5 Photo Credits: Bob Potter, 697th
"697th Pipeline Playhouse", Camp #44 (Camp USARTHAI)
"With all the wisdom and good intentions of the C.O. (see photo below,)
the "Pipeline Playhouse" did not get that much use ... Why?
Obviously - grown men didn't care that much for hot dogs and burgers
- except real steak ! a.k.a.
poo-yings !!! <bg>"
"Private Party"
697th Party (without poo-yings)
Buds provided by 697th
More of the same ...
Did I make my point, the above pictures were graphic, but
the point is grown men need more than Buds ("..our for you..") suck (big time) ...
Bring on the ladies! yeah ...
wOOF - wOOF - wOOF !
7 Photo Credits:
Party Photo Credits: John Strain, Camp USARTHAI MP Unit
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Lt. Dennis Turner, C.O.
Commanding Officer, 697th
Camp #44 Pipeline Playhouse
Korat, Thailand 1968
"Every Lieutenant, army crew-cut, jungle boots ..
.. should be caught with an apron on!"
Don't ya'think?! Sir! - put that hot dog down! <d>>>
Frank/Company Clerk
7 Photo Credits:
Photo Credits: John Strain, Camp USARTHAI MP Unit
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Home of the 697th at Camp #44/USARTHAI in 1968 (Legend at bottom)
Legend:
Foreground Hootches (Billeting) - Notice two men on walkway; that should be PX (right)
and white bldg is Mess Hall and sign is
APO Mail Room
(Patio around corner)
and next to the Mess Hall would be the 697th Orderly Room; accross the Day Room
- complete with pool table - no masseuse (check O-Club for those add-ons...)
PX was well-stocked, eg, toothpaste, brush, soap & Playboy ...
7 Photo Credits: John Strain, Camp USARTHAI MP Unit
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Going-Away Party for the C.O. - July-Sept'68
..a "public establishment" in Korat, Thailand
"Twistin - twistin - twistin the night away~"
"One - two - three -
"
dancin' - dancin - dancin' the night away~"
Notice: please click on photo for best view,
but if you're drunk - don't bother - it looks great "as is"!
..just be thankful that you weren't there for the audio portion!!!
<d>>>
Sharkey ! - He's everywhere!
(697th Motto)
Frank/Company Clerk
" .. we have done so much with so little ... "
5 Photo Credits: Bob Potter, 697th
..if you're sober - blame Bob ! <d>>>
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Camp Samae San
697th Housegirls ...
Satahip, Thailand (1969)
These beautiful ladies took care of our basic military needs,
without complaints and with a beauty traditional in Thai people
(the "Smile")
5 Photo Credits: Bob Potter, 697th
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Camp #44 (A.M.) Motor Pool Routine
"By the numbers..."
Korat, Thailand (1967)
Narrative:
Did you ever have to pull "motor stables by the numbers"? This
usually happens when the motorpool sergeant is pissed because we weren't
doing the checks that we were required to do. This
picture is Sgt. Voight about March
or April 1967 on the loud speaker telling us to "#1
open hood of vehicle, #2 check oil, #3 check water level" etc. etc. The
jeep in the back ground says"Chaplin 44th NCR" across the hood just
below the windows.
The picture is Martinez doing
his paper work in the cab and Faulk and someone else doing it by the numbers.
Voight would say "#so and so - Do this" Faulk would do it and
yell briskly to Martinez who would mark it down on the check list.
PL4 is next to them. Martinez is in either PL1 or PL2.
The next picture is the 2 1/2 tons
with their hoods up getting checked.
There was only two maybe three guys to do the whole line. Left to right
truck #'s PL17 -PL18- PL19 -PL29 -last can't read because a guy is in the way.
5 Narative/Photo Credits: Tom Petty, 697th
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Camp #44 - 697th Motor Pool
"Life at Camp #44 and beyond..."
Korat, Thailand (1967)
Narrative:
Guys this is the famous PL2.
It went with the 2nd platoon to darn near every place we went. It even beat
me to Samae San. I was the assigned driver for a long time. One time,
I filled out the log book in red ink (at Udorn). It was the only pen we had.
When I got back to the motor pool and turned it in, the motorpool sgt. made
me redo the whole thing because red ink was for air craft!
I always had enough pens or pencils after that.
PL 1 is off to the left.
Sgt Marsh and someone else behind him.
Words can not express the feelings this vehicle brings to mind. All the places,
experiences, things done with friends, the work done -
with PL2.
I remember when I first went to Samae San. Loria, Koelecke, and I were walking
to the motorpool and I saw PL2. WOW!
..was I thrilled and started telling Pete and Koelecke, excitedly, about the
truck. Koelecke said "ahh f#%&* a bunch of PL2's.." To this day over,
thirty years later, I still have not forgotten him saying that, or Loria laughing
because I got so upset...
The next picture is the 2 1/2 ton PL47
mobil machine shop, one of very few such units.
It had lathes and anything you needed to work metal. The only other one I saw
was at 538th motorpool in Samae San and it could have very well been this one.
It was a unique vehicle. The sides would fold out and up and
then the floor would slide out to make room inside. Many stories to tell
about this guy also.
The girls in the EM club, which was right next to the motorpool,
would clean the table clothes and
hang them on the barbed wire around
the motorpool to dry and air out. It worked really well until (I would
suspect) it came time to try and get them off! <rofl>
5 Narative/Photo Credits: Tom Petty, 697th
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Camp Samae San
..Old Orderly Room up on the hill
Satahip, Thailand (1969)
"Ralph Lemmer and ????" - anyone remember his name? TIA.
5 Photo Credits: Bob Potter, 697th
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Camp Samae San - "The Hill"
"Mighty-mighty" 2nd Platoon (Mess Hall Formation)
Satahip, Thailand (1968)
- anyone remember these dogs? TIA.
6 Photo Credits: Tom Petty, 697th
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Camp Samae San
Satahip, Thailand
Year est: 1967-8
697th Pipeline Platoon Squad laying pipe at the Camp...
"If you've got plumbing problem complaints -
these are the guys! Don't bring it to the Orderly Room
- I move (only) papers!"
Frank/Company Clerk
6 Photo Credits: Tom Petty, 697th
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Camp Samae San
Satahip, Thailand
Year est: 1967-8
Open Trenches during "Monsoon" Season ...
6 Photo Credits: Tom Petty, 697th
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Camp Samae San
Satahip, Thailand
Ben @ Motor Pool
1968
Tourist Guide/Local National "Ben"
5 Photo Credits: Bob Potter, 697th
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Photo Credits: 5 Bob Potter, 697th
6 Tom Petty, 697th
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Roy, Den and Mike
Satahip, Thailand - 1967-68
Which one of these "engineers" is from the "Big Mango"?
- I'll give you one clue, he ain't "ci-cow" ...
A: in the middle - Den (Raden Numcherie) *
* Shaved head in preparation for becoming a Buddhist monk ("boo-art")
2 "Super Surveyor" Roy Ney
- Des Moines, Iowa 697th & 538th
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McKenzie, Ackerman & ???
.. around my bunk/locker!
Camp #44 - Korat'68 ...
"My locker and bunk (foreground) must have been good for those late night
card games because this guy was
never there!" #10
- Off-base, Company Clerk
"Korat Mahknut" #10
(..my H.S. sweetheart thought i was a
choirboy #10 ...
- what choir, i don't know ...)
7 Photo Credits:
John Strain, Camp USARTHAI MP Unit
#10 Frank/Company Clerk
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"Don't wait for the Shrimp Boat ...
I'm goin' home with the crabs !"
Camp #44 - Korat'68 ...
"Can anyone tell who is the 'body' behind the t-shirt?!"
(Make believe the answer is upside down...)
A: Sills - from Memphis, Tennessee.
7 Photo Credits:
John Strain, Camp USARTHAI MP Unit
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Sp/4 Rankin
"Say Hahhh!"
"Rankin - do I look like
a doctor to you?!"
A.J. Fugil
"Mafia Spy"
(With the shades)
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Camp #44 - Korat'68 ...
7 Photo Credits: John Strain, Camp USARTHAI MP Unit
"
When it absolutely, positively has to be destroyed over-night..."
"Lift Power"
"Don't ask me ! I don't have the comics!"
Huffman - from New Mexico - "stopover" - Camp Friendship end of '68
(Below) Sp/4 Kirk
"I'm up .. No - I had a real bad dream that I was on guard duty ..."
"Can anyone identify these losers?"
"Yeah - yeah - they belong to the 697th .."
"I can't tell if they are -comin'- or -goin'-
into town ..."
"Hey - you two --
yeah - you two
with the "tootsie roll"
wrapper cameras!
Why don't you go out and get a reaal mann's camera!"
"You guys must think you're reaal cool with those sunglasses ..."
"- that guy you're holding up .. yeah - that's right - between
you two bozzo's with the cameras -- is he on medication or somethin?!"
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Sp/4 Logsdon
w/his Suzuki M/c
Camp Friendship
1968
"A Day in the Pool"
- a Weekend in Bangkok'68
5 Photo Credits:
Bob Potter, 697th
7 Photo Credits: John Strain, 697th
"Huhh.. some Engineer Officers came by
and I told them that -
Command P.F.C. Ellis had the courts
reserved from 10:00 to 12:30 ;
- just before his regular sauna ..."
- SGT John W. Jenkins
Camp Tennis Court "Facilitator"
"I told them that they could be
put on the waiting list ...
- you know (reverse discrimination policy
for EM ...)"
- Funny, no Officers ever gave Jenkins a hard time
about putting his fatigue jackets in ...
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"Hqs - Camp #44 was the best, kept secret in Korat ...
..being stationed there was like living on the (bar) strip..
- no boots to shine - no k.p. - no guard duty - no beds to make
* why - why - it was like not being in the Army !"
- yOUr Company Clerk *** "Would i lie, now???" ***
Korat '68 to Closing -
* EM Club
* NCO Club w/Slots & Booze * Tennis * Barbecue 2nd to None
* Outside Movies
* Pool Tables *
Maids *
yeah - yeah - nag - nag
-- we're working on the golf course ** ...
.. if only Westmoreland would have adopted us ...
yeah .. air-conditioned hootches !
** .. if only one of those F4/Phantoms could "lay" a hangin' bomb
down on the railroad yard !
Instant 18-hole golf course .. plus swimming pool !!! <whoom>
* Now, John claims that the
young lady, his housegirl, had trouble
finding her way home and it was up to him as "an enlisted man and gentelman" to offer his
assistance. She must have been faint, from the anxiety, as John had his arm around
her waist!
7 Photo Credits: John Strain, Camp USARTHAI MP Unit
What John forgot to report, to me, as Company Clerk was the
address of all civilian personnel working on Camp ... It's been 30 years
now, John, I'll let this one go ... But, if it ever happens during a Reunion
or today - your ass is grass and I have the 10-ton truck to do it!
Camp Regulation No. 1: Company Clerk "interviews" (or "samples")
all civilian
(female) personnel
without exception.
John - you s.o.b. -- the next time I catch you not sharing such a 'sweet thing,'
you better show up in the morning with a wedding band on her finger!!!
Joy (her name,) must have been "classified" T.S. because "who knew" she "worked"
on Camp?! turkey .. - Company Clerk (the guy that types your Leaves & Passes...
..and, sometimes even signs'em, huh..)
This isn't the first time John has performed such heroic or gentleman-like acts.
No, here is another lady in distress; same location
which makes me very suspicious and same short skirt outfit ... Ummmh...
Yummy! "Seconds" - anyone?! (Line forms in the rear...)
"Huhh.. ..a little lower, Dang .."
"Right there! Right there!"
"Hold on - hold on!
Darn - photo-shutters!"
"Mai pen rai.. right there .. huh .."
Our Camp #44 was safe; you could sleep at night,
whether snow or sleet - wait! That's the darn mailman motto!
Sp/4 Holliday w/civilian assistant
(Check ! ... "Stamp of Approval/Passed" ...
- passed C/C "interview" just fine
-- Company Clerk)
Camp Regulation No. 2
UPs conduct all (preliminary) Interviews of local nationals
seeking employment at Camp #44 prior to Company Clerk "complete"
sampling. I mean, interview ... <s>
Does anyone recognize this P.F.C., in the photo to the right (click on
for larger photo)? Subject of prelim interview was never seen by
Company Clerk and this looks like a strict violation of Camp Reg No. 1!
- Company Clerk
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