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Project Jenny KLIK - 1st Inf Di v Women in Vietnam RELATED-- To AFVN To Saigon To Vietnam Further Afield Index
From: Bob Nelson
Date: April 30, 2014
Subject: An Phan, Chief of Staff to the
From: Forrest Brandt
Date: April 30, 2014
Subject: An Phan, Chief of Staff to the
No offense taken, Ron, and what you had to say is correct.
Beauchamp was one of my fellow lieutenants in Lai Khe. He worked in the G-5 shop and spent much of his time trying to devise ways to ingratiate the Vietnamese to the 1st Division and American policy. As such he was often in the midst of the many small villages around our AO armed with good will, a box of Band-Aids and a .45. His was not an easy task.
In a second note he wrote that Lai Khe is now an industrial park and recanted some of his tone as he obviously stepped on many toes with his remarks regarding the point/value of the war.
I think we've gone 'round that several times on here without changing anyone's mind.
Forrest
From: Bob Nelson
Date: April 30, 2014
Subject: An Phan, Chief of Staff to the
My daughter in law was born in Vietnam and her family were boat people. They are mostly stateside now. My son and Kim went to Vietnam several years ago and her family were three shades beyond shook. They gave her a list of things to do, not to do, who not to talk to, etc. Brian and she brought back a ton of good pictures - the people are still interesting, it is still a beautiful country and his pictures evoked many, many memories. Amazing - to this day a mixture of the good and the ugly.
Bob
From: Tim Boodle
Date: April 30, 2014
Subject: An Phan, Chie of Staff to the
Bob,
Please tell me more about the list they were given. I'm curious now.
From: Ron Turner
Date: April 30, 2014
Subject: An Phan, Chie of Staff to the
Forrest,
Sorry, I read it in a rotten mood and replied immoderately - sorry.
Regards, Ron
From: Forrest Brandt
Date: April 30, 2014
Subject: An Phan, Chief of Staff to the
Just to make clear, the thoughts and observations are from Beauchamp Carr, not me. Like China, the government is laisez faire where it seems to be of benefit and tyrannical where it feels it needs to be. It's no place I would ever want to live - or serve another tour.
From: Ron Turner
Date: April 30, 2014
Subject: An Phan, Chief of Staff to the
Forest, While I have no doubts that Vietnam is a nicer place today than when we were there, I do doubt if its quite as wonderful as implied for many of the inhabitants thereof. While the extensive and brutal re-education camps that came being shorty after the fall of Saigon probably no longer exist, Vietnamese exchange students, in the past year or so, have told me of considerable repression outside the tourist areas for many Catholics; they qualify their comments by stating that considerable variance is present dependent upon the party officials in a given area. While I have neglected to search the web, I do doubt if serious Catholics are in any high government position.
I doubt very much if An Phan is a liberal democrat. I do suspect he is very skilled at PR and all that goes with it. While I am not a Catholic nor for that matter religious, I do value the "rights of man" in both the American and French contexts. "Since the insane American War came to an end..." - to say I take umbrage is an understatement.
Regards, Ron
From: Forest Brandt
Date: April 23, 2014
Subject: An Phan, Chief of Staff to the
This is from my buddy at Lai Khe, Beauchamp Carr. He joined us for two days in Memphis and is -- obviously -- currently in Vietnam. Thought you might enjoy his comments and photo.
"An Phan, chief of staff to Troung Tan Song, took Bryan Benedict & BC to lunch in Saigon today (few seem to use the politically correct name Ho Chi Minh City, although the the country has deified him to the extreme).
"Troung Tan Song is Vietnam chief of state. An lived with the late Georgia Kyser in Chapel Hill while pursuing degrees at UNC and Duke. Georgia Carr and Trevor Carr got to know him well, and put us together. He's fond of Georgia and Trevor.
"He and his boss recently met with Barack Obama in the Oval Office. As you can imagine, An is brilliant and charming. His graciousness was overwhelming.
"As fascinating as this connection is, it's extremely isolated.
"Since the insane American war with Vietnam came to an end, the country has soared economicly. Prosperity and growth abound. Irony also abounds. Even the Roman Catholic Church seems to be doing okay."
Vietnam Today
April 2014
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