Author in his Army Khaki’s at North Fort Polk Fire Station 2. P-750 “Boxcar” engine on the left, and the International structural Class A engine on the right.

Long Binh Station 1 with the primary response apparatus.

Long Binh Station 1 with apparatus at the ready.

View from the Alarm Room, looking out at the apparatus floor.

East side view of Station 1’s outside storage of the extra apparatus. Chief’s pickup on the left, and the blue water tender on the right.

Left-to-right. Engine 6, Foam 2, the Tank. They were quartered outside under tarps. All-wood Station 1 was built for just four stalls.

Engines 3, 4, 5, on the apron. Rescue 1 inside its stall.

The 1953 Federal. Outside storage. Note the tarps.

Jeep 1 sported amber glass headlights to aid in leading responses in dense fog. Blue tender in the background.

Fire Jeep 1 with the Deluge gun dismounted.

Jeep 1 with the Deluge Gun mounted.

The Tank in its glory with Jeep 1.

The Tank with its raised High-Ex foam applicator boom nozzle.

Ground view of the front of the Tank.

The Tank with Jeeps 1 and 3.

Sitting atop of the business end of the Tank.

Engine 6, Foam 2, and the Tank at the ready. “Tres Amigos!”

Engine 6 with Foam 3. Always outside.

Pump panel of Engine 6. Note the pole-mounted Searchlight.

Rearview of Foam 3 showing the foam delivery piping and hardware.

Foam 3 with its large High-Ex foam nozzle generator on the front bumper.

Standing by Engine 3. Note the European colored blue beacon light.

Getting ready to respond on Engine 3.

Working radio traffic. Good image of the Maltese Cross.

In the Crew Chief’s position using the two-way radio.

“Mounting up” to the Crew Chief’s seat on Engine 3.

Standing on the tailboard of Engine 3.

Getting ready to respond on Foam 2.

Foam 2 with the Extinguisher shop directly behind.

Relaxed pose in front of Foam 2, with the Tank barely visible on the right.

Just striking another pose in front of Foam 2 and the Tank. (We sometimes took duplicates, as one did not know if one’s hand shook during the snapshot.)

Rear and side view of Foam 2.

The “business” side of Engine 3.

Side view of Foam 3 showing the handheld 1-1_2” High-Ex foam nozzle.

Foam 3 at the ready.

Engine 6 showing the hose bed fully loaded. Tanker 1 is just ahead on the outside apron.

Engine 6 in its glory.

Just “hamming it up” for a photo on Engine 6.

Another photo op with Tanker 1.

U. S. Army tank retriever pulling both the Napalm track and the Tank back to Station 1 after a burning mission.

Notice the red and white lettered sign on the Napalm track. It was another hot day for burning. The soldiers pulled off their fatigue shirts during the ride for a little relief.

Thirteen of the original soldier-firefighters with A_C Cha. I took the photo, and then ran out of film. And, I never got in a group photo later.

The original crew of Engine 3 with PAE A_C Cha on the left.

The leadership team. (L-R). A_C Cha, Chief Petersen, the author, and Tex.

Chief Petersen and A_C Cha with their recognition awards.

A_C Cha taking some photos of us.

Award time. Presenting A_C Cha with a recognition plaque.

Bunker gear donned, next to Foam 3 with Ricky the firehouse dog.

Our asbestos crash hoods. No reflective face shield. And, no gloves.

Engine 3’s tailboard firemen wearing the duck canvas coats. I wore a Hypalon vinyl coat for ID purposes. Not enough standardized boots to go around. Notice the difference in footwear.

Long Binh Rescue 1.

Rear view of Rescue 1’s interior.

Close-up look of the inside of Rescue 1’s equipment.

Ricky taking a nap by Engine 3.

Two of the Vietnamese PAE contract firemen covering Engine 6 with tarps.

Crash 1 at the ready at Station 2.

Crash 1. Notice the curved metal cover over the mid-ship mounted engine and pump assembly for ARFF “Pump’n’Roll” operations.

Posing at the Crash Station sign.

Rearview of Crash 1.

Business-end view of Jeep 2, showing the CB tank and hose reel, plus the 20 lb. Ansul extinguisher.

Rare view of Long Binh’s airstrip from Station 2.

Rare view of the inner section of Long Binh’s rotary wing section of aircraft.

A Huey coming in from a mission at Long Binh airfield.

A Cobra gunship at Long Binh airfield.

Hueys and Cobras at Long Binh airfield.

View of the rotary wing aircraft behind their protective barriers.

Chief Petersen starting to rebuild a reclaimed Fiberglas boat.

Chief Petersen (L) working on a section of the boat’s Fiberglas, D_O Maull assisting him.

Ricky the firehouse dog. I was his buddy.

Christmas lights at Station 1 for 1970.

Christmas Eve truce lighting display.

Looking out from the apparatus floor near the Alarm Room doorway. Engine 3 and Tanker 1 are outside. Note the foam can stacks.

Inside of Station 1 during Christmas 1970. Note the two doorways. Center led to the bunkroom, and the Alarm Room was right of that.

Christmas decorations of 1970 above the apparatus bay stalls.

Christmas 1970 showing that Station 1’s lone tree got a collection of lights.

Back of the stage for the 1970 Bob Hope Christmas show at Long Binh Amphitheater.

Bob Hope wearing a bright red ball cap going up the stairs to the stage.

General Westmoreland exiting his staff car for the Bob Hope show 1970 at Long Binh.

It was a crowd for sure! The tree and pole climbers did their thing.

Soldiers everywhere at the Long Binh Amphitheater 1970 Christmas show.

View of the back of the Amphitheatre stage entrance. Notice the Christmas star above the stage.

One of the Din-a-Ling girls tasking a break. Dean Martin let Bob hope include them on his 1970 show. Great for soldier morale!

Of course, all of the Army photographers wanted a shot of the pretty Ding-a-Ling performer.

A Toyota Snorkel at Saigon Fire Brigade.

USA GMC Class A engines at Saigon Fire Brigade. They were procured under the USAid program.

The modern Toyota Snorkel with a 1950 Mercedes-Benz-Metz German platform aerial ladder at Saigon Fire Brigade.

The hose repair shop at Saigon Fire Brigade. A technician is repairing six inch LDH.

The Toyota Snorkel was extremely advanced for its time. Notice the mid-ship mounted pump.

Looking down from the Watchtower of the Saigon Fire Brigade’s compound. Chief Petersen’s pickup is on the left.

Jeep 6 of the Saigon Fire Brigade. The USAid program provided this type of smaller apparatus for navigating the narrow passageways of Saigon’s old neighborhoods.

Saigon Fire Brigade’s Watchtower.

The business end of one of the French built large capacity pumping engines. Very powerful pumps for their time.

A Merryweather pumping engine from Great Britain. Many free world countries sent apparatus to the Saigon Fire Brigade.

The inaugural in-country test between Protein and AFFF firefighting foams.

The Protein team on the left, with the AFF team on the right.

The AFFF team making good progress.

The Protein crew is struggling to make an initial foam blanket foothold.

Quite a difference in the fire foam performance.

Dr. Richard Tuve (white shirt) giving the AFFF crew some advice to not “plunge” the foam stream.

Not much firefighting progress for the Protein crew.

The test fires are out... Thanks to AFFF!

AFFF was finally used to suppress the Protein side of the test fire. Everyone was impressed.

Fire Station at Bien Hoa Air Force Base. It was a metal building, with A_C, and an asphalt apparatus apron.

Bien Hoa AFB foam trailer for foaming the runway. Rear view showing the pump and engine, with six downward facing foam application nozzles.

Air Force O-11A Crash truck at Bien Hoa Air Force Base.

Distant smoke from a pipeline fire, as seen from Station 1. The fire phone rang shortly after this photo was taken.

Climbing a “Church raise” on the 35’ ladder for a drill.

At the top of the “Church raise”.

We missed a lot of meals. My physique showed it.

Losing weight. I was down to 127 lbs., from a stateside 168 lbs.

I had a make-shift set of blues to wear when my fatigues did not come back in time from the laundry.

Another shot of my blues with my badge. Hurry up laundry!

Still have my waterproof matchstick holder. Check out the “Army green” matchstick heads!

The custom-made frontpiece from my MSA Crew Chief’s helmet.

My treasured red helmet from Long Binh.

My treasured turnout coat from Long Binh. Olive drab duck canvas with leather trim and Scotchlite reflective striping.

Duty soft cap with a simple “Fire Dept” embroidered logo.

Model of the Tank with shell impact hole visible.

Rear view of the Fire Tank model showing foam tank, piping, and Water Thief.

Standing the Long Binh Fire Station’s Pillbox on guard duty.

Checking the site of the .50 caliber machine gun on guard duty.

In fatigues, on watch, with fully automatic M-14 rifle and flak vest.

Going to take Engine 6 out for a road drive. Another hot sunny day.