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CITY LIFE IN DA NANG, VIETNAM Us: How can you describe some of your daily experiences down in Vietnam? John: Normal activity was just work, normally eight to six, and then back to the camp for dinner (and breakfast before), so they were ten-twelve hour days, generally. We had Sunday afternoons off, when we typically would go down to China Beach or do other things. I worked at drafting and design work, or did preparation of charts for the admiral to use, and briefing of General Westmoreland or any of the visiting brass from Congress. After we no longer berthed on the ship in the harbor – on the APA’s – and we were at camp Tien Sha, we would usually just grab a bus down to the ferry landing, catch a little ferry across the river, and then walk a couple of blocks to our office at 56 Doc Lap Street…and it was a hub of activity. There was a local market, a theater next door, and lots of people going up and down the street… Being Navy guys, we were able to work out a good exchange rate where we could swap a case of steaks for a case of booze with the army; yet in the navy, we could swap a bottle of booze for a case of steaks. So once we did this, we always had booze and steaks. So if we wanted to have a party in our compound in town, periodically, we’d start grilling steaks and have the drinks. This is, again, after 6 o’clock, and with permission, when we were allowed to stay there a little later… but…it takes the edge off. On a few occasions, we would pick up food on the street at little places near where our office was. And I liked to experiment. Obviously growing up in Southern California, you like food that’s got a little spice…So I tried different things. One I didn’t know until after, was when I tasted a little fried rice, wound up it was dog fried rice – I did not know before it…but it tasted okay. They also have a sauce they make from decaying fish, called “nuoc mam”, and the solids I believe were called “nuoc minh” or something. But they were used to flavor food and put on rice, and that adds something that’s a little different. One of the things that we did while we were there was they did a track meet in Da Nang for the different units that were around that area. I had run track in high school, so I competed for that, and I did a high jump. I cleared the bar – must have been six feet or something like that. And as I’m about to get up, this guy standing next to the pit says “Nice jump son.” I look up, and – “Yes, sir!” – it was General Westmoreland. So that was an interesting experience. Another atypical experience, I think, was one time, one of the chaplains for the Navy that was in Da Nang asked to meet with me. We went up on the top of Monkey Mountain up above Camp Tien Sha. This was on a Sunday…He was chatting about things, and wanted to get to know me, because he had seen on my card that I had registered as an Episcopalian, so he wanted to find another Episcopalian. I developed a friendship with him, and several times I’d go out and assist him in serving communion to the troops outside of downtown Da Nang. You don’t normally think of religious service in a war zone, but that’s a memory…it’s an important memory. Us: How did you feel about the media portrayals of what was going on in Vietnam? John: The Vietnam war was the first of what I’d call a “living room war”, where video images are actually brought into your nightly news cast. It didn’t happen in Korea, it didn’t happen in WWII, or any other military incursion because it was new technology at that time. My folks sent me clippings in almost every letter they sent, typically from the Los Angeles Times. From my reading of those and even sharing them with fellows in the same area with me, we could not understand what stories they were trying to tell, because we didn’t see any semblance of reality. It was as if they were writing stories – writing fiction – at a bar in Saigon, and were nowhere near Da Nang, because there were things they were reporting as going on that none of us had ever heard about, even things in the city. So we wondered, what was the portrayal of the war that was being presented through the media? Us: How did you feel when you left Vietnam? Can you tell us about your experience then? John: That was a very different experience. We took off from Da Nang on a stretch DC8 with no intermediate cabins, so it was just one long plane, 6 seats wide. When we wheeled up off the airbase in Da Nang, there was a slight cheer. When we cleared the coast, there was a slightly louder cheer. I don’t think there was another sound until we touched down in Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino. That was a strange flight, having going for so many hours. I think it was 13, 14, or 15 hours, non-stop; and then nobody saying anything…Except when we landed, when we got off, we all debarked based on rank; I’m a petty officer so I’m one of the last ones off the plane. One of the first things I did was just knelt down and kissed the ground – I’m glad to be home.
Object Description
Profile of | John Morris |
Title | A Career That Began in Vietnam |
Profile bio | John Morris has been involved in the water industry for more than 45 years, continuing his family's long involvement in the industry. Some of the first water projects he worked on were during his 13-month tour in Vietnam, from August 1966 to September 1967. John was stationed at the Public Works Design Office in Danang, where he was involved with designing the barracks and a water treatment system at Camp Tienxia, among other projects. After returning home, he continued his education at USC in Civil and Environmental Engineering. Though he has lived in Pasadena all his life, his service in Vietnam has led him to pursue water projects in many other parts of the world during his professional career, including Africa, Saudi Arabia, and other parts of southeast Asia. John is a strong leader in the water industry in southern California, and has served numerous leadership roles in the civil engineering industry. Even past retirement, John continues to find ways to help others with his expertise in Civil and Environmental Engineering. He currently serves as a mentor for USC's chapter of Engineers Without Borders, and has traveled to Honduras for these projects. John currently lives in San Marino with his wife. |
Profiler bio | Mohammed AlDahash, Economics major & Business Administration minor. Rachel Steinberg, Double majoring in Neuroscience and Biology at the University of Southern California |
Subject |
Vietnam Vietnam war anti war engineering aid sere culture shock readjustment |
Profiled by | AlDahash, Mohammed; Christian, Andrea; Steinberg, Rachel |
Geographic subject (city or populated place) | Da Nang; Saigon; Ho Chi Minh City; Pasadena |
Geographic subject (county) | Los Angeles |
Geographic subject (state) | California |
Geographic subject (country) | Vietnam; Africa; Saudi Arabia; Honduras |
Coverage date | 1960-1969 |
Publisher (of the original version) | http://anotherwarmemorial.com/john-morris/ |
Type |
images video |
Format | 1 image; 3 video files (00:15:31); 3 transcripts |
Language | English |
Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
Part of collection | An Other War Memorial -- Memories of the American War in Viet Nam |
Filename | morrisjohn |
Description
Profile of | John Morris |
Title | City Life in Da Nang Vietnam |
Format | 1 transcript, 3p. |
Filename | morrisjohn-vid2_tr2.pdf |
Full text | CITY LIFE IN DA NANG, VIETNAM Us: How can you describe some of your daily experiences down in Vietnam? John: Normal activity was just work, normally eight to six, and then back to the camp for dinner (and breakfast before), so they were ten-twelve hour days, generally. We had Sunday afternoons off, when we typically would go down to China Beach or do other things. I worked at drafting and design work, or did preparation of charts for the admiral to use, and briefing of General Westmoreland or any of the visiting brass from Congress. After we no longer berthed on the ship in the harbor – on the APA’s – and we were at camp Tien Sha, we would usually just grab a bus down to the ferry landing, catch a little ferry across the river, and then walk a couple of blocks to our office at 56 Doc Lap Street…and it was a hub of activity. There was a local market, a theater next door, and lots of people going up and down the street… Being Navy guys, we were able to work out a good exchange rate where we could swap a case of steaks for a case of booze with the army; yet in the navy, we could swap a bottle of booze for a case of steaks. So once we did this, we always had booze and steaks. So if we wanted to have a party in our compound in town, periodically, we’d start grilling steaks and have the drinks. This is, again, after 6 o’clock, and with permission, when we were allowed to stay there a little later… but…it takes the edge off. On a few occasions, we would pick up food on the street at little places near where our office was. And I liked to experiment. Obviously growing up in Southern California, you like food that’s got a little spice…So I tried different things. One I didn’t know until after, was when I tasted a little fried rice, wound up it was dog fried rice – I did not know before it…but it tasted okay. They also have a sauce they make from decaying fish, called “nuoc mam”, and the solids I believe were called “nuoc minh” or something. But they were used to flavor food and put on rice, and that adds something that’s a little different. One of the things that we did while we were there was they did a track meet in Da Nang for the different units that were around that area. I had run track in high school, so I competed for that, and I did a high jump. I cleared the bar – must have been six feet or something like that. And as I’m about to get up, this guy standing next to the pit says “Nice jump son.” I look up, and – “Yes, sir!” – it was General Westmoreland. So that was an interesting experience. Another atypical experience, I think, was one time, one of the chaplains for the Navy that was in Da Nang asked to meet with me. We went up on the top of Monkey Mountain up above Camp Tien Sha. This was on a Sunday…He was chatting about things, and wanted to get to know me, because he had seen on my card that I had registered as an Episcopalian, so he wanted to find another Episcopalian. I developed a friendship with him, and several times I’d go out and assist him in serving communion to the troops outside of downtown Da Nang. You don’t normally think of religious service in a war zone, but that’s a memory…it’s an important memory. Us: How did you feel about the media portrayals of what was going on in Vietnam? John: The Vietnam war was the first of what I’d call a “living room war”, where video images are actually brought into your nightly news cast. It didn’t happen in Korea, it didn’t happen in WWII, or any other military incursion because it was new technology at that time. My folks sent me clippings in almost every letter they sent, typically from the Los Angeles Times. From my reading of those and even sharing them with fellows in the same area with me, we could not understand what stories they were trying to tell, because we didn’t see any semblance of reality. It was as if they were writing stories – writing fiction – at a bar in Saigon, and were nowhere near Da Nang, because there were things they were reporting as going on that none of us had ever heard about, even things in the city. So we wondered, what was the portrayal of the war that was being presented through the media? Us: How did you feel when you left Vietnam? Can you tell us about your experience then? John: That was a very different experience. We took off from Da Nang on a stretch DC8 with no intermediate cabins, so it was just one long plane, 6 seats wide. When we wheeled up off the airbase in Da Nang, there was a slight cheer. When we cleared the coast, there was a slightly louder cheer. I don’t think there was another sound until we touched down in Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino. That was a strange flight, having going for so many hours. I think it was 13, 14, or 15 hours, non-stop; and then nobody saying anything…Except when we landed, when we got off, we all debarked based on rank; I’m a petty officer so I’m one of the last ones off the plane. One of the first things I did was just knelt down and kissed the ground – I’m glad to be home. |
Archival file | Volume3/morrisjohn-vid2_tr2.pdf |