Whats the best site for South Vietnamese and Cambodian army stuff

[nguoi tien su]

Erich, no problem with your beret, a neat example.

Patrick, your suit is really great. I have search into my VNAF file but unfortunately found no pictures with this kind a suit. I willl look into the USAF part later.
NTS

[hochiminhtrail]

Hi

question for the weekend

what sort of patches would ARVN soldiers wear when attached to a US unit??
Any US patches or non at all??

How would an South Vietnamese interprete look like ??
I guess he would wear a US set of jungle jacket right? as he is not part of regular ARVN,
from what i understood they were students and had the choice of being drafted or going to serve with Us forces.

Cheers

Alex

[Patrick Dempsey]

Hi Alex,

when ARVN units were attached to US units they kept their own insignia.

Regarding interpreters...a whole range of clothing can be seen ranging from standard ARVN fatigues, US jungle Jackets (sometimes badged to the unit) Vietnamese and US ERDL. tigerstripe, duckhunter, and even civilian clothes!

(Chris has a superb photo of his Fathers interpreter wearing a great set of duckhunter which is posted earlier in this very thread).

A picture is worth a thousand words as they say, so here are some examples.

Original captions to the photos are in Italics.

Standard ARVN fatigue uniform worn here.

"A Vietnamese interpreter appeals to My Tien villagers
to take part in the Med-Cap program being offered
after their village was searched by the 199th Lt Inf
Bde".

[Patrick Dempsey]

"Vietnamese interpreter makes announcement over
P.A. system appealing to villagers to take part in
Medical Program after the search and Cordon of My
Tien Village. At left is interpreter La Van Bien and
right is SP4 Dennis Cox."

[zvezdah1]

Hi


How would an South Vietnamese interprete look like ??
I guess he would wear a US set of jungle jacket right? as he is not part of regular ARVN,
from what i understood they were students and had the choice of being drafted or going to serve with Us forces.

Cheers

Alex

HI Alex,
Here's a pic which I posted sometime ago at the beginning of this thread. This was the interpreter working with my dad ca. late 64 early 65. Interestingly he's got an "interpreter" tab over his pocket.

Chris

[Patrick Dempsey]

"Taken mid-year, 1970 just outside Kontum City for
an advisor conference. Figures from left: Montagnard
interpreter, MAT team medic, unknown, RVN
Vietnamese interpreter, Lt. Martin Goslar,
Montagnard ARVN Lieutenant."

[Patrick Dempsey]

"Chui Lai - SSG Ngo Van Ton, ARVN interpreter
working with 1/6 Inf., 198 Bde., Americal Division, in
their efforts to secure Van Thien village, discusses
the village's progress with Cpt. Joseph Lujan"


(This almost looks to be a set of ROK camo being worn)

[Patrick Dempsey]

"Questioning one of the 95 NVA soldiers from the
8th Bn., 90th regiment who surrendered to
paratroopers from the 101st Airborne Division here
recently during Operation Carentan II is 2nd Brigade
interpreter Voan Tam".

[Patrick Dempsey]

A nice shot here.

Note the shoulder straps and full colour 5th Infantry SSI. Not sure what his pocket flap badge is though?

"Sergeant "Danny" Thieu [last name uncertain],
interpreter for 1/77 Armored Battalion, 1/5 Infantry
Brigade [Mechanized], Quang Tri Combat Base,
Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam".

[Patrick Dempsey]

The same man.

Note the typical modification of the pen pocket under the armpit.

[Patrick Dempsey]

And again.

[Patrick Dempsey]

And to close...

"Interpreter of TM Kiem Tan advisors, Sgt. An with
his newly issued M-16 at Province Hq. In Xuan Loc".

[Patrick Dempsey]

HI Alex,
Here's a pic which I posted sometime ago at the beginning of this thread. This was the interpreter working with my dad ca. late 64 early 65. Interestingly he's got an "interpreter" tab over his pocket.
Chris

Hi Chris,

if memory serves you have a great colour shot of this man too.
I never tire of seeing your Dads photos.



Patrick.

[hochiminhtrail]

thanks Patrick & Chris


Chris your dads interprete is one of the best with the tape above the pocket, and the beret without insignia, just great.

Patrick, great fotos you are showing here, the 101 interprete is great, and the one ROK camo, your last Foto from Xuan loc he seems to wear a brown beret right? maybe with infantry badge? difficult to see.

i wonder if the Kit carson scout became interpretes after a while, once they learned the English language ( in case they stayed long enough with a unit)

Who paid the interprets? were they choosen on a (US) divisinonal level, corps level, or assigned by Regional South Vietnamese commanders??

What would happen to interpretes in case of being wounded or killed, would they be treated by US medical team? ( thats my guess), were they awarded US miliatry medals?, is that possible?

Cheers

Alex

[zvezdah1]

Patrick
you always seem to find some interesting period photos, incredible!

Thank Alex - I absolutely have to get on the stick and go thru the 1000 or so slides left from dad's second tour(69) and some from the first tour as well. Perhaps this summer I'll get to it.

Chris