From December 1964 to December 1965, I was among the first wave of permanently
stationed folks at Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base. We were a relatively small group,
living for most of the year in very primitive conditions. For those of you who were there
with me, I hope these pics will bring back memories - for the rest of you...be thankful
you were somewhere else.
I've broken the pics into two groups ( the base itself and the personnel) for
convenience and all are thumbnailed.
If you've got pictures you'd like to share here, let me know - you'll get full credit.
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Atop the water tower - looking northward (more or less) toward
the town of Udorn.... |
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Diagonally across the base to the west. |
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Diagonally across the base to the east. |
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Looking south. |
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For most of the year, we lived in old, old "hooches"
(A site visitor reports that these were actually built by the Army Corps of Engineers in
1961..so much for the scuttlebutt..Thanks to Don for the info.) connected by duckboard
walkways. |
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Duckboards were much appreciated during the monsoon
season...not really any alligators but a strong sense of humor helped a lot in those days. |
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Sometimes, you had to navigate around laundry hanging out to
dry (not everyone was real close to the barbed wire fences). |
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"Home sweet home" for most of the tour. |
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Inside....when the monsoons came, you had to move all the
stuff to the far end of the hooch because the rain blew in 2/3's of the way through the
room. Then, if really lucky, the winds reversed. |
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For most of the year, the only source of hot water for living
purposes...not much of it so if you didn't get to the shower quick, you showered cold -
very cold... |
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Lined up for chow. The cooks did the best they could but the
fare wasn't exactly like Mama used to make. |
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I remember the Christmas Day potato salad had mayo that
spoiled in the heat...most of us sick as dogs for a week...but the work went on. |
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If you did get sick, a clinic was available...but staying
healthy was better. The VD line waiting for shots was a regular occurrence. |
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Here's the Chapel. |
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Inside the BX (Base Exchange). I moonlighted here for a while
for extra bucks. |
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The "Asian Door" Airman's Club. |
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Inside the "Door" - not much but better than nothing
(like so much of the old base). |
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We did have a pool table...but the streets were more level and
many times, the sticks had no tips. |
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One of the locals ran an outdoor snackbar - mostly cold drinks
- but cheap and convenient. |
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Living area of the "new" base - new hooches with
more latrines scattered down the center of the rows. |
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Note the absence of the duckboards. The raised walkways worked
- but not as well. |
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At the new base, we still had the water around and under the
hooches but the sense of humor had long since "washed" away. |
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This was a GREAT day...just before I left to come back home,
the much bally-hooed ceiling fans finally arrived. |
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Finally, what we were here for...my only shot of the
flightline showing some of our T28's (the Royal Laotian Air Force). Behind the Command
Trailer stood a rack full of insignia plates (US, Thai, Lao, etc) that slipped in to a
mounting on the fuselage. |
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A close-up from the image above.. |
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Four of our chickens coming home to roost. |
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