OT 55 Years Ago

These guys had some brass ones
YouTube - Dien Bien Phu (Jean-Pax Méfret)

Yeah, for all those who don't think the French have guts and can't fight. The bleeping commies won and then they won again in '75. And now we have a bleeping commie for president. Carl

Know a guy who was in the US C-119 unit that dropped some of those guys. They had faked French roundels but U.S. crews. They were all sworn to secrecy. He saud the French Paras were the finest looking combat soldiers he ever saw. Later after repatriation from the Viet Mink POW cages they came back through Clark AB. He said they were shot to ribbons, starved, and exhausted from their POW experience. The USAF cooks had made a big steak dinner but all the French wanted was bread and wine... they wouldn't eat it.

I had a buddy in the Army who had been with the Legion at Dien Bien Phu. He told me when they got there they knew they were in deep doodoo. They were down in a bowl, surrounded by mountains and didn't have control of any of them.

well while the 3rd Marine division was in country, we where winning !!! Semper Fi Al

Yeah. The 101st Airborne too

we had it won , the polititions sold us out

Thats right Griff-sadly-only about 30 percent survived the captivity. The history of the FFL never ceases to amaze me.

The last I heard, the North Vietnamese still charge the French for care and maintainance of the graves of "fallen" French soldiers, but will not allow an inspection of them. Some who have seen them claim very little if any care has been taken with trees and waist high weeds covering most of the, Nice folks that NVA.

OFC

little Ot but since we're on the French. they had good size fort at Dong Ha. round arty bunkers, pill boxes and lots of barracks Mostly use by our officers and staff NCOs. our TRC27 bunker was a old pill box facing Dong Ha village. good size it held both 27s for our Con Thien and Cua Viet relay shots.only bad part there where still French mine fields between some of the compounds. Semper Fi Al