This Photo was taken in a hamlet called
Duc-Hoa, about ten miles west of Saigon. This small town was rapidly
expanded in the wake of a U.S. military installation nearby. The
installation was built in support of the ARVN 25th division.
The ARVN had no regular billets, so the soldier in the picture just sort
of camped out on our airfield. Our "airfield" was little more that an 800
foot section of a closed road that had been widened a bit. A few
scattered and once discarded CONEX (shipping) containers provided shelter
for many Vietnamese soldiers. A few of these soldiers brought their
wives and children with them. Such is the case with this little guy.
This child has never known anything in
his lifetime but war. Going to "work" with his father was just daily
routine.
Sadly enough, his father most likely has
never known anything but war, as well.
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