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Saigon Life 1955 -1965: A Day In The Life … Before Saigon

by Admin and Richard Turner, Contributing Editor
© SaigonKidsAmericanCommunitySchool.Com

Below are Saigon Kids stories about our life before Saigon – why, when and how we came to Saigon.

Bob LaysonBob Layson (1959-61)
Journey To Saigon:

April 1959 somewhere over Southeast Asia on a Pam Am flight. Destination Saigon, Vietnam. The flight crew announced over the P.A. system we would be landing in Saigon in about 1 hour. I left the lounge area where I’d been playing cards with one of the stewardess’s. As I settled into my seat my thoughts drifted back over the past few months … Continue Reading HERE

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Roy McDonald

Roy McDonald (1959-63)
Worldliness and Twins:

In the late 50’s and early 60’s, the average American family’s worldliness was limited to a 50 mile radius from their home. My brother and I had just started our freshman year at Jeb Stuart High School (a two mile walk from our home in Lake Barcroft, VA) … Continue Reading HERE

Richard Turner

Richard Turner (1959-61)
Slouching Towards Saigon:

In the summer of 1956 my father, Ralph Turner, was sent to Saigon by Michigan State University. He spent three months there developing a guide for the upgrade of the surete crime laboratory which the Vietnamese Bureau of Investigation had inherited from the French … Continue Reading HERE

Submit your *Before Saigon* stories and photographs by using the
*Contact Form*.

CLICK HERE To Go To CONTACT FORM

Kevin Wells

Kevin Well (1959-62)
Culture Schock and Prickly Heat

The whole Saigon experience started in late 1958. My existence centered around going to school, being a feral kid during the summer, and one notable summer, being restricted to the yard with my siblings, the underclass. I was the first born … Continue Reading HERE

Ken Yeager

Ken Yeager (1961-64)
From Juvenile Delinquents To Saigon

My mom, dad, sister and I were living at Fort Rucker, Alabama when dad came home to inform us that he had orders for Vietnam. Like most at that time, we had no idea where Vietnam was and so out came the atlas …Continue Reading HERE

Submit your *Before Saigon* stories and photographs by using the
*Contact Form*.

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Tom HannaTom Hanna (1960-62)
Walking Into Hell:

We traveled to Saigon in July of 1960. My father was a Lt. Col. in the US Army Ordinance Corp. When he got his orders to be Chief of Ordinance military adviser to the South Vietnamese Army, we were living in Hinsdale, Illinois. He was completing his MBA at the University of … Continue Reading HERE

Bruce Thomas 61Bruce Thomas (1960-61)
Shipping Out to South Vietnam:

In the summer of 1960 my life intersected that of SS President Hoover as we traveled to Saigon. Little did I know that in the space of a year I would board an identical ship, traveling to live in the Canal Zone. … Continue Reading HERE

Submit your *Before Saigon* stories and photographs by using the
*Contact Form*.

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Suellen OliverSuellen Oliver (1958-60)
The Olivers Head To Saigon:

Dad was expecting “moving orders” and when they finally arrived I think we were all in shock. One quiet evening, Dad and Mom announced that we were moving ….to the former Indochina…to Viet Nam…to Saigon!

I greeted the news with surprise, then dismay and finally, refusal to go. … Continue Reading HERE

Brooks TolandBrooks Toland (1960-62)
14 And Ripe For Adventure:

in 1959, i attended the eighth grade in sherman, texas. had only been there a year, and hadn’t made many friends, though i do remember several awkward social gaffes. while there at perrin afb, dad received notice that he was appointed to be the air attaché to the american ambassador in saigon. … Continue Reading HERE

Submit your *Before Saigon* stories and photographs by using the
*Contact Form*.

CLICK HERE To Go To CONTACT FORM

Jim LouJim Lou (1960-65)
My going to South Viet Nam:

I was born in Paris France in 1951. My father, who was from Shanghai China, was in medical school at the Sorbonne. My mother, who was half Vietnamese and half Chinese, also attended the Sorbonne. My father did his internship in South Dakota. … Continue Reading HERE

Frank StoddardFrank Stoddard (1960-62)
From Benedictine Priests To Saigon Girls:

The year before I went to Saigon, my father placed me in a boarding school run by the Benedictines. That was the year, I was a sophomore, and was I seriously considering becoming a priest. I’m glad I decided to head off to the “Paris of The Orient” instead. Have you ever heard of the Great Imposer? Well, I missed him, he was at the school the year before I got there. … Continue Reading HERE

Submit your *Before Saigon* stories and photographs by using the
*Contact Form*.

CLICK HERE To Go To CONTACT FORM

Gene ( Joe ) Weinbeck -1964Gene (Joe) Weinbeck (1964-65)
Burning Hotel to Saigon Smells:

In the fall of 1963, we were living in Norfolk, VA. My Navy father announced that he’d received orders to a “hot spot” and asked me and Mom to guess where that might be. We couldn’t even come close, and when told it was Vietnam we had to look it up in the atlas. Once we determined that we got to go, too, I was pretty excited. I was a sophomore in high school at the time, and this would be my first trip to a foreign country. I remember my father … Continue Reading HERE

No Photo AvailableClinton (Tony) Doggett (1963-65)
Burning Monks – I was a bit stunned:

I was a fifth-grader in Chevy Chase MD when I learned that we were going overseas again. My dad was a USAID officer, and previously we had lived in Pakistan, Greece, and Italy. I remember my older brother Peppy showing me the Life Magazine pictures of Buddhist monks self-immolating on the streets of Saigon and saying, “This is where we’re going.” I was a bit stunned, … Continue Reading HERE

Submit your *Before Saigon* stories and photographs by using the
*Contact Form*.

CLICK HERE To Go To CONTACT FORM

No Photo AvailableMaile (Miller) Doyle (1961-63)
36 Hours On A MATS Cargo Plane:

My dad was stationed at Fort Monroe, VA when he came home one evening to ask us if we wanted to go to Vietnam. We did not know even on what continent to find it, so Dad got out the Atlas and we looked for it. We had moved so often, that this was just another in a series. As a family we withdrew from friends and became more insular as a means of coping … Continue Reading HERE

Kathy (Connor) Dobronyi August 1963Kathy (Connor) Dobronyi (1963-64)
I Was Sure The Communists Would Get Us:

My father came home with orders for Indonesia after we had been in New Jersey for three years. Time to move. I was devastated to hear that we were going to Indonesia where I was sure the Communists would get us and we all would die. The following week the orders were changed to Saigon, Vietnam.

I was filled with relief! … Continue Reading HERE

Submit your *Before Saigon* stories and photographs by using the
*Contact Form*.

CLICK HERE To Go To CONTACT FORM

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