Diary Entry 16: Saigon, Tuesday Evening, 29 June 1965

Saigon

                                                                Tuesday Evening, 29 June 1965

            Just got in from work and thought I’d get some writing started before going out to supper.  In fact, just may not go out to supper as I now have some commissary supplies (peanut butter, cheese, spreads, Vienna sausage, potted meat, and juice) so might just eat here.

           

The breaking off of relations with France probably will help.  There are a large number of French over here and most of the big money is controlled by them.  The French do a big traffic with the North Vietnamese.  Perhaps as many as 50 French flagships call each month at North Vietnamese ports.  These same ships also call at South Vietnam ports and probably a lot of intelligence on us is taken north by the French.  Breaking diplomatic relations also kicks out the French Embassy and with it all the secret intelligence organizations.  So this may help us. [On 24 June, South Vietnam ended diplomatic relations with France, claiming the French government had aided and abetted the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong’s aggression against the South Vietnamese government.]

Things are happening so fast over here that it is not possible to cover all the interesting things I get into during a day.  So I’ll just have to write about the major things I do.  Sure wish I had nothing to do but watch things and write about them.  Could write a book in a few days.

           

Lieutenant Colonel Jack Lambert from Leavenworth arrived here yesterday.  Had supper with him tonight.  He told me that the colonel who came in to take over Department of Division Operations [at the Command and General Staff College] had a heart attack so [Colonel] Bill Dean took over the department.

Clark, left, and Lieutenant Colonel Jack Lambert, right, at MACV II Headquarters, Saigon, South Vietnam, 29 June 1965.  (Photo courtesy Richard P. Clark, Jr. collection)

           

I saw [Major] Jim Greenquist at Qui Nhon.  He looks like he did at Knoxville.  His family is in Miami, Fla., for the duration.  He’s been here in Vietnam for 6 months and is flying helicopters.

           

Don’t think I’ve ever had a job that was busier than this.  The days just zip by and time is my most important resource.  Just don’t have enough time.  Getting 3 new officers in my branch next week, so maybe they can take over some of the nickel and dime jobs I’ve been doing to free me for some long-range planning.