"Phước Vĩnh 1964/65 . . ." Tinh Binh Duong by Nemorino

Tinh Binh Duong Travel Guide: 14 reviews and 24 photos

Shoveling sand for the sandbags, 1964

. . . and a brief re-visit thirty years later

Phước Vĩnh in 1964/65 was the capital of Phước Thành ("Happiness") province and the headquarters of something called the PBT Special Zone, which started a few miles north of Saigon and extended all the way to the Cambodian border, a distance of eighty to a hundred miles depending on which part of the border you were going to.

I never quite figured out what was so "special" about this Special Zone, but I did learn that the letters PBT stood for the three provinces of Phuoc Long, Binh Long and Phuoc Thanh, as they were called at the time.

There are several places called Phuoc Vinh in Vietnam, but the one I'm talking about is not in the VirtualTourist database, so I am posting this page under the current province name of Tinh Binh Duong. (Tinh meaning "Province".) You can find Phuoc Vinh at 11°17'57.97" North, 106°47'33.08" East, just below the long white runway which was built by the Americans in the late 1960s and is now used by local farmers for drying their rice at harvest time.

Phuoc Vinh, 1965

I was stationed at Phuoc Vinh from July to October 1964 and again from March to the end of May 1965, both before and after my time in the lovely village of Tân Ba some twenty miles to the south.

Phuoc Vinh was not nearly as lovely as Tân Ba, but supposedly safer. At Phuoc Vinh we lived in an American compound, not in the village, and worked in a fortified South Vietnamese army compound across the road.

This photo shows the American compound as seen from the ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) compound. In the foreground is a minefield which completely surrounded the ARVN compound, to protect the South Vietnamese Zone Commander presumably.

There really were mines in the minefield, as a young ARVN lieutenant found out to his detriment.

Aside from working shifts in the radio shack I also had to go out and shovel sand for the sandbags sometimes. This provided a bit of much needed exercise, and we were glad to have the sandbag emplacements to hide behind on those few occasions when there was some sort of shooting going on.

Children in Phuoc Vinh, 1965

While cleaning house recently (in the year 2010) I came across some old letters that I had sent from Phuoc Vinh in 1964/65 to various people back in North America. I have quoted from some of these letters in my General Tips on this page, where I have also described my brief re-visit to Phuoc Vinh in 1995.

Unlike Tan Ba, which was basically unchanged when I returned thirty years later, Phouc Vinh had been thoroughly rearranged in the intervening years, so I didn't recognize much when I went back. This did not surprise me, since I had lived in military compounds, not in the town. The Vietnamese had no particular reason to preserve the old military compounds from the 1960s, and they had long since torn down the old fences and cleared away the minefields.

In a travelogue on this page I have posted a story of mine called "Evenings in Europe and Asia", which takes place partly in the radio shack a.k.a. commo shop in Phuoc Vinh, though I changed all the names because the war was still going on when the story was first published.

Thanks to my older son Nick for taking the pictures during our travels through Vietnam in 1995 and for scanning my old photos from 1964/65.

Last visit to Tinh Binh Duong: Jul 1995
Intro Updated Mar 2, 2012
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Reviews (14)

Tanh, our driver, 1995 - Tinh Binh Duong

Thanks, Tanh! Favorites (14)

-- This is Tanh cutting open a coconut during our visit to his parents' home. As I mentioned in my tip on our visit... more travel advice

Tanh's family Favorites (14)

-- Somewhere in the vicinity of Thu Dau Môt we had a pleasant visit with Tanh's family. They were surprised to meet... more travel advice

A heavy monsoon shower, 1995 Favorites (14)

-- On our way down route 13 there was a short but heavy monsoon shower, just as I remembered from my time in Vietnam... more travel advice

The only building I recognized thirty years later - Tinh Binh Duong

The only building I recognized thirty... Favorites (14)

-- I realize that this picture from the year 1965 is quite blurry, but I'm posting it here anyway because this house... more travel advice

Travelogues (1)

Written Nov 29, 2010

2 photos

Evenings in Europe and Asia

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Comments (25)

wise23girl Feb 27, 2012 at 1:40 AM Report Abuse

Again a most interesting read. Great that you kept such records to share.I guess there would still be mines in places. How horrible to think he died to save walking 100...was it metres or yards? Yes it was yards... I checked!
leafdang Feb 21, 2012 at 4:32 AM Report Abuse

Dear Mr. Don,
Thank you so much for sharing information about Phuoc Vinh Town, Binh Duong provice, it is very useful for me a young people in Saigon, Viet Nam
Regina1965 Dec 27, 2011 at 6:03 AM Report Abuse

Thanks for sharing this, Don.
Jefie Nov 29, 2010 at 10:58 AM Report Abuse

The excerpts from your letters paint quite a vivid picture of your time in Vietnam. I copied your story and I'll make sure to read it later this week. Thanks again for sharing your memories on VT!
calcaf38 Oct 9, 2010 at 4:40 PM Report Abuse

ANother memorable effort. Thank you so much for sharing.
HORSCHECK Sep 27, 2010 at 2:08 PM Report Abuse

Don, another amazing page of your Vietnam series. Being an radio operator doesn't seem to be the worst job in such a situation.
Greggor58 Aug 26, 2010 at 10:54 AM Report Abuse

Thanks Don for sharing this and all of your other writings from this time spent in SE Asia .What you share here is quite extraordinary and certainly interesting..I know another radio operator from the same era that was stationed at Phu Bai.
nomorewars Aug 24, 2010 at 5:33 PM Report Abuse

Don, what an excellent account of your tour of duty in Vietnam. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about your experiences. I thank you very much for revealing such personal information. I hope it wasn't too difficult for you.
cachaseiro Aug 19, 2010 at 3:19 AM Report Abuse

This is really brilliant writing mate. thank you for sharing your story with us.
globetrott Jun 15, 2010 at 1:22 PM Report Abuse

an interesting page with great backgroud stories of a war that I only heared about in the radio many years ago, thanks for sharing, Don !