In mid 1965 I was sent as a L/Cpl, on unaccompanied detachment to OP Crown, an airfield that was being constructed by the SEATO Organisation in North East Thailand. It was, we were told, being constructed to improve the communications in that part of Thailand. It was, I am sure, a pure coincidence, that the Vietnam War was in its infancy, we were within a stones throw of the Lao border, and the Americans had a radar station only a couple of miles away from us. The big advantage of being so close to the ‘Yanks’ was that they had fresh milk parachuted in to them two or three times a week with their other rations, and as they always had a surplus, those of us in the Medical Centre managed to get a fairly frequent supply of it, as an added bonus, they gave us the choice of Strawberry or Chocolate flavour!
This detachment was probably the most memorable of my career, as it was with many others who served there. There are several web sites with stories of Op Crown and Ban Kok Tha Lat and Ban Leong Nok Tha – villages next to camp. As Medics, we treated literally hundreds of locals, many of who had walked for days to get treatment from us. We were told that the average local family would have 10 children in the hope that 3 would mature. TB was everywhere, diarrhoea was commonplace and there were virtually no antibiotics available to the locals, except from us, and the nearest local hospital to us was some 30 miles away in Ubon.
Possibly the most memorable patient was middle aged gentleman who was bitten on the foot by a Cobra. His friend immediately took out a machete, and chopped his foot off! We treated him throughout my tour there, and eventually the REME Workshops made him a ‘peg leg’. On another occasion I was honoured by a local family to help light the funeral pyre for their father who had passed away. I have many happy memories of this time, and it is the only place that I have served that I have not returned to since leaving the Corps. I have, however, been to Southern and West Thailand on several occasions.