Vietnam
Tan Son Nhut Air Base
377th Security Police Squadron
Photos and Return
© 2013, by Thomas Tessier, LM 126
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Photos were sent to me from a friend, Rick Courtemanche.
This is the statue at the VC/NVA memorial shrine site of the grave for the local vc who were killed and buried on TSN. We were told that all
the bodies buried on the base were moved.
Our guide told us that 82 local vc are buried here and the hundreds of
other KIA VC and NVA were all moved to sites closer to their homes.
We laid a wreath at the memorial but we were late due to a scheduling
error as we were supposed to meet with some of the former soldiers who
attacked us in 1968. They had already departed when we arrived so we placed our wreath to commemorate the dead on both sides.
We were also not allowed access to the new gate across highway 1 from the memorial where the 051 gate once stood.
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From:
Rick Courtemanche
Executive Consultant, FSS
IBM Vietnam CO
2nd Floor, Pacific Place
83B Ly Thuong Kiet Street
Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi, Vietnam
There is a literal translation of the plaque and an intended meaning:
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People, Army, Community (or local Government), Party (as in Communist Party)
of the Tan Bin District
Establish Memorial of 82 Soldier Died Heroic
Lunar New Year 1968
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However, my desk mate and former NVA soldier fro 1971 through to wars end (that is a story in itself we need to share), says, that it should be read as follows:
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The people, Army Government and party of the Tan Binh District Establish the memorial to honor the heroic deaths of the 82 soldiers, from this community who died during Tet 1968.
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Thanks Ric, I hope this helps. As I stated before, the 82 bodies here
were local VC who died in the battle of TSN. All the others were exhumed from
the mass graves and relocated closer to their homes in the South and North
according to our tour guide.
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