PRESERVING A MILITARY LEGACY FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS
The following Reflection represents SGT Robert Pryor’s legacy of their military service from 1967 to 1969. If you are a Veteran, consider preserving a record of your own military service, including your memories and photographs, on Togetherweserved.com (TWS), the leading archive of living military history. The Service Reflections is an easy-to-complete self-interview, located on your TWS Military Service Page, which enables you to remember key people and events from your military service and the impact they made on your life.
What was your favorite bar/ recreational establishment from your Military Service? What do you remember most about this place and do you know if it still exists?:
After getting wounded, I was given a three-day R&R in Vũng Tàu. I stayed at the Grand Hotel, which had been taken over as an R&R Center. Many GIs had cute dinner dates that first night. I don’t do nightlife, so there would be no opportunity to find even a plain Jane for me.
On my second day, I passed a barefoot woman in an alley. She was dressed in filthy black pajama peasant rags sporting rips and patches while smelling like raw sewage. I said hello to her in Vietnamese in the most formal manner. She returned my greeting, and we continued our separate ways. Suddenly, she came running back. As a Chinese Nùng, she was from the lowest strata of Vietnamese society. They were treated like animals. Other than her fellow Nùngs, I was the first to show her any respect.
After a bit, I asked her to join me for lunch. She pointed out that she would never be allowed in a restaurant or to even get food from a street vendor. I purchased food at a restaurant’s back door and turned over two trash cans in our alley to sit on. Despite the putrid smells, rotting garbage and rats scurrying about, it was my life’s most touching lunch date due to her dignity and charm.
Her name was Chuyên, and she worked in housekeeping at the nearby air base. Even though she spoke fluent Cantonese, English, French, and Vietnamese, her job was cleaning toilets. After lunch, I invited her to my room at the Grand Hotel. As a US facility, the R&R Center couldn’t keep my new friend out, regardless of her station in life. While she showered in my room, I left to find her an outfit. Words can’t describe what I saw once she dressed in the sandals and formal áo dài I purchased. She had gone from a haggard creature to a captivating woman, rendering me speechless. I had been right all along; there would be no plain Jane for me. My dinner companion was the most ravishing woman in Việt Nam. Everybody stared when we entered the hotel’s restaurant. Men were mesmerized, and women were jealous.
The hotel’s Blue Moon Club had live music. Some patrons wouldn’t have welcomed Chuyên due to her ethnicity. I couldn’t take her there. The music was clearly heard from my room, where we shared Chuyên’s first dance on my veranda. Dancing the night away in private was enchanting beyond words. It was so right for both of us that we wept on occasion. They were tears of joy because we were sharing something magical. There were tears of sadness, too, knowing the racism in the bar one floor below us. After 48 hours and a thousand tears, we returned to our separate hells. Chuyên to clean more toilets and me to receive more wounds.
The Grand Hotel is still there.
Pictured in 1969:
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My contact with the Vietnamese in the Saigon area was through the work of an American Missionary, Maurice Hall. I learned of Maurice before arriving in country and I sought him out soon after getting there. He had church services every Sunday at his residence. These services consisted of ordinary Vietnamese and American military personnel. I was privileged to become a part of that group as often as my schedule and the war permitted. As a forward air controller, I traveled to outposts in all three districts in South Vietnam. When I returned from each mission I quickly assumed my attendance at these church services. There were two things that I learned through my association with Maurice and the Vietnamese that were members of that church. First, Maurice was the bravest man that I ever met. Second, those Vietnamese Christians were really no different from me.
Over fifty years after leaving Vietnam, my wife (Sarah) and I was in an elevator in Nashville, Tennessee with an older man an attendant . That older man was Maurice Hall. My knees became weak and a lump was in my throat. I hadn’t seen him since 1964 when I finished my tour.
When I mentioned returning to my unit to receive more wounds, it was not made in jest. Less than two months later, on 20 June 1969, I received 11 gunshot wounds, 19 major shrapnel wounds and over 200 minor wounds. That is nothing compared to the hell and humiliation that Chuyên had to endure every day of her life. I never saw her again, but my sincere hope is that she survived the war and made her way to the US. In my autobiography, the story of Chuyên and the plight of her people takes up four of the 37 chapters — 15,290 words. Getting that down to under 500 words was no easy task. I thank TWS for giving me the opportunity to share the story of such a special lady. I have thought of her nearly every day of my ensuing 54 years.
Withoiut a doubt, the most touching recollection I have ever been privy to. Thank you.
What an awesome story. I hope you are doing well. The same night , 20 june 1969, our artillery battery was attacked by the enemy. at FSB Washington. We won but suffered some casualties.
Beautiful story. Thank you so much for sharing it.
Thanks for sharing your story. It was very touching and sincere.
Poignant, mesmerizing recollection of an awful life passage: a dutiful young man who was called to arms and who suffered an extraordinary number of wounds for his conscientiousness. Many others also donned the uniform, trained and warred, and too many didn’t survive what was a costly conflict that ended ignominiously for us.
Robert I liked your story. I too, served as a radio operator for the 5th Special Forces and was sent to Hon Tre island for weeks of training before going to Mai Loc camp A101 for a month long mission. At Mai Loc we were attacked but we fought our way out for four hours. We held the camp. After Mai Loc I was sent to various places in I corp but spent most of my time at B-11 outside of Chu Lai. For R & R I went to Na Trang where on the first night we were attacked and I had to replace a guy in the mortar pit who had been shot. So much for a relaxing R & R. We have lots of stories to tell that we still hold in but I am glad you are home and can tell a couple. I appreciate every day here at home that I wake up to and you probably do also.
AIRBORNE!
My first most memorable tour of duty was having the sole esponsibility of recruiting back to active duty those retired senior enlisted personnel living on the west coast from the Mexican to the Canadian borders during a one year period 1980/81. We successfuly recruited sufficient numbers of retired Navy personnel that the program was terminated in 1981. This program caused a change in attitude at Naval Personell Command that retirees do have an ability and desire to return to active duty for a two year term to help our Navy to get junior enlisteds properly trained to supplement crews aboard naval ships at sea. My second most meaningful tour was when I was selected by the Seventh Fleet Commander to become a member of his staff to be and “incident investigator and fleet weapons logistics assistant while on his staff. This was an unaccopanied tour of duty requiring many in-country to Danang, Vietnam, trips while visiting each of the duty aircraft carriers positioned off the coast of Vietnam. My immediate boss was CDR. Waters and our Vice Admiral Cooper, Commander of the 7th Fleet.
Robert, where may I find your autobiography? I would really love to read it.
Emily,
I have no intention of ever publishing my story. I wrote it for friends, family, heirs and posterity. But it is online for anyone to read with permission without cost. If you are a member of TWS, send me a private message through my profile. If you are not a member of TWS, send a message to Kim Kraft or Diane Short, Senior Admin with TWS, , and they will facilitate the two of us making contact through regular email. I can then send you the links to read my full autobiography at your leisure. All but nine of the 37 chapters deal directly or indirectly with the Vietnam War and the residuals of my wounds. All things considered, my life has been pretty good so far.
Robert
Thank you so much for your response! I appreciate your willingness to share. I’ll get in contact!
Robert, I guess I’m not able to message you. Would you mind shooting me a message through TWS when you get a chance?
Emily, I can’t find a profile on you through TWS. If you have a profile on this site, please copy and paste the URL for your profile here so I can find you and get a message to you. I was unable to find you on my own. If that doesn’t work, contact TWS Admin and ask them to message me with your profile information or an email address I can use to write to you. I really don’t recommend posting your email address on a public forum for all to see. You and I need to find a way to communicate directly.
Emily, email admin@togetherweserved.com and I’ll forward your email to Robert.
Bob, I am so glad to hear you are doing well. Linda and I are in Highland, Arkansas. This past year has been rough on me (survived a widow maker heart attack, fell six months later, had two surgeries on my right leg and had my second heart attack while on the operating table. I was intubated for 3 days. I am still wheelchair bound because of my comminuted fracture which requires an additional surgery to correct the leg and pain problems, which will then permit me to be mobile once again). I wish that we could nice again get together, but we Are considering moving to Idaho for assisted living. Blessings and best wishes my friend.
Gene Lawrence
Thank you for sharing your story. I was in I Corp area in 1967 – 68. Was lucky to escape incoming except one 122 rocket. I met a lady on the street near deep water pier at. DaNang. She wanted to talk, very nice lady who could speak broken English. An emotional thing she said to me was, “ You to young, Marine, to die for us”. She made me feel good that we were there to help them.
Sarge, I can’t thank you enough for sharing this beautiful story, which had me in tears. I am a Navy Nam vet and was already home before your story takes place. Jesus what a terrible number of wounds you sustained. I’m so glad you made it home and can write about your experiences so honestly and so poignantly. Thank you again, for your service, and for sharing your story with us.
Robert, that was truly a beautiful and touching memoir. It made me think of one of my favorite songs from that era: Louie Armstrong’s What A Wonderful World. The lyrics of the song talk about the beautiful things of the world, such as the blue skies, the colors of the rainbow, the warmth and friendliness people show each other. As I read your memoir, I thought to myself, “What a Wonderful World.”
Thank you, Joseph. I have been blessed to live in such a ‘Wonderful World’