The Dark Room - A Collection of Photos of the War

Viet Minh with an abandoned Renault FT-17, date unknown (probably circa 1945-6).

Photographer: Unknown

Source: Some random Vietnamese guy on Facebook.

"So your first mistake was..."

"Hardly a mistake, sir. We had no way of knowing it was that boggy."

Lol, I was going to say that manning an FT-17 was the first mistake! THEN trying to get it across a paddy...

Lt Hugh L. Mills Jr, author of Low Level Hell.

Photographer: Unknown

Source: Unknown (posted by some random dude on Facebook)

ARVN M41 tanks, in Cholon during the Tet Offensive.

Photographer: Jim Giarrusso

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13476480@N07/albums/72157684396677850

That's a great photoset. Short but full of inspiration. What's weird is that I've seen 2 of those ruined buildings in video games, both of them set in Hue and not Cholon!

Very strange...

Jetpacks in Nam! Photo mock-ups and artwork as part of Bell Aerosystems' failed 1967 proposal to equip US troops in Vietnam with jetpacks.



Photographer/artwork: Bell Aerosystems

Sources: https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a22616460/vietnam-war-jetpacks-bell-helicopter/
https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2018/08/how-a-us-military-contractor-wanted-to-use-jetpacks-in-the-vietnam-war/

Ah crap! You beat me to the jet packs! I saw this on FB. Weird war just got weirder!

Someone's gotta make these!

Maybe Simon at Full Metal if I ask him nice enough.

Of course in real life, these jet pack guys would have just been sniper bait.

Can you imagine being in one of those and getting chased around by an SA-7?

Flying bullet collector.

Cool pics thoughs, thanks for sharing them.

Source: Internet

Photographer: Unknown

Patriot and Captain America - two Cadillac-Gage Commando armoured cars belonging to the 716th MP Battalion, Tan Son Nhut, 1972.

Photographer: Unknown

Source: 716th MP Battalion Facebook page

Circa 1965: An aircraft tow tractor pulls a Douglas A-1E Skyraider through Saigon during a midnight convoy from Saigon harbour to Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Vietnam. The aircraft were delivered to Saigon by the U.S. Military Sea Transport Service carrier USNS Core (T-AKV-41).

Photographer: Unknown

Source: U.S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation photo No. 1996.253.3111

Centipede!



Taken in 1967.

Photographer: Unknown

Source: Tìm hiểu về chiến tranh Việt Nam FB group

That is a terrifyingly huge beastie! I can't imagine feeling that thing crawl on me. I bet you can hear it scurrying around in the dark. tap tap tap tap tap tap...

It looks like it is a Scolopendra subspinipes.

According to Wikipedia, it eats scorpions and pretty much anything else that crosses its path:

This is an aggressive and nervous arthropod, ready to strike if interfered with and sensitive to vibrations nearby.[3][4] It preys primarily on arachnids, including spiders, scorpions, and vinegaroons. It is large enough to overpower small vertebrates, such as mice or small reptiles, and will readily attempt to consume them. It tends to try to eat almost every living animal it encounters that is not longer than itself.[4] It seizes prey with its anterior legs and then uses its toxicognaths to inject venom. The prey is held by the centipede's other legs until it is subdued. When defending itself or attacking prey, the centipede uses its entire body, coiling around the animal and holding on with its legs, from which position it can use its toxicognaths to deliver venom.[7]

Rats, snakes, viet cong; okay. A two foot centipede? No fricking way. I'd have swam back to the states.

That just ain't right.

Nui Dat Playboy Club, 1971

Photographer: John Alfred Ford

Source: Australian War Memorial
https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C235175

ca. January 1969, Saigon River, Vietnam --- An American Navy Assault Support Patrol Boat (ASPB) on the Saigon River during Operation Sling Shot. The defoilated river banks can be seen.

Photographer: Tim Page

Source: CORBIS

Wayne,

I have been on a "cruise" down the Saigon river from Củ Chi back to Ho Chi Min City, a few years back now, and it still looks like that!

Cool