TAN MY, LORAN STATION
1971
Đà Nàng AB, 366th SPS, DET-1/Tân Mỹ Air Field
 by James Burke, VSPA LM 466
© 2011

All my pictures are from Tân Mỹ, Huế City, Quan Tri, Phu Bai and a village that we went to on a MedCap. James Burke

1. Front Gate and CSC. You can see another guard tower in the distance and a bunker to the left. This is looking to the northeast from the rear tower. As you can see, from this rear tower, you can see the whole area and that is why there was only one Security Policeman in the tower on day shift and that it was the only tower manned on day shift. The cement block that you see in the foreground was used for the cable anchors for the tower.
1. Front Gate and CSC. You can see another guard tower in the distance and a bunker to the left. This is looking to the northeast from the rear tower.
As you can see, from this rear tower, you can see the whole area and that is why there was only one Security Policeman in the tower on day shift
and that it was the only tower manned on day shift. The cement block that you see in the foreground was used for the cable anchors for the tower.
2. CSC with Front Gate closed. Note the kid sitting outside the gate near the gate pole?
2. CSC with Front Gate closed. Note the kid sitting outside the gate near the gate pole?
3. This is the inside of the front gate. This was our CSC. You can see the daily log in the typewriter, a couple of field phones and the hand set for a PRC 25 radio. We had contact with Camp Phu Bai in case we needed help. The gray box between the field phones was the base phone system. You turned a dial for the area you wanted to call, then your turned a crank one quarter turn. If you made a full turn, it was deemed important, so you always made sure you only turned the crank a quarter of a turn.
3. This is the inside of the front gate. This was our CSC. You can see the daily log in the typewriter, a couple of field phones and the hand set for a PRC 25 radio. We had contact with Camp Phu Bai in case we needed help. The gray box between the field phones was the base phone system. You turned a dial for the area you wanted to call, then your turned a crank one quarter turn. If you made a full turn, it was deemed important, so you always made sure you only turned the crank a quarter of a turn.
4. This is the inside of the front gate.
4. This is the inside of the front gate.
5. This was our convoy jeep. It was a Coast Guard jeep that was painted green. We needed a jeep to run convoys so the Coast Guard stole an army jeep, painted it Coast Guard grey, painted this one green and added a whole bunch of numbers and Security Police on the front. About two weeks later, some MP's showed up and wanted to inspect our jeep as they were looking for the missing jeep. They checked the numbers on our jeep, saw that they did not match, so they left. They did not even look at the Coast Guard jeep sitting next to our jeep since it was painted grey and DOT licenses plates on it.
5. This was our convoy jeep. It was a Coast Guard jeep that was painted green. We needed a jeep to run convoys so the Coast Guard stole an army jeep, painted it Coast Guard grey, painted this one green and added a whole bunch of numbers and Security Police on the front.  About two weeks later, some MP's showed up and wanted to inspect our jeep as they were looking for the missing jeep. They checked the numbers on our jeep, saw that they did not match, so they left. They did not even look at the Coast Guard jeep sitting next to our jeep since it was painted grey and DOT licenses plates on it.
6. Convoy Jeep.
6. Convoy Jeep.
7. This was standard issue in the tower, a 50 Cal machine gun, a PRC 25 radio. The M-16 is mine and you kept it with you at all times, even in your room.
7. This was standard issue in the tower, a 50 Cal machine gun, a PRC 25 radio. The M16 is mine and you kept it with you at all times, even in your room.
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11. Mike Douglas had related that he saw a standing Buddha on his was to Tan My. Here is a picture of a standing Buddha near Huế City. You can see that there are light poles near the Buddha so that he can bel seen at night.
11. Mike Douglas had related that he saw a standing Buddha on his was to Tân Mỹ. Here is a picture of a standing Buddha near Huế City.
You can see that there are light poles near the Buddha so that he can bel seen at night.
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15. View from the back tower. You can see that the area around us was mainly water and was all flat. We would see fishermen out in their boats during the day time and occasionally, water buffalo would be in the area right in front of the tower.
15. View from the back tower. You can see that the area around us was mainly water and was all flat.
We would see fishermen out in their boats during the day time and occasionally, water buffalo would be in the area right in front of the tower.
16. View from the back tower.
16. View from the back tower.
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20. [click photo to see original view]
20. [click photo to see original view]
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25. You can see another guard tower in the distance and a bunker to the left. This is looking to the northeast from the rear tower. As you can see, from this rear tower, you can see the whole area and that is why there was only one Security Policeman in the tower on day shift and that it was the only tower manned on day shift. The cement block that you see in the foreground was used for the cable anchors for the tower.
25. You can see another guard tower in the distance and a bunker to the left. This is looking to the northeast from the rear tower. As you can see, from this rear tower, you can see the whole area and that is why there was only one Security Policeman in the tower on day shift and that it was the only tower manned on day shift. The cement block that you see in the foreground was used for the cable anchors for the tower.
26. This is a picture of our base, US Coast Guard Station, Tan My. As you can see, there is a big radio tower in the middle. This is what we were guarding. This was a Loran C station, long range navigation, and was used by the Air Force for their bombing raids. Hanoi Hanna told us once that we played funny music from our radio tower.
26. This is a picture of our base, US Coast Guard Station, Tân Mỹ. As you can see, there is a big radio tower in the middle. This is what we were guarding. This was a Loran C station, long range navigation, and was used by the Air Force for their bombing raids. Hanoi Hanna told us once that we played funny music from our radio tower.
27. This is the view from our back tower looking to the west. We were stationed near the coast and the area was mostly water. You can see the fence line just below the tower. The lights on the poles came on at night so we were pretty well lite up at night. We also had claymore mines, trip flares and ground sensors along the fence line. [click photo to see original view]
27. This is the view from our back tower looking to the west. We were stationed near the coast and the area was mostly water. You can see the fence line just below the tower. The lights on the poles came on at night so we were pretty well lite up at night. We also had claymore mines, trip flares and ground sensors along the fence line. [click photo to see original view]
28. [click photo to see original view]
28. [click photo to see original view]
29. Yours truly, Jim Burke, in the foreground and SSgt Gabe Garcia on the bed. That was our room in Tan My. Notice the panelling on the walls! There were two of us per room and two rooms per trailer.
29. Yours truly, Jim Burke, in the foreground and SSgt Gabe Garcia on the bed. That was our room in Tân Mỹ. Notice the paneling on the walls! There were two of us per room and two rooms per trailer.

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