From: Brian Wickham
Dated: June 1, 2020
Subject: Movie Night at Long Binh (USARV-IO)
I was at ABC Radio Net and we watched the second season on Sunday nights at 8:30 in between doing the sportscasts. I was working with the producer John Chanin, and the talent was Lou Boda. It was part of our ritual to watch M.A.S.H. on Sunday night.
I always felt the series far surpassed the film. The film fell apart when it degenerated into a comic football game! It lost the whole thread of the story. The series actually improved when they dropped Frank Burns and replaced him with a stuffed shirt who was an excellent doctor. There was no room, IMHO, for an incompetent doctor like Burns in a continuing role. It worked for the film but that was a one shot deal.
Brian Wickham
From: Marc Yablonka
Dated: May 31, 2020
Subject: Combat stars death
Rick et al,
Anyone interested in seeing reruns of the old "Combat" TV series can do so if your cable TV has the H&I (Heroes and Icons) Network (Ch. 20 on Direct TV). In addition, H&I also airs a show called "Tour of Duty," which, to my knowledge, was the first TV series about Vietnam. It ran for three short years in the late 80s simultaneous to the "China Beach" TV series.
Marc
From: Jim Anderson
Dated: May 30, 2020
Subject: AFRTS History - Early Times, WW2, Korea, etc
Episodes of "Combat" were shown on a outdoor movie screen at Tent City B (later called MACV Annex) , Feb. '66.
Jim A.
From: Bob Morecook
Dated: May 30, 2020
Subject: AFRTS History - Early Times, WW2, Korea, etc
Hi Rick
That's cool! He told me that story too! Harry was a good guy
Bob
From: Chuck Adams
Dated: June 2, 2020
Subject: Movie Night at Long Binh (USARV-IO)
The "stuffed shirt" who replaced Frank Burns (yay!) was Maj. Charles Emerson Winchester III/David Ogden Stiers, who died in 2018.
Chuck Adams, DaNang/Saigon, 1970/1971
From: Steve Sevits
Dated: May 29, 2020
Subject: TV Programs
Regarding old TV programs. In ’62 and ’63 the Japanese language TV station on Okinawa broadcast both Superman and the Lone Ranger dubbed in Japanese both of which were very helpful for GIs in learning Japanese.
“Ach sameo – Superson.” And “Hi-yako Silversan.” Neither needed much imagination to figure those out.
Steve
Combat, Mash and Other Popular Programs
May 2020
[Note: The message titles are mostly unchanged, only the topic was changed to protect the innocent.]
From: Steve Pennington
Dated: May 29, 2020
Subject: TV Programs
OMG, that reminds me of when I bummed around Europe before I enlisted in '69. I was in a bar in Paris near the Gare du Lest, getting out of the rain and having a glass of wine. On a small TV above the bar The Lone Ranger. Jay Silverheals speaking French and Clayton Moore getting on Silver and saying something like "Allez vit, allez." Not sure of the quote, but something very similar. Cheers.
Steve Pennington
From: Marc Yablonka
Dated: June 3, 2020
Subject: Combat stars death
Nancy,
I remember the final episode of China Beach. I'm betting you do, too. Where they combined anecdotes of the cast with those of real docs, nurses and Donut Dollies who had served at the Evac hospital in Da Nang. If you missed it, the episode was punctuated with both sad and humorous stories.
One such was told by an Army nurse. She'd been ordered to Saigon to undergo a complete physical. Afterwards, she flew back to Da Nang, and, when the results of her physical reached her, they were signed by Dr. So and so, DDS!!
RE: the portrayal of Donut Dollies in the series, I recall one episode where Rikki Lake was rotating out and someone walks her over to a stall where puppies were sold. Thinking she would bring a puppy back to the World with her, she picks one out. The proprietor takes it in the back room. Next thing you know, he hands her a paper bag. Of course, she looks inside, and sees what the proprietor thought he had prepared for her next meal. Yich!!!! (Which was pretty much what Rikki exclaimed).
Remember reading, too, that after the series was cancelled, Dana Delaney actually did go to Vietnam. I seem to recall reading that she got really ill while in-country and did not have a very good time.
Marc
From: Jim Anderson
Dated: June 3, 2020
Subject: China Beach (TV Series 1988–1991) - IMDb
Here is a link to the China Beach TV Series.
China Beach (TV Series 1988–1991) - IMDb
From: Frank Rogers
Dated: May 30, 2020
Subject: Movie Night at Long Binh (USARV-IO)
You can buy full COMBAT series for $55 - $88. google.
FrankR
From: Nancy Smoyer
Dated: June 2, 2020
Subject: Combat stars death
I loved Tour of Duty--it seemed very real to me, except that I kept wanting to yell at them "Don't bunch up!"
And China Beach was a mixed blessing. At least it acknowledged that there were women there, and not just nurses, but the DD stuff was mostly pretty bad. Attached is what I wrote about it, which may be a repeat.
Nancy
From: Ken Kalish
Dated: May 29, 2020
Subject: AFRTS History - Early Times, WW2, Korea, etc
I don’t know if it was one of the first, but there was one black and white TV on the Navy compound our PBR unit and the VN Navy shared. It was in a corner of an open air covered pavilion used for everything from weapons cleaning to communal dining and chicken plucking. Everything stopped every day when Combat! was aired on AFVN. Just about everyone in Vinh Long squeezed onto the base and found a spot from which to watch the show. Two VN sailors tried to translate. Our Division Commander said we were providing AIT for the local VC, but he never tried to keep the locals out.
Ken
From: Bob Morecook
Dated: May 30, 2020
Subject: AFRTS History - Early Times, WW2, Korea, etc
Combat was a big show in 72-73 also
Bob
From: Ken Gilder
Dated: May 29, 2020
Subject: AFRTS History - Early Times, WW2, Korea, etc
Someone once told me that the first two shows telecast by AFVN, were "Combat," and "Batman." Have never had it confirmed. Does anyone know anything about this?
Ken G
Note; "Combat," and "Batman" were definitely very popular programs both with the GI's and the Vietnamese, but since TV first started as broadcast from airplanes (Project Jenny) calling them the first two is possibly a bit much. Webmaster
From: Nancy Smoyer
Dated: June 1, 2020
Subject: Movie Night at Long Binh (USARV-IO)
I have very fond thoughts about MASH. Here's what I wrote about it to another vet group years ago.
Nancy
In the 25 or so years that M*A*S*H has been on TV, I've watched it in various places at various times. One of the most memorable was when I worked for a local TV station here in Fairbanks. M*A*S*H was shown at a time when we did a live broadcast weekly, so we taped it, and every Friday afternoon after work, we'd drink beer, eat popcorn and watch the episode. Then for several years it was shown at 5:30, so I'd come home from work and relax as I watched it. Another time was one of the winters I spent in DC during the past few years. I had a late schedule, working until 10:00 pm or so, then I'd come home, eat dinner, and go to bed a couple of hours later. Two consecutive episodes of M*A*S*H were shown at midnight which I'd watch before I went to sleep.
I don't think I've seen a "new" show (one I haven't seen at least once and usually 4-5 times) in 10-15 years, but I still watch. It's like visiting with old friends, people I've known for years who have seen me through the good times and bad times, who are consistently interesting. And it's a piece of Vietnam.
It has just started again here, at 7:30, and I feel like my friends are back.
From: Bob Peetz
Dated: May 29, 2020
Subject: AFRTS History - Early Times, WW2, Korea, etc
Don’t know if it was the first or second show, but when they took Batman off the air the local Vietnamese population almost rioted in protest.
Winds,
Bob
From: Rick Fredericksen
Dated: May 30, 2020
Subject: AFRTS History - Early Times, WW2, Korea, etc
In 1967, Harry Ettmueller set up a 16mm projector outside AFVN in Hue and projected Combat on an exterior wall for Vietnamese who lived in the area. The kids loved it. Their other favorite was Batman.
Rick Fredericksen
AFVN Group Conversations
From: Bobby Sullivan
Dated: May 31, 2020
Subject: AFRTS HISTORY early times ww2 Korea etc...
Sometime in late 1966 I went to Cu Chi to repair the modified BC-610 AM transmitter that they were using for AFRS. I had modified and installed several of them at various bases. That evening a bunch of troops who looked as if they had had a really rough time of it rushed into camp. Some bleeding, several bandaged and all very dirty, but no time to get spruced up. They said that they had break off their mission a little early because they didn't want to miss "Combat" on channel 11 which we were then broadcasting from Saigon.
Bobby Sullivan, Engineering, 1966-67
From: Brian Wickham
Dated: May 29, 2020
Subject: AFRTS History - Early Times, WW2, Korea, etc
I bought a small TV at the Cholon Exchange and hosted a TV party night in my room at the Walling BEQ. We watched “Combat” which we dubbed “Like It Is” and saw most of the last season of "Star Trek.” The only other thing I remember being on was “The Golddiggers” with Dean Martin.
Brian Wickham
From: Jim Anderson
Dated: May 29, 2020
Subject: AFRTS History - Early Times, WW2, Korea, etc
I remember "Bewitched", early '66.
From: Rick Fredericksen
Dated: May 30, 2020
Subject: Combat stars death
As we recall the show Combat in Vietnam, it's worth remembering the ironic and tragic end to Vic Morrow's life. This is from Wikipedia:
In 1982, Morrow was cast in a feature role in Twilight Zone: The Movie, in a segment directed by John Landis. Morrow was playing the role of Bill Connor, a racist who is taken back in time and placed in various situations where he would be a persecuted victim: as a Jewish Holocaust victim, a black man about to be lynched by the Ku Klux Klan, and a Vietnamese man about to be killed by U.S. soldiers.
In the early morning hours of July 23, 1982, Morrow and two child actors, seven-year-old Myca Dinh Le, and six-year-old Renee Shin-Yi Chen, were filming on location in California, in an area that was known as Indian Dunes, near Santa Clarita. They were performing in a scene for the Vietnam sequence, in which their characters attempt to escape out of a deserted Vietnamese village from a pursuing U.S. Army helicopter. The helicopter was hovering at approximately 24 feet (7.3 m) above them when the heat from special effect pyrotechnic explosions reportedly delaminated the rotor blades and caused the helicopter to crash on top of them, killing all three instantly. Morrow and Le were decapitated and mutilated by the helicopter rotor blades, while Chen was crushed by a helicopter strut.
Landis and four other defendants, including pilot Dorsey Wingo, were ultimately acquitted of involuntary manslaughter after a nearly nine-month trial. The parents of Le and Chen sued and settled out of court for an undisclosed amount. Both of Morrow's daughters also sued and settled for an undisclosed amount
Rick Fredericksen
From: Preston Cluff
Dated: June 2, 2020
Subject: Movie Night at Long Binh (USARV-IO)
Frank Burns; the one TV regular I missed MOST when he left the series.
Preston
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From: Dick Ellis
Dated: May 29, 2020
Subject: AFRTS History - Early Times, WW2, Korea, etc
67–68 our biggest show was Combat. The kids use to come up to fence and say...”Where Rick Jason?” We would explain that he was in California/movies..... side note....we didn’t have satellites remember, so they used to Kinescope the World Series in Hawaii and fly the film to us....that was a big audience. Also we would run the radio version of the series....live ..... stolen or courtesy of Voice of America (if I recall) real world time which would air an afternoon game in Vietnam from 2 to about 5-am in the morning. We created sleepy troops all over Vietnam and happy kids on guard duty all night long! As I remember it.
Dickie
From: Rick Fredericksen
Dated: June 2, 2020
Subject: Combat stars death
I will watch for these shows on cable Nancy. I was working abroad during their original airing and you have motivated me to seek them out.
Thanks,
Rick Fredericksen