My husband was in Law School and I was in my second year of teaching elementary school when his Army orders to Viet Nam came. He could get circuitous travel and settle me in Bangkok before going on to his Saigon assignment. I found a postage-stamp size apartment with A/C bedroom and outdoor pool replete with shared housekeeper, laundress and houseboy. Emotions heated up when he found he’d been sent upcountry in Viet Nam as a 2nd Lieutenant to take command of a 500-inch howitzer gun near Quan Loi.
I was hired to teach at the International School of Bangkok, and the Thai Headmaster obtained an extended work permit for me. My gifted 4th grade class kept me diverted from the worry of a spouse fighting the war. Weekends I toured about, visiting and taking photos at the Wats (temples), open markets, jewelry stores, art shows at the Siam InterContinental, playing tennis on the grass court at the British Embassy and buying jasmine scented flowers and leis for the apartment.
With double holidays, American and Thai, there was ample time to visit the ancient Thai capitol at Ayutha, upcountry to Chaing Mai, to the beach at Pattaya, and out-of-country to Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Vientiane in Laos and the Caravelle Hotel in Saigon, South Viet Nam. When homesickness and worry overcame me I’d visit the Officer’s Club with its long bank of military telephones. I was successful once in getting patched through to Quan Loi, talking to all the fellow homesick American military dispatchers along the way. This also was a protected spot of Americana where hamburgers, fries, and ice cream complemented by the Beauty Shop treats and jewelry and gift store items you didn’t have to bargain for abounded.
More was packed into this one year, 1969-1970, than one could expect. On the way home I routed through Tokyo for the summer as I had been selected as a National Science Foundation Fellow to study Math and Science for teachers. We both arrived Stateside in August to meet family and friends in Seattle while waiting for final military orders which came through quickly for Fort Carson in Colorado Springs.
Fern Zabel
I was hired to teach at the International School of Bangkok, and the Thai Headmaster obtained an extended work permit for me. My gifted 4th grade class kept me diverted from the worry of a spouse fighting the war. Weekends I toured about, visiting and taking photos at the Wats (temples), open markets, jewelry stores, art shows at the Siam InterContinental, playing tennis on the grass court at the British Embassy and buying jasmine scented flowers and leis for the apartment.
With double holidays, American and Thai, there was ample time to visit the ancient Thai capitol at Ayutha, upcountry to Chaing Mai, to the beach at Pattaya, and out-of-country to Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Vientiane in Laos and the Caravelle Hotel in Saigon, South Viet Nam. When homesickness and worry overcame me I’d visit the Officer’s Club with its long bank of military telephones. I was successful once in getting patched through to Quan Loi, talking to all the fellow homesick American military dispatchers along the way. This also was a protected spot of Americana where hamburgers, fries, and ice cream complemented by the Beauty Shop treats and jewelry and gift store items you didn’t have to bargain for abounded.
More was packed into this one year, 1969-1970, than one could expect. On the way home I routed through Tokyo for the summer as I had been selected as a National Science Foundation Fellow to study Math and Science for teachers. We both arrived Stateside in August to meet family and friends in Seattle while waiting for final military orders which came through quickly for Fort Carson in Colorado Springs.
Fern Zabel
Mukilteo
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