Ken Schuller 1968-69 photo collection
EM1 Ken Schuller c./1968-69 shared his experiences while serving in Vietnam
My Time At Con Son RVN by (Former EM1) Ken Schuller
After a MAC flight from Travis AFB in California I arrived at the 'Armpit of SoutheasAsia' Ton Son
Nhut AFB in Saigon along with ET3 Tom Georges who went through the Alameda transit station together.
First stop was the transit barracks at Ton Son Nhut where I never sweated so much taking a shower. While we were sitting on our bunks I noticed a lot women (mama sons) in the barracks. Lots of guys came out of the showers with just a towel over their shoulders walking to their bunks and I let them know that there were women in here. They replied back ---You're new in country aren't you.
The next day we went down the sirstrip to the 19th Air Commandors who flew us to our final destination on C123's. They were the main suppliers of our necessities. They usually flew in twice a week with mail and supplies and we treated the flight crew well. We cooked up a great lunch for them when they arrived. When they found out that we only got powered milk some of their deliveries ended up with us, so we had real milk from then on. A great bunch of guys. When I came back from R&R I stayed the night in their barracks and they had a outdoor movie screen strung between the barracks and had beer and showed porno movies. A wild bunch!
Con Son was infamously known as Tiger Cagee Island as many prisoners were treated to the inhumane treatment. It is a pretty small island and US forces were limited to the Loran station, a small Navy radar site (maybe a complement of six), Army DECCA site with about the same and three Seabees were pretty much homorary coasties as they only had a small hut on the beach by the tiny airstrip for sleeping but used our base for everything else and gave a hand when we needed dozers and backhoes to do any work. The DECCA site shut down at the end of '68.
We were all restricted to our side of the island and forbidden to cross over the ridge where the main town/prison was. There was a small Vietnamese trustee camp on our side and several of the inmates worked at our station.
One event that stands out is one of our SNET's was on mid-watch and out of boredom went to one of these teletypes and types F&$K-It over and over. Unfortunately he didn't realize it was online. That morning our CO McDowell had a lot to explain as it was sent to COMSEASEC.
LCDR McDowell (CO) showing how much weight he has lost with a
Burmese Python that the locals caught
Ken with the same
Randy our mascot
McDowell with Santa (EN1 Cutting)
Ken with Santa
'Jake' Jakobczyk with Santa
Girls from the village for Charistmas
Mike 'Loose' Fortner with a pin the boobs his mother sent him
Ken and Fortner "The Crown Royale Kids"
The west tip showing the coral reef and beach with the Navy radar site
Aerial view more to the right with the beach and air strip
Looking north the station is in the center and ARVN trustee camp lower left
Con Son Village
Another view
Air Commando C123 taking off with Embassy plane on tarmac. On Saturdays
the Embassy plane came with mostly female workers to enjoy the beach.
Seabee Dave Davis and Ken
EN2 Houston, DC2 Farnell and Seabee Al Alama
Roughed in road to the new radar site
Trying to dig a new well when ours started to dry up during a dought
l to r: Houston, some engineer, Alama and ENC Schramski
That didn't go as planned!!
Ken paralleling generators for Transmitter switch
Main base with galley on the left and Officer/CPO quarters on the right from sidewalk
Airstrip and main beach. Amry DECCA was to lower right of the airstrip near
the bottom. This was pretty much the only area we were allowed.
Airstrip viewing to the south
Loran base looking north. Road went over mountain pass to Con Son
Another view of the station
Another view
Looking north
Loran room (transmitter section-Bill)
l to r: ET3 Martin, ET3 Jake and ET2 Kelly -- "I don't Know--What is IT?"
AN/FPN-46 timers
Thanks Ken!
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