Loomis, Steven, IC3

I believe the date was 30 December 1970 when the last large group of river patrol craft were turned over to the South Vietnamese Navy. The evening before there was a party on board the Admiral's Barge which was tied up just south of the Naval Shipyard, nearer to the Vietnamese Naval Headquarters, on the Saigon River.

The Admiral's Barge - getting ready for the party, late December 1970, the turn-over of PBRs to the RVNN.
Two of us had a purchase order for the Exchange in Cholon to purchase beer and liquor for the party. I rode shotgun on top of cases of booze as our jeep screamed through Saigon and back to the shipyard. That night we were on the barge, tied up just beyond the shipyard toward the RVNN HQ. What little I can remember was a few of us handing full bottles of Johnny Walker to an American PBR crew that came alongside. I didn't make the next day's ceremony but as I dusted off that memory another was rekindled.

Within a day or two, three of us made our way by jeep to Nha Be, south of Saigon, with at least a case of liquor from that evening. I believe it was another case of Johnny Walker. Of the three of us I was told to stay with the jeep while the other two went back and forth with loads of frozen steak, canned ham, and a lot of burger and hot dog stuff for grilling at the Green Door*. Woody, EN1 Bill Wood, was driving and the two of us headed out of the gate and back to Saigon leaving the third man behind. I later found out that he was there to drive a second jeep which apparently had been part of the trade for the booze. I was also told that they re-numbered it in the shipyard's paint shop. This was something which I'd been aware of in the past because we carried a list of numbers for vehicles we were authorized to use, and I was told to make sure I never parked next to another jeep that had the same numbers painted on the bumpers.

The Green Door... "What's that secret you're keeping?"
There was an extension on one of the shipyard's shops which contained a couple of refrigerators and freezers that had much of the comshawed items stored in them. Outside there were a couple of 55 gallon drums which had been cut lengthwise and grates welded in place as barbeque grills. The door to that comshaw area was painted green and several times I'd hear one of our old advisors break into song... about The Green Door... They had to explain to me about the old Jim Lowe song because I was too young to have remembered it.