Air Vietnam

When I first saw this postcard I immediately thought CIA, but quickly realized, no that was Air America.  Anyway, I'm kind of a transportation buff, and I like old airplanes, so what the hell, I bought it.  Air Viet Nam, as it's spelled on the back of the card, was founded in 1951 with a fleet of Cessna 170's.  Not an ambitious start, but then the original purpose of the airline was to connect small, rural villages with cities.  With the beginning of the Vietnam war, the airline had a major expansion.  Lot's of soldiers needed to be moved.  For flights in country, they mostly used prop planes, like the Douglas DC-3, 4, 5, and 6.  For overseas flights, jets. 

So, the captions, "AIR VIET NAM,  Douglass  DC-6, XV-NUD,  MSN 42876, Saigon 1970."  "Photo Courtesy: David C. Goss" 

Vietnam, Pearl of the Orient 4

This is the last from this particular Vietnam postcard folder.  I've got another one, but I'm going to put off doing that one for awhile.  Is it just me, or are other photo bloggers having problems with images being darker than the scans?  It just seems like it's been in the last couple of weeks.

Vietnam, Pearl of the Orient 3

A few years ago, a friend of mine told me he had a heart condition and asked me when I had realized that more than half my life might be over.  I thought it over for a minute and said, "Fifteen."  I was born in 1955 and in 1970, it had become obvious that Vietnam was, in many ways, a class war.  There were so many exemptions, and easy access to draft lawyers and challenges for those of a certain income and above.  I was a small town kid , being raised by a single mother in a sub poverty income household.  I may have been the ultimate draft bait, but I got lucky.  The Paris Peace Accords that ended American combat operations was agreed to on January 23, 1973, my eighteenth birthday.  It was signed on the 27th.  Two years latter, like most Americans, I sat and watched the fall of Saigon on TV.  I can remember thinking, "I'm glad it wasn't me."

Vietnam, Pearl of the Orient 2

I'm sure these postcards were meant to be reassuring for the folks back home, but it's also  nice to remember that most Vietnamese weren't the villains we made them out to be.  They were just ordinary people trying to get by in a very bad situation.

Vietnam, Pearl of the Orient 1

I'm not quite sure how I'm going to put this one up.   Anyone of a certain age, who ever drove cross country, will be familiar with these multi-image postcard olders.  My guess, this particular one was purchased at a PX in Vietnam.  The perfect set of images to persuade a worried mother that things weren't so bad in Vietnam, the pearl of the Orient