and having short sleeve
shirts on.

Don't seem like hardly any time at all went by and it was dark again.

Do remember that the pilot announced that we would cross international
dateline soon and that X-Mas Day would only be 7 hours and some
minutes long. Can remember one of the stewardesses took our booze and
fixed everyone up to three drinks, started serving them when we crossed
that dateline, and it was X-Mas.

Think most every one only had one or two drinks, and I remember it got real quite
and stayed that way until we got ready to land in Toyko, by then it was the 26th.
Remember looking at Cameras there.

Next Stop: "Viet-Nam."

Hard to believe that I was under serious consideration for CMH while there, yet
found myself in Jail for "vagrancy" X-Mas of 67.

PS: Sitting here with tears in my eyes thinking and wondering about the "guys"
I shared that plane ride with, would I recognize any of them, doubt it. Never saw
any of them before or after that X-Mas ride. God it hurts to think about how
young and innocent we were, and knowing a bunch of them didn't get to come
home sitting up in a seat, like I was lucky enough to do.

I sit here in this "lab" and see the kids, and think to my-self, "was I really that
young, how the hell did I survive it?"

Will X-Mas ever be that "special" again for me, are the "best" of times over for
this old medic?

One last personal note, if could share one thing with folks about X-Mas season
and giving I would say "Give of your self, the 'stuff' passes out of our lives for
the most part, Warm Memories Stay for a life-time."

That stewardess warmed my heart so much that when I came back and was on a
flight headed to Kentucky to see my folks, I gave the "stewardess" one of two
"yard" bracelets that had been given to me by a couple of real "special" yards. If
you really want to do something special for X-Mas, if you see someone with that scary, lost, pained where-am-I look in their eyes, try to just give them a warm
compassionate smile. You never know--that "smile" just might save their life. scary, lost, pained where-am-I look in their eyes, try to just give them a warm compassionate smile. You never know--that "smile" just might save their life.

http://www.vietvet.org/xmastime.htm


Sempers,

Roger

[ecomsg68]

The Magician elicits a loud cheer
When he pulls cards out of your ear.
But the VC astound you,
Amaze and confround you.
When they make a whole bar disappear!