Big Picture — Operation Montagnard

Trip_Wire

Special Forces
Rest In Peace
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Seattle, Puget Sound — PNW
This film examines how the Montagnards (a primitive tribe living in the Vietnamese central highlands) were trained by the U.S. to defend their territories against the Viet Cong. The film illustrates the methods used by Army Special Forces to win over these tribesmen to the South Vietnam cause

http://www.archive.org/details/gov.archives.arc.1174345
 
Such a shame and a betrayal that they (and other similar tribes/groups) were abandoned to their fate when we cut and run...
 
First Ive heard of Barry Peterson. What an awesome Soldier!

CIA certainly fucked that job up good and proper.
 
Let' not forget the Cambodes that we left to Pol Pot and his bloody crew!

Indeed.
Ironic that it was the Vietnamese that ended that genocide.
Also ironic that China and Vietnam went to war after all was said and done.
 
Sat Cong is one of the very few Vietnamese phrases I know.
I know it from a tattoo an ARVN Soldier had in a magazine.
 
The Montagnards did not like the Vietnamese, and as I recall we hung them out to dry when we left in 1975. Standby I have a picture somewhere of my grandfather with Montagnard tribesmen taken in 1928 while he was on leave from duty in the PI. I will try to scan and post it tomorrow. Pardus will like it...
 
I think I may have actually seen that pic in the past mate.
Would love to see it again.
 
Some Beer 33 with ice a little record of Loretta Lynn and the smell of a phân bón ao.
That is how I remember the parties.
I dressed my son in tiger greens one halloween and camoed his face and in the black I wrote Sat Cong. We went to a lot of houses without a comment then I am at the curb waiting while he is at the door when a lot of commotion at the door brought me running. The guy had dumped the whole bowl of candy in my boys bag and was laughing and crying at the same time. I haven't thought about that story in a long time. I will have to look for the picture now.
Bill
 
The Cambodes that we had in B-36 were fiercely loyal to the USSF but not to the VNs (Either the enemy or RVN). We had to stop convoys to disarm the 'bodes before going through villages to make sure that the VNs were safe!
 
Tiger Photo 11-8-1928.jpg
Here is a scanned version of the photo that Pardus has seen. It was taken by my grandfather and the American in the picture was an Army buddy of his that he traveled with extensively across SE Asia while they were on leave from their duty in the PI. Even the poor image from the scanner shows clearly that the natives in the picture are Montagnards. The caption reads:
"Old tiger killed in woods near Moi native village of Klong Beuss, Cagne Plateau; 14 Kilometers northeast of Djiming, French Indo-China. November 8, 1928."

The species of tiger shown is, to my understanding, a subspecies indigenous to SE Asia that is currently endangered with only a few hundred left in the wild. I do not know where the places referenced in the caption are, and could not locate a map on line to indicate where this was. Also, I have no idea how my grandfather and his buddy got to this location as it must have been, at the time, way out in the middle of nowhere. As far as I can see even now most of the roads in Vietnam are close to the coast. It was not my grandfather's only trip to Indo-China, as I have home movies he took as late as 1936 or 1938 when everyone in the military knew it was just a matter of time before we would be at war with Japan.

If anyone has more information as to where this photo was taken, I would love to hear from you.

Also, when I can get a better image from a better scanner I will post it.
 
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