Photograph
Photograph Item Number: VA068037
- Pages
- 1
- Media Type
- Photograph
- Physical Location
- Stacks
- Language(s)
- English
- Collection
- James Evans Collection
- Association
- Americal Division Veterans Association
Dates
Existence: August 1970Existence: Majority of material found within August 1970
- General Note
- KHAM DUC 2 [NOTE: Numbering sequence of rolls film is for convenience only and does not necessarily indicate chronologic order.]
28A Lieutenant just in from long range patrol, 'Thousand Yard Stare.' Before the squad came to the medical aid station, an officer told me a squad would be arriving. I was instructed to provide medical care but not ask where they had been. I had only a vague concept of where we were, just the deep boonies, I treated men all the time who had been out in the jungle. If I had asked where they had been, the answer would have been, 'We were out on Hill 260,' which meant nothing to me. As soon as the officer told me not to ask, I knew immediately the squad had been in Laos. The squad apparently belonged to SOG [Studies and Observation Group] MACV.
Date: August 1970
Photographer: Capt. James B. [Jim] Evans, Army Medical Corps, 91st Evacuation Hospital, Chu Lai, June 1970 to October 1970. August TDY as battalion surgeon for Americal Division in Kham Duc. Jim Evans developed negatives at Chu Lai Photo Lab, between August and October 1970.
35 mm Kodak Plus X Pan film.
Canon f1.2 FTB 35 mm single lens reflex camera.
JUST IN FROM LONG RANGE PATROL
'Thousand yard stare' at Medical Aid Station, Kham Duc, South Vietnam
A lieutenant, name unknown, had just returned with a squad from a long-range patrol. According to my notes on this 5X7 inch photograph, printed between August and October 1970 in South Vietnam: 'Infantry - just returned from a week in the field smudges on face for camouflage.' Before this squad arrived at the aid station, an unidentified officer asked me to provide medical care for the men. He also ordered me not to ask where they had been. At Kham Duc I regularly provided medical care for men who had been out in the jungle and I had no reason to ask. If I had inquired, the men would have said their unit had gone a few clicks [kilometers] out to 'Hill xyz.' Locations like that had no meaning for me. When the officer ordered me not to inquire, I knew immediately the squad had been in Laos, about 10 miles from Kham Duc, South Vietnam. Officially the United States had no troops in Laos. Based on recent information [2003], this soldier belonged to MACSOG, Military Assistance Command Studies and Observation Group, that sent surveillance teams into Laos and Cambodia.
Capt. James B. [Jim] Evans, Army Medical Corps, 91st Evacuation Hospital, Chu Lai, South Vietnam, TDY to Americal Division units stationed at Kham Duc. Date: between 02 and 14 August 1970. Original 5X7 inch silver gelatin photograph, printed between August and October 1970. Mailed to Floyd L. Evans from Vietnam before the end of October 1970.
- Perma Link
- https://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=VA068037
- Citation
- Photograph, VA068037. August 1970, James Evans Collection, Vietnam Center and Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University, https://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=VA068037, Accessed 14 Feb 2026.
- Pub Credit Line
- VA068037, James Evans Collection, Vietnam Center and Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University
- Added: 20 Jan 2015 [Updated: 21 Feb 2020]
Vietnam Center & Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive
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