Previously I wrote about our how we had mounted a lighted Christmas tree to the top of the rotating radar transmitter on the Pt. Welcome.  I wanted to note that the wiring was done by our electronics technician, who was also our Vietnamese Liaison Officer. He is the man on the far left in this photo, which is another one I took on Christmas Day, 1967.

Every WBP carried a Liaison Officer, who was an officer in the Republic of Viet Nam Navy (RNN). The primary job of the LO was to communicate with the fishermen and other marketers we encountered while on patrol. If we boarded a vessel to conduct a search, the LO would speak to the crew and passengers, verify that the boat’s manifest was accurate, and help gather intel about what was happening on the shore. The LO’s presence was important to establishing a rapport with the locals, and we were glad to have him on board.

As you might imagine, however, with such tight quarters on the Welcome, every man had to be willing and able to do more than one job. Fortunately, our LO was a gifted electrician and always ready to help out, although he was quiet and didn’t speak much English.

Our LO was much older than me. When we were not on patrol, he lived with his family at the Junk Force Base at the foot of Monkey Mountain. He was married with three children – all girls if I remember correctly.

I am sorry to say that I cannot remember our LO’s name and I don’t know what happened to him after I left. It probably wasn’t good. Following the fall of Saigon in 1975, hundreds of thousands of people (military and civilians) who had supported the Republic of Vietnam were sent to “reeducation camps” where they were subjected to forced indoctrination and torture.  In time, many who survived these prison camps were able to leave Vietnam and restart their lives in other countries.