IN PICTURES – 10 Years in Vietnam: Serving Troops Until the Last Day

"The Exchange in Vietnam is wherever the troops are - from the Mekong Delta to the DMZ."

- Welcome to the Vietnam Regional Exchange associate handbook, 1970.

 

 

On the day after Christmas 1965, the Army & Air Force Exchange Service took over Vietnam exchanges from the Navy, thus beginning a rapid expansion of facilities to serve hundreds of thousands of U.S. combat troops.

AAFES associates witnessed war's tragedy and destruction. They saw first-hand the infamous Tet offensive and responded quickly with help for its victims.

They deployed to beleaguered provincial capitals of An Lock, Quang Tri and Kontum. They waded in knee-deep in the mud of the Delta. Some operated "stores" out of footlockers in bunkers of Khe Sanh.

At one time, they operated the world's largest PX in the Saigon neighborhood of Cholon.

Several associates were wounded in action, but, miraculously, none was killed.

Through the bombs, bullets and withering summer heat and pounding monsoons, AAFES associates stayed with the troops until the war's bitter end in 1975.

Here are pictures from that era in which we cared for American Warfighters in a distant land. Click on the first picture and then scroll through the photos from the Exchange history archives.

December 26, 1965. As thousands of American combat troops are deployed to Vietnam, the Army & Air Force Exchange Service takes over a handful of post exchanges in South Vietnam from the Navy. The Navy had operated the PXs since the early 1950s.
November 1966. AAFES Chief Brig. Gen. Joseph Hardin tours Vietnam PXs.
1,800. The number of concessions AAFES' Vietnam Regional Exchange operated in the country, usually with local nationals. The top 10 by number of outlets were laundries, barber shops, gift shops, tailor/alterations, custom tailors, photo finishing, engraving & rubber stamping, car sales, jewelry and embroidery.
4,000. The number of customers a month at Saigon's Cholon PX in the late 1960s, at the time the world's largest PX. The building was a former cigarette factory.
The inside of the PX at Tan Son Nhut AB, one of the major air bases used for offensive air operations within South Vietnam. American Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines were stationed there.
1969 - American GIs queue up to enter the Camp Enari PX, one of the largest in South Vietnam. Two of the most popular items sold in PXs like Enari's were stereo equipment and cameras.
1968 - U.S. Gen. Creighton Abrams, who commanded military operations in the Vietnam War from 1968–1972, visits the exchange at Tan Son Nhut AB near Saigon.
1968 - A "flying PX" brings badly needed necessities to American Warfighters located far from their main installation in Vietnam. At one point during the height of the war, AAFES helicopters from the Pleiku Exchange made as many as 25 flights a day to firebases and landing zones.
1968 - A lonely American Soldier looks through the food he brought from a mobile PX near Da Nang.
80 - number of snack wagons that went to the troops, such as these U.S. Airmen from Nha Trang AB on R&R on a South China Sea beach.
10,000 - The number of local nationals who worked for AAFES at any given time during the war. "About 95% of our Vietnamese employees were very loyal up to the last minute. They worked hard and didn't slow down. They did exactly what we wanted them to do, whether  remain at work 12 hours or 24 hours. They did it all without complaint." - AAFES general manager 
In this undated photo, hungry American GIs far from their base get sandwiches and drinks from a mobile PX.
1973 - AAFES at Clark AB in the Philippines serves many of the 591 American POWs released from North Vietnam prisons. Pictured, the longest-held American POW, captured in 1964, hugs an AAFES associate.
April 29-30, 1975 - As a young Air Force captain, Charles Wax was one of two chiefs coordinating evacuation of thousands of Americans, local residents -- and the last AAFES associates -- from Vietnam before the fall of Saigon. Maj. Gen. Wax served as AAFES commander from June 2000 to August 2002.
2013 - The Exchange joins other government agencies and organizations in the 50th commemoration project for the Vietnam War.

"About 3:15 p.m., we boarded the helicopters. The U.S. Marines had surrounded the people and helicopters for protection. It was a happy feeling seeing those Marines."

-one of the last AAFES managers in Vietnam

 

Check out the Exchange's searchable, downloadable Flickr album for more pictures and information about AAFES in Vietnam. Go to the Vietnam section.

Read in the Exchange Post personal reflections of troops and Exchange associates whose boots were on the ground in Vietnam.

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2 Comments

  1. Philip W Johnson on October 27, 2020 at 12:24 pm

    I was attached to VRE Headquarters office starting November 1965 as a second lieutenant and left 19 months later as a captain. I was in the RD section (Requirements and Distribution) under a Dick Llewelyn and later a Ray Cougenour (sp?)
    Would love to contact any VRE Headquarters or Cholon PX employees at that time.

    Reply
    • Nigel Brooks on December 17, 2021 at 12:05 pm

      Hey there Philip Johnson, this is Nigel Brooks (former SP4 Brooks). If I recall correctly you ETSd in country and went to work for Caribe. I ETSd in Feb 68 in country, initially worked for a govt contracted trucking company and then worked as a civilian for the PX Southern Exchange. Returned to CONUS in 1971 after 5 years in Vietnam in Army and civilian. I live in Texas now just outside Houston. nbrooks503@gmail.com

      Reply

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