View #1 - The entire 9th Infantry Division Band celebrated July 4, 1969, in concert at My Tho - the capital of Dinh Tuong Province. Our destination had been the Province Chief's residence. The band boarded two deuce-and-half trucks and the bandmaster and top sergeant, along with a few of the guys, climbed aboard a 3/4-ton cargo truck.

View #11 - Motor scooters, bicycles and tricycles provided efficient and cost effective transportation for the average Vietnamese city dweller. Cyclist far outnumbered motorist in the cities. The countryside, where there were few paved roads, was a different matter. During the monsoons mud stopped just about everything unless it had tracks or multiple drive wheels. The two girls wearing all white (center of photograph) are not brides (and possibly not virgins), they are students in traditional costume.

View #2 - The bandmaster had ordered a few of us to carry extra ammunition. Although the band always brought two full ammo boxes on trips, I stuffed extra magazines in my pockets, which made them bulge. Some of the guys gave me a hard time about the ammo and flak vest. One of them insisted that I pose and took my photo, joking that he was sending war pictures home. They didn't know about the gunship escort. I looked over at my buddy, Larry Wolf. He was wearing a flak vest and his pockets bulged with ammo, too!

View #12 - You could smell a Vietnamese market way before you encountered it. The merchants jammed the streets with their wares. Foodstuffs were piled on the sidewalks and ripened in the blazing heat of the sun. My Tho was a river city and fish a staple part of the community diet. Merchants would pile their catch of the day on top of yesterday's unsold fish. The smell was hard to describe, other than it wasn't at all pleasant - kind of like the scent of death - and there was plenty of that in the Delta.

View #3 - The DISCOM furnished driver (a soldier needed a military driver's license to operate a US Army vehicle) isn't tailgating. The 709th Maintenance boys over at the transportation pool gave the band a 3/4-ton cargo truck that wouldn't always start. We chained it to the back of a deuce-and-a-half and off we went!

View #13 - The lead truck driver stopped at this public structure, thinking that it was both bandstand and our destination. He had the only set of directions and was obviously lost. Since we had no radio to call, nor interpreter to question our whereabouts, we kept driving.

View #4 - Just beyond Dong Tam's gate our short convoy turned east onto Route TL-25. The Huey AH-1G escort ship joined us overhead. The Cobra flew at low altitude alternating from side to side of our convoy. I was in the second truck, which had no covering tarpaulin over its bed, and had a clear view of the helicopter. Moments after I snapped this photograph the helicopter burst into flames and crashed. Our convoy sped away. We later leaned that the pilots escaped with minor injuries. A routine, passing, MP patrol had spotted the smoke and picked them up.

Views #14 - Whoa, now hold on THIS looks like the place! Frantic waving from the towed command vehicle at the rear, and the word is passed forward along the bed of the open truck for the driver to stop. He does and beeps a warning to the lead truck (the boys in the bed have thrown up the sides of the covering tarp more for ventilation in the sticky, hot, humid air than for clear fields of fire), which responds by stopping. One of the band's two top sergeants (the Division's imminent withdrawal had transformed the band into a lifer-rich organization) gets outs and checks.

View #5 - The lead truck in the band convoy is approaching the first of three Route TL-25 bridge crossings between Dong Tam and My Tho. This one is a short distance west of the village of An Quoi. One of those sputtering, puttering, Lambretta 550, scooter buses is parked on the side of the road. Although the roads are wet, the rain has mercifully stopped.

View #15 - This is the place. Bandmaster CWO-2 Jerry E. Cottingham has spotted the gold gilt on the finales of the fence posts. Using command logic his mind had subconsciously made the connection between gold and politicians, especially RVN politicians. A bunch of kids and their nanny on the property eye us suspiciously, probably not certain whether we are visiting or overthrowing the providence chief (a powerful mayor) in another military coup.

View #6 - The view from this Bailey Bridge is anything but threatening. It was hard for some to accept the reality that Dinh Tuong Province remained a conundrum of Communist sympathizers and VC activity. During the day this had not been apparent. When the sun set, however, reality became more convincing.

View #16 - Providence chiefs were political appointees who lived well off the local population. This estate, undoubtedly, had once been the home of a wealthy French colonist. The walls of the manor house and the stone fence posts were riddled with bullet pockmarks.

View #7 - The scenery at the second bridge crossing was as bucolic as the first. The beauty and charm of the Vietnam countryside could beguile the foolish into a lethargic stupor concerning survival. It was exactly what the VC had hoped for. They couldn't meet us head on in major battle, but they could certainly prey on the unaware and unprepared.

View #17 - The security of the already substantial wrought iron fence had been supplemented with barbed wire strung in checkerboard fashion along its entire length. There were additional rows of barbed wire at each corner where visibility was somewhat restricted.

View #8 - Route TL-25 ran along the north bank of the Song My Tho and terminated in the city of My Tho. The outskirts of town were reflective of the congestion and hubbub of most, major, Delta population clusters. There was plenty of movement, concealment, cover, and distractions - including an occasional pretty girl. And just about everyone carried weapons! It set my hairs tingling. How were you supposed to distinguish those who would do you harm from the friendlies? The people who dressed us in Little League baseball caps ordered: Don't fire unless fired upon. Now that's one way to tell friend from foe.

View #18 - The mansion was breathtaking. It was a beautiful structure surrounded by well-manicured lawns and gardens. One of the province chief's older daughters had attended college in the USA with somebody in the band. This friendly status led to several bandsmen being volunteered to move a grand piano from one floor to another. In this view the work detail is forming at the left of the house. I had managed to slip away unnoticed into the plantings. While at the Reliable Academy I had paid attention to the lessons concerning the benefits of concealment!

View #9 - Once inside My Tho there was a wide inlet off the river that divided the waterfront part of the city. Its banks were crammed with picturesque hootches and shops.

View #19 - During my tour Vietnam had been a nation of children. With all of the wars and overall poor health care, the life expectancy of the average Vietnamese citizen hadn't been great. Producing children seemed to an  answer to maintaining the population. I suspect that these may have belonged to the province chief.

View #10 - Similar to so many South Vietnamese cities, over 100 years of French colonization had left its imprint on My Tho's architecture and city layout. There were beautiful public gardens, a race track, and a large athletic field. In this scene a member of the National Police, clad in garb reminiscent of a Good Humor ice cream man, converses with an ARVN soldier on furlough. There was nothing humorous about the National Police.

View #20 - The ravaging of war had left the majestic entranceway into the estate a bit seedy looking. The uprights have been scarred by bullets and the metal below the swinging gate is full of shrapnel punctures. Many of the marks appeared to have been freshly made. Some of the fellows are waiting outside the gate for the 9^th ID piano movers to finish so the concert can begin .

Scenes From An Earlier Undocumented Trip