Pastor Thomas Johnson who was a Chaplin’s Assistant at 3rd Field Hospital from the Fall of 1965 to Spring of 1966 has been kind enough to contribute this slide show of photographs he took while in Saigon.
These pictures will give you an idea of what Saigon was like during the year following the closing of American Community School and the departure of most Saigon Kids.
This is a wonderful collect which will bring back memories, for you, with pictures of Tan Son Nhut, Saigon maps, Flower Street, Lam Son Square, Continental Palace Hotel, Basilica, U.S. Embassy 1965, Vietnamese Schools, street scenes of downtown Saigon, river front, My Cahn Floating Restaurant, the Central Market, Victoria Hotel bombing, Saigon Zoo, Xa Loi Pagoda, Buddhist temples, beggars, street barber shops, black markets, taxi cabs and much, much more.
MEMORIES OF SAIGON 1965 – 1966
Click Here to enjoy wonderful memories.
[ Note: If the slides are moving too fast for you, you can increase the time between slides by adjusting the *seconds* between slides on the tool bar at the bottom of the screen: click the * + * Icon to slow it down to a comfortable speed for your viewing. ]
Coming next: Saigon Then (1965) and Now (2008). This is another of Tom’s collections in which he took pictures during his visit to Viet-nam in 2008 of the same places he took pictures in 1965 – showing the *then* and *now*.
This is a wonderful album Tom. Thank you so very, very much for sharing it with us. Very much appreciated! 
Bob
Great photos and it sure brings back great memories. One can only feel sad about the poverty that the people had to endure while we had it made, but that unfortunately is the way of life and makes me so pleased to have been born an American/Brit and not have to live the way some people did. Unfortunately the poverty continues, not just in Vietnam but around the world.
But back to the album…thanks a lot for the trip down memory lane.
Tom,
Thanks so much for putting this slide show together. Its both thoughtful and thorough. I look forward to your Now and Then show. I worked with a photographer, Paul Hester, in Houston on the design of a park that included Now and Then photographs of downtown Houston. There’s also a major Re-Photography project that is ongoing in which photographers are attempting to re-photograph images of the American west taken in the 19th century.
Best,
Richard
Fabulous photographs. I am struck with how remarkably similar the Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) that I visited in 1993 was to the one in 1965! The poverty was almost unfathomable. That year, 1993, the highest bank note was worth 50 cents!
Your photographs of the people were beautiful and the intensity of the poverty, very moving.
Tom, this is the best set of slides from that time that I’ve seen so far. Thanks for sharing. I’m looking forward to your next contribution. I left Saigon in 1960, but these pictures bring back lots of memories for me.
Best,
Janet
Hi Janet,
Thanks for the comments. Who would have known in 1965-1966 that I would be doing a “Then and Now” comparison of Saigon over 40 years later!
Thomas Johnson
Tom,
Wonderful photos and especially the people. I had so wanted to see a picture of the floating restaurant so really appreciate that – many fond memories for me. Where was the Victoria Hotel in Saigon? Drawing a blank on that.
Look forward to the now and then. Saigon is changing so fast it is amazing. I could not believe the changes from 2001 to 2009 that I saw.
Mahalo nui loa,
Sarah
Good slides. Enjoyed them very much. Just saw the Vietnamese movie…”Owl and The Sparrow”. Shows a good look of Saigon today. Frank
Thanks for sharing your photos. By any chance did you meet my dad (Ray Johnson) while you were there? Don’t know what rank he was at that time. He was a SMSGT when he retired in 1970 at DMAFB Tucson AZ.