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 Replies: 8 / Views: 3,680 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
819 Posts |
Edited by basicbob101
03/28/2007 9:26 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4589 Posts |
Nice that is the same way I came home with quite a few pieces of money from South West Asia also compliments of Uncle Sam
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Rest in Peace
United States
2684 Posts |
Bob, I'm also a VietVet (69TH Sig Bn, Gia Dinh and Americal Div, Chu Lai, 69-70) and also have a number of coins and notes from RVN, most of which are also a mystery to me. I'm sticking my neck out a little, but based on The Area Handbook for South Vietnam ( US Govt publication dtd Apr 67) issued to me just before I arrived in-country and the fact the second note from the top has the date "1938" (prior to the Japanese occupation starting in 1940 but during the French occupation when they issued coins labeled "Indo China" or "Indo Chine"), I'm guessing you have a mixture of "older" and "newer" (post-separation) currency. The demarcation between North and South Vietnam didn't happen until 1954, the year of Dien Bien Phu and the Geneva Conference.
I'm hoping someone more knowledgeable on SE Asian numismatics will pop in here. I've done some Googling on Vietnamese (aka Annamese, Cochin, Tonkin, and more) coins and found very little. Unless I've missed a major work on the coins and currency of Vietnam, I've found that identification of most SE Asian money will take a lot of research.
Fred
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
819 Posts |
Thanxz Fred,
I was there in 67-68, served with "C" company, 1/327 of the 101st Airborne Division (First Brigade), mostly in Central Highlands.
I have a post about my Avatar (French Indo China, 1937) you might be intested in reading if you haven't yet, interesting story.
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Rest in Peace
United States
2684 Posts |
Bob, that is an interesting story about your avatar. Since we lost a lot of guys to booby traps, I probably would have blown it in place and thus lost all the coins (giving "damaged" coins a new definition  ). All this talk on SE Asian coins is giving me inspiration to dig out my RVN coins and currency and do something about them - mostly identifying them, especially the older coins. Fred |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4589 Posts |
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Rest in Peace
United States
2684 Posts |
Getting a little off-topic here, but not too much. In Americal (23d ID) Area of Operations (Quang Ngai Province, I Corps), there were a number of impressive ruins of old "castles", leftovers from the earlier dynasties of 300 to 600 years ago. They were, in legal terms, "attractive nuisances" since they tempted the naive and unknowing, particularly US soldiers into them to look for souvenirs. Invariably, what appeared to be souvenirs were planted relics and booby trapped. [/war story]
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Pillar of the Community
United States
819 Posts |
Understand your concerns Fred, and believe me...we were very cautious. It was our experience that the "Local Yokel's" and VC were more to our South; we used to hit mostly NVA regulars. On other side of the coin (love that metaphor) the further South you went the more Booby Traps you hit, the further North the less. Our biggest one was "bouncing bettys", other than that were early warning devices to trigger an ambush, made out of a discarded "C" ration can and plastic spoon. Glad you made it back.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4589 Posts |
bouncing bettys ouch!! toe poppers are no fun as well.
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Replies: 8 / Views: 3,680 |
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Posted 03/28/2007 11:41 pm
