Redcatcher 199th LIB Communications Platoon

About the people of Vietnam
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A little bit about the people of Cat-Lai

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Local Restaurant in Cat-Lai, I know we never ate there!!!

For the benefit of anyone that was not in Vietnam I must tell you that one of the big never to do things was not to eat food prepared by the locals. The people of Vietnam being a poor country were not particular about what might wind up in the pot. I must admit that on ocasions when I broke that rule I was delighted by some of the taste these people could whip up. 

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Most likely collecting rice for the Restaurant on the left

The poor worked from morning to night with very little to show for it. I do not have any idea what Vietnam is like today but I do imagine that there has not been much in the way of change.

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Working the rice fields

As you can see Main Street in the heart of Cat-Lai
was not a very fancy place.
Nothing like Main Street USA

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Cat-Lai was a simple little village located on a very busy river

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As in all wars it is the children that pay the ultimate price

You will notice that you only see the women of Vietnam working the fields of rice. I guess we all know where the men of Vietnam were and what they were doing!

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On the way home from work

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How lonely to be a child in a war torn country

I do not know who the GI is with the kids in the photo above. I do know that a lot of us enjoyed playing with the kids of Cat-Lai. Maybe they reminded us that we had brothers, sisters & kids of our own at home. The children of Cat-Lai were very friendly towards the Americans and always under foot. Most of these kids would be in their 40's now, I really have to wonder do they remember those nice Americans with the chocolate bars. Do they ever wonder about us as some of us must wonder about them. How did they turn out I wonder?