TRUE STORIES FROM DAYS IN THE NAM
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THE WRITTEN WORD
Xin loi GI…….site still under construction…..please stay tuned
The People Who Lived And Worked On “The Strip”
Their were various kinds of whores to be found on THE STRIP in Xuan Loc, some even had
hearts of gold. As I have mentioned previously there were perhaps 24 houses of ill repute of
which I was a habituey of just four, nothing but the best for Sgt. Zoomie, I could even run a
monthly tab in these joints. Again, these places were owned by the commanding general of
the 18th ARVN and the ARVN Colonel who was the PROVINCE CHIEF but when you
walked in the door it was a woman who was IN CHARGE, better known as MAMA-san
although I ended up knowing them all by name. Formally , when greeting a Vietnamese you
would say: “Chee-ow Ong...” Which means hello grandfather. “Chee-ow Ba....” Hello
grandmother. “Chee-ow Co....” = hello Auntie. Chee-ow Chu = hello uncle. Chee-ow
Em....” = hello younger sibling. GOT IT?? Names, per se, are not used so much as
perceived relationships based on age and sex. NOTE that EM is uni-sexual as when you are
addressing someone younger than you make no note of their sex. Respect for ones elders is
ingrained in the Vietnamese culture.
OTHER ODDITIES before we discuss the various kinds of whores one might meet down on
THE STRIP. In the west nodding ones head up and down seems to mean YES: back and
forth, left to right, right to left seems to mean NO. FOOGETABATIT, as the say in
JERSEY, because in Viet Nam it is exactly the opposite. Slap a Viet on their back as to say
‘Good Job” is a very vile thing to do. Two good friends, even if of the same sex, will be seen
walking down the street holding hands and talking and it is just the way things happen, but to
the average GI upon seeing this behavior usually concluded that all Viet were either Faggots
or Lezbos.
IF YOU WANT TO BECKON some one to come to up do not gesture with your palm facing
yourself as that is basically a flip off. The gesture involves making sure the back of your
hand is towards your face, showing your palm to the person you want to come see you, and
then opening it and closing it. YOU MUST understand the phrase: “COMB BE-it” which
means ‘DO YOU UNDERSTAND” if spoken softly; if spoken more theatrically it can mean:
“DO YOU FUCKING UNDERSTAND!!!” I SCREAMED at the person you are talking to
it can mean: “I AM GOING TO KILL YOU IF YOU DO NOT TALK TO ME, DO YOU
FUCKING UNDERSTAND...” AT THAT POINT you should pull out a knife to let the idiot
know you really are serious.
DINKY DAU= “crazy”. DI-DI MAU=”let’s get the fuck out of here” NUMBA FUCKING
TEN= “Da Worst”. NUMBA FUCKING ONE = “Da Best”. XIN LOI GI = “Sorry ‘bout
that GI”. EM YOU EM YOU LONG: “I will love you forever...” LA DAY......” Means
“COME HERE” and then you add co, ba, em, ong, chu what ever is appropriate to the
situation and again modulating your tone of voice and how loud you speak these words can
drastically change the meaning of what you are saying.
TOI LA NUI CO VAN ME = “I AM AN American Advisor” or TOI LA NUI ME = “I am an
American” CON SAI = “pot”
AT ANY RATE, let us forget the language lesson and talk about the whores, prostitutes,
mama-sans and shoeshine boys, to say nothing of a herd of five year old beggers who only
wore a tee shirt and no undies and who would do it when ever they wanted and were ever was
convienient.
With the exception of one place which was a steam bath [yes, people were gay even back
then] which was on the west end all of these “houses” or “joints” or “bars” or “eateries” were
pretty much cookie cutter. EL-JEFE was a woman and she was called MAMA-SAN and she
was fucking in charge, believe you me. Even I had to kiss her ring once in a while, like she
was the fucking pope. She lived their but was not for sale, but she did have a number of
ladies that you could RENT from her. Most of these establishments had maybe six ladies in
waiting, plus a couple of eunuchs to move the food and booze.
NOW YOU HAVE TO KEEP IN MIND that when I got to Viet Nam I was a virgin and it
was not until Xuan Loc that my cherry got popped. AND as I was there 33 months that was
my education into the alleys and gutters of sex and formed my opinion of women which I
hold to this day: ALL WOMEN ARE WHORES, AS ARE ALL MEN, and women hold the
upper hand because they have THREE HOLES while men only have TWO. RATHER jaded
I would say and certainly not politically correct but what you see is what you get......when I
discovered ONANISM and gave up holes I finally came to peace with myself on this subject
[but more on that later].
AT ANY RATE: Long Khand Province is 50% rubber and 50% triple canopy jungle. About
2 M terrified catholics fled the north of Viet Nam in 1954-6 to be resettled in the south with
many being re-settled in Long Khanh Province [now Dong Nai]. Time were tough, times
were hard and if you were a women and could spread your legs or could give blow jobs then
your family would probably not starve.
MOST OF THE WHORES IN XUAN LOC WERE AMATEURS, that is the wore black
pants, a white shirt and flip flops and could be had for a pack of cigarettes, paid to mama-san,
not the whore. Many of these ladies still had hearts of gold, earth mothers, you had to bond
with them and with many I did. More than once I was taken home and served a meal with
their man being present and still alive today to tell about it. THEY KNEW EVERYTHING
THAT WAS GOING ON....PILLOW TALK WORKS WONDERS.
NOW THE FOUR MAMA-SANS that I dealt with all thought I was too skinny and wanted
to fatten me up [for the kill perhaps??] so I had leverage with them. [Keep in mind I was in
charge of the ration cards for KENNY CONTROL...and they were not numbered....so if one
could provide one’s mama-san with a case of the good stuff once in a while, or even better
yet on a regular basis, one had LEVERAGE.....”COMB BE-it?”]
NOW KEEP IN MIND that is was there for 33 months and it took me a long time to develop
the relationships I had, but it was all for god, king and country [ha ha ha].
OCCASIONALLY TARTED UP WHORES WOULD BE BROUGHT OUT from Bien Hoa/
Saigon. PUSH UP BRAs, HIGH HEELS, MAKE UP LIKE HOLLWOOD, some english
“you wanna fuck?” Now the country girls who had to do it would be like little birds around
these HIGH CLASS CITY WHORES when they came into town, at least the ones that were
eager for promotion to the big leagues. THEY STILL CALL SAIGON “THE PARIS OF
THE ORIENT” even tho it is now called Ho Chi Minh City.
SO AT ANY RATE: Xuan Loc was the minor leagues where the rookies were trained and
every once in a while some pros and some scouts would come out recruiting. So their was an
ebb and flow of the country girls. BUT AS I SAID I WAS A BUTTERFLY......and there
were many flowers.
IN TRUTH, my best informants were my 4 shoe shine boys [average age 11 ??] and the old
mama-sans who thought if was too skinny and kept feeding me dog fried rice. That is all I
have to say about that.
BUT THE BEST WHOREHOUSE IN XUAN LOC was the HOI QUAN 18, which sorta
translates as 18th DIV Officers Club. Even tho I was just an E-4 enlisted man, I was a CO
VAN ME and so that got me privileges. You walk in the door of this place and the maitre’d
knows you if you have just been there once and left some cheese. As I said, the CIA printed
my cheese. It is a 4 star restaurant with an adjoining bar. Out back is staff quarters including
short time rooms, if you know what that means. It is the only place that has any kind of
decent wine at all. Soft shelled stuffed crabs or the petite filet avec pommes de terre frites, a
salad and some wine I had many times for lunch. Usually ROB or BOB paid.
AT ANY RATE, it usually was not a whore house but if you wanted to go with the kitchen
staff, amateurs your could, but every once in a while they would hold a party, and the hookers
would come the day before [TARTED UP DRESSED LIKE ROUND EYES], which is when
you wanted to be there as these ladies were hotter than hot—IMPOERTED FROM SAIGON
EVEN and THAT IS ALL I HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THAT...but.....I WAS NEVER
INVITED to one of these parties but as I said the special ladies came in the day before and
Sgt. Zoomie was their to greet them.....they told him compared to Vietnamese he had a big
dick but usually black were bigger BUT HIS WAS JUST THE RIGHT SIZE......tainted my
relationships with women to this day.