Saigon, Vietnam 1968 - 1969 / Sài Gòn, Việt Nam năm 1968 - năm 1969

These scenes of Saigon and the C-130 crew Merlin hotel were taken during the second half of 1968 into 1969 when I was serving as a C-130B copilot flying out of TSN, Vietnam. The music is Hat Tren Nhung Xac Nguoi (Singing above The Dead Bodies) sung by Khanh Ly,
Những cảnh của Sài Gòn và C-130 thủy thủ đoàn Merlin khách sạn đã được thực hiện trong nửa thứ hai của năm 1968 vào năm 1969 khi tôi đang phục vụ như là một CoPilot C-130B bay TSN, Việt Nam. Âm nhạc là Hat Tren Nhung Xac Nguoi (Hát trên xác chết) hát bởi Khánh Ly
Thanks to Huan Pham for providing this translation:
Noon, I walk the hills/
Now I sing the dead/
On the roads, I have seen, I have seen/
Each one has one, this one screams//
Noon, I walk the hills/
Now I sing the dead/
I have seen, I have seen, garden here:/
Dead tired ma holds her dead girl//
This ma claps above her child/
This ma claps for peace, for peace/
Here some clap for life, for life/
Here some clap for end of life//
Noon, by berry groves/
Now I sing the dead/
By a road, I have seen, I have seen/
Old man hugs his stone cold son//
Noon, by berry groves/
Now I sing the dead/
I have seen, I have seen, ditches, shelters/
Filled with bodies, his and hers//
This ma claps, lets have more war/
This one clap, no more, no more/
Here some clap for hate, for blame/
Here some clap to shake off shame//
(translated by Patrick Gallagher)

[@jimpaull731]

Thank you for your service and thank you for sharing your video.

[@nguyentruongluan4318]

Dưới chính quyền vnch kinh tế thể thao nói chung rất phát triển rất sầm uất rất tự do

[@vanthai7358]

Hi Jim, thank you sir for sharing this valuable clip of Saigon during the war. I also would like to sincerely thank you and all others for the noble service in Viet Nam. You all should hold your heads high and be proud .

[@meoxathulucky]

Sài Gòn 1968 đẹp nhỉ

[@eagleman1542]

I lived right across from Phu Tho race track for three years long after the war; I could still see bullet holes in some of the earlier walls that hadn't been replaced. The history in that area is amazing, as one could imagine. USAF veteran here...

[@retiredsoon1365]

Hi Eagle Man, The picture of Phu Tho racetrack appears to show a large cemetery . Was is there and if so where was it in relation to the entrance to the race track and who was buried there. It would appear that it has been removed.

[@eagleman1542]

@@retiredsoon1365 Howdy. Rs. There was a cemetery there and you were right that it was removed. It had many tunnels below it as well; I believe it was a Viet Catholic cemetery as the French one was a few kilometers north of there.

[@hoogerwerf4106]

I’m the one who created the video from Super8 movies and personal photographs taken after Tet in 1968. My recollection from that time it was a temporary internment for S. Vietnamese soldiers killed in the fighting.

[@eagleman1542]

@@hoogerwerf4106 It's a really creepy place at night, Mr.Jim. I swear I got pinched (hard) late one evening when passing by there. I never told anybody until now.

[@RayHuong]

[2] This afternoon I went by the strawberry field, to sing above the corpses I saw, I saw On the road, an old father embracing his son's cold body This afternoon I went by the strawberry field, to sing above the corpses I saw, I saw My brothers and sisters buried in shallow graves Clap, mother, and cheer the war! Sister, applaud peace! Let us clap for more feud and Slowly silence our feelings of remorse.

[@hoogerwerf4106]

I would like to return to Vietnam one day. Maybe soon...

[@hoogerwerf4106]

Yes. It is a beautiful song memorializing the victiims of the massacres in Hue during the 1968 TET offensive during which thousands of innocent civilians were systematically murdered by the Viet Cong. At about the same time the Mai Lai killings by US Army soldiers occurred. Neither of these tragic events should be forgotten. Can you translate "Các bạn đừng cứ chửi nhau j nữa" for me? Best wishes and thank-you.

[@TheBrMon]

Gun ship crews were on the first and second floor and us Trash haulers were on the third and fourth of the Merlin. The roof did not have a bar but the lifers would hang out on one end of the roof and drink and the "heads: would hang out on the north end of the roof. My engineer and I stayed there for the first half of my tour then moved us on base at TSN. One night a sachel charge went off at the Hotel next door that housed Navy. Killed one officer. We ran to the weapons locker but realized we were too drunk to shoot. We ran back up to the roof and watched..

[@hoogerwerf4106]

Regretfully I do not have any info on the mini tet or other attacks. I arrived in Saigon on May 20, 1968 and am not familiar with the French quarter or cemetary. Maybe another viewer can respond with helpful information? Best wishes!

[@RayHuong]

[1] SINGING ON THE DEAD BODIES This afternoon I went up the high hill, to sing above the corpses I saw, I saw People running away, holding each other This afternoon I went up the high hill, to sing above the corpses I saw, I saw Over in the garden, a mother embracing her child's dead body Clap, mother! Applaud your child's corpse! Three cheers for peace! Clap in rhythm, people! Everyone, clap in time!

[@sumbeech1484]

I think the heat & humidity in that third world shit-hole would have killed me long before Charlie would have ! 😵

[@skbvn2]

cry for viet nam not Human's Right

[@cardinnguyen8094]

sao ngay xua thay sang trong nhu nuoc ngoai vay

[@Bluenose352]

Yep! I saw them on google earth! Quite a few C-130s still there and a C-119. Oh, to just snatch them all up.

[@vietnamguy1223]

my dad was in vietnam in 69' hes been in saigon hundreds of time and was always 20 miles south of it fighting in the nippa and rice patteys against the viet cong

[@SamC130B]

James, the Troop Carrier/Tactical Airlift Association will be in Tucson October 2014.

[@TonyVietNguyen]

sai gon 1968 giau kinh!

[@yeuemful]

hinh anh sai gon dep va van minh qua

[@RudyNortz]

I stayed at the Merlin Hotel many times while TDY from CCK. Not many enlisted had air conditioned two man rooms with maid service and a hotel in the bar district! No bar on the roof in '69 but there was always guys up there having a beer.

[@hoogerwerf4106]

Rudy is correct there was no 'bar' on the roof when I was there in 1968-1969...just some chairs. I guess I couldn't think of a better way to describe it for a short caption fifteen years ago when I made the video. My bad...! Jim

[@hoogerwerf4106]

Rudy, do you remember where the Merlin was located? See my reply to Nikki posted on my TSN video.

[@RudyNortz]

@@hoogerwerf4106 I tried to find it on Google Earth years ago but never did. I'll look around again .

[@Nikkis_Channel]

Does anyone know if the Merlin Hotel is still around, I would love to visit this hotel

[@hoogerwerf4106]

See my reply to Nikki posted on my TSN video.

[@Nikkis_Channel]

@@hoogerwerf4106 Thank you

[@rb368370]

Love your vids of old Saigon. I'm a Marine Vet, Chu Lai 69-70, now living in Da Nang and working at Tan Son Nhut.

[@phapnui]

That's quite a commute...

[@lecaotri2406]

Sai Gon toi yeu mai!

[@hoogerwerf4106]

MinhDuclllllll7 is correct. The mini-tet was going on at the time. If you look at the French Opera House in the clip, you will see a shinny section of the roof on the right. This is new roofing where a rocket impacted.

[@damon6852]

Thank you, Jim...as your video promotes truth and understanding...and that always should be commended!!!

[@wacky6136]

Thanks Jim for sharing this priceless video. I don't understand Vietnamese but after reading the translation of the song, I was deeply touch and realized that the song has a strong message on those who died in the war.

[@hoogerwerf4106]

It was not really a bar on the roof of the Merlin--your memory is correct Sam. There were a couple of chairs up there and on that occasion we brought our own beer with us. It wasn't something we did routinely. The couple times I went into the city, we would drink at the roof bar on top of the Rex Hotel downtown. Also we would go the the Hotel Continental or the Majestic. I never felt very comfortable anywhere off base. Mostly we did our drinking at the Oclub on TSN. I never went off base at CRB.

[@Nikkis_Channel]

The Merlin Hotel was once owned by my grandfather, do you know if this hotel is still around?

[@SamC130B]

I don't remember there being much of anything at the Merlin. There was an Army NCO club and a chow hall a block or so away. I never went off base at Cam Ranh. When I was operating out of there in 66-67 in A-models out of Naha, no one was allowed off base. When I was there in 69-70 with the 463rd, I had no reason to go. We had an all-ranks club on Herky Hill when we first started flying out of there and then my AC, Howie Seaboldt, somehow was put in charge of building an officers club.

[@SamC130B]

We too a velvet nude down that Howie got in Angelese City. He took me to the club the first night so I could see it in all of her glory. I wonder what happened to that painting. It seems to me I heard that it somehow ended up at Dyess.

[@allric1996]

Các bạn đừng cứ chửi nhau j nữa. Your theme song was beautiful Mr. James. I am verry appreciated your deeply emotion with us. When you picked this song, Did you understand what the singer was singing about ?

[@vegasgrits]

Many of the structures of the airbase are still intact, including the row of fortified hangars (some now house Vietnamese military helicopters) and the rows of open fighter pits. There is a small gathering of C130s (still in their camouflage) and other US-era transport aircraft parked on the southern border of the current airport. They were clearly visible from the domestic departure lounge until a new building obscured them a few months ago. Clearly visible in Google maps satelite view.

[@olehippy13]

I was there in '72.....I recall the Soldiers Monument...it was getting weird when I was there.. Good shots. keep smilin, olehippy13 former medic

[@SamC130B]

Regarding the rooftop bar at the Merlin (which I don't recall,) a lot of Saigon hotels had bars on the roof. The first time I stayed overnight in Saigon was in 1965 and we were at the Tan Loc on Tu Do Street. The bar was on the roof just down the hall from our room. No commodes, just holes in a piece of porcelain in the floor of the community toilet.

[@MinhDucIIIIIII7]

Second half of 1968 was the second assault of the 68 Tet Offensive. That was why from the top of building, ones can see the smokes from fighting in the suburbs of Saigon

[@SamC130B]

Incidentally, the night the Merlin was attacked, about half a dozen 315th Air Division officers were in the rooms upstairs. Everyone else had been ordered to Tan Son Nhut but they weren't notified. They were in-country to serve as airlift mission commanders.

[@hoogerwerf4106]

I have not read "Bloods." I looked it up on Amazon.com and it has had good reviews. I looks like a good read and I added it to my Vietnam era reading list. Thanks!

[@hoogerwerf4106]

Yes, in 1963 and again in 1965, I was in New Zealand for several months and made visits to Sydney. Delightful experience...this was before the war...

[@hoogerwerf4106]

Thank-you for the translation. Yes, I was there in 2012 for a few days. I want to return one day for a longer stay.

[@hereisbassie]

nice song, nice images, only the markets will look a bit similar today...

[@woodyhayes7402]

Great pictures and song although sad sounded very nice.

[@bichtramdang1226]

Tiếng việt mà còn viết sai chánh tả . buồn thật

[@elephantrange]

Some really primo footage there, and a great song!

[@ngocvinhnguyen3257]

Hay lắm

[@hoogerwerf4106]

Thank-you.

[@Ravene2009]

Great Song (and video)!

[@KhoaNguyen-ej3cg]

What is the themed song used? Please help

[@hoogerwerf4106]

+Khoa Nguyen The music is Hat Tren Nhung Xac Nguoi (Singing above The Dead Bodies) sung by Khanh Ly,

[@c.a.o2913]

bài hát nghe ám ảnh thật