Bien Hoa Air Base

The French built Bien Hoa Air Base in 1955 for the First Indonesian War.  The United States shared the Air Base with the South Vietnamese during the Vietnam War that followed.  So when I landed in a Freedom Bird at Bien Hoa Air Base in January 1970, the base had been in existence for fifteen years and it showed. (Freedom Bird was the name given to the commercial jets that carried American soldiers to Vietnam from the United States.)

I was shocked how large the base was and how ordinary it felt.  It could have been any other Air Base in the United States.  Stepping off the plane in Vietnam for the first time and then seeing that sign, left me feeling that maybe Vietnam was not going to be so bad after all.

During my tour in Vietnam, I returned to Bien Hoa Air Base many times.  Every few months we flew to Bien Hoa when traveling to in-country R&R (Rest & Recuperation) sites for a three-day break from the action.  When I went on a one-week R&R to Japan and then months later to Australia, I flew into Bien Hoa.  I took combat leadership training in the Bien Hoa area.  Bien Hoa was a destination for me that always meant that I would be out of the fighting for awhile.

That blurry snapshot to the right is Bien Hoa Air Base taken from the air.  I took the picture at the end of my tour.  I had been released from the First Cavalry Division and had my orders to return to the United States.  I waited three agonizing days to get a seat on a Freedom Bird.  They bused me and a plane-load of others to a set of stairs at Bien Hoa Air Base that lead up to the open door of the airplane.  I was lucky enough to to get a window seat.  We taxied to the runway, took off, and then banked right.  As we turned, I could see Bien Hoa Air Base below.  Leaning toward the window and looking down thorough my Instamatic Camera view finder, I snapped my last picture of Vietnam.  It felt like I had just closed a door.  I knew I would never have to come back again.  It felt so good to take that picture.