Memoirs Part 19

While stationed at Bien Hoa, I sprained my right wrist. I was put on limited duty, so I had to escort the Vietnamese grass cutters and trash haulers. Revetments are high dirt walls on three sides of a pad where munitions are stored. If there is an explosion, the walls will contain most of the blast. These walls are covered with grass to prevent erosion. A crew of Vietnamese women would cut the grass by hand using sickles. Someone had to watch them to make sure they didn’t wander off into secured areas. The grass cutters were from young to elderly women. One of them was pregnant and didn’t show up for work one day. I was told that she had her baby on the day before after work. I was surprised when she showed up on the next day to continue working. Of course, I was amazed, and worried for her, but I learned that you “gotta do what you gotta do” to put food on the table. This is one reason that I still get upset when people take a day off from work because they have a headache.

 The trash people would mainly pick up wood from pallets and shipping containers. I would escort them around the bomb dump to pick up the wood. The driver was a man and there were about five or six women on the crew. Traditionally, the driver only drives and doesn’t help loading the wood onto the truck. Even though I had a sprained wrist, I used my good hand to help load the truck. I must have embarrassed the truck driver and he started helping too. We became friends and he would practice English and I Vietnamese while working.

One day the driver asked me to go off base to empty the truck and have lunch with him. I told him that I was not allowed to go off base. He said that he knows the Vietnamese guards at the back gate so there would be no problem. There were several Vietnamese guards at the gate and one or two American security police. I hid down below the dash in the cab of the truck. He said something to the guard on the way out and we had no problems.

The trash dump was only about 15 minutes from base. We dropped the truck off to be unloaded and went to get something to eat. The women ate at an outside food stand. The driver took me to a “nice” restaurant that had tables and stools. He ordered pork chops on a bed of rice. Very simple, but I love pork chops. They set the dish on the table in front of me. Instantly it was covered with flies. I could barely see the meat or rice. I just watched to see what he would do. I guess this is normal everyday way of eating (especially near a trash dump). He just waved his hand over the food and the flies flew away. He took a bite and they returned. We would repeat this until we were finished eating. “When in Rome…”