Diary Entry 82: Saigon, Friday Night, 29 October 1965

                                                                                                  Saigon
                                                                                                  Friday Night, 29 October 1965



Well, I sure do feel 100% better tonight!  My cold is a lot better and it appears that it won’t be long before I’m over it.  Have been rinsing out my mouth with salt and warm water all day today and apparently that had a good effect on my sick tooth as it does not hurt anymore.  So with all that improvement overnight, my morale improved correspondingly. Am glad, because when I get to feeling bad physically I also get to feeling depressed. Really shouldn’t feel this good because it was a hectic day and we had to work real hard. There were 2 or 3 crash papers to get out including 2 pieces for General Westmoreland and one for the [MACV] Deputy Chief of Staff, [Brigadier] General [Richard S.] Abbey [U.S. Air Force] .  But perhaps all the activity and running around and staying busy had a beneficial effect also.

We have 4 inspection teams here from CINCPAC (in Hawaii), USAF, JCS, and Army Pacific---all here to evaluate transportation so we must be in trouble.  We’ve got a lot of problems but they can’t be solved overnight by magic or money, and that is what most of the higher headquarters think is the solution to problems.  Tomorrow I have to give 4 briefings to these groups, and since they give all the appearances of being hostile, reckon my work is cut out for me.

Hope to spend Xmas in Thailand.  Colonel Plate said he may let me go on TDY, but if he doesn’t, I’ll probably just take 3 or 4 days leave as I need the rest.  Would like to get out of Vietnam for just a few days.


There is a big Vietnamese Independence Day celebration coming off here on Monday with parades, etc.  I plan to stay either in the BOQ or at work because the crowds will be such that good targets will be present for the VC.  Some incidents are likely.  Last Thursday the VC threw a Molotov cocktail (coke bottle full of gasoline) into a jeep near Tan Son Nhut, burning 3 pretty badly.  So the holiday will give a greater chance for an incident.  Crowds are good things to stay away from over here.