"So Far Away"

Week 22 of the #52Ancestors Challenge - "So Far Away"
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The year was 1966, and the Christmas season was approaching. For those stationed over in Vietnam, the local (Portsmouth, NH) newspaper began a "mail call", with the families of the servicemen providing their addresses to the paper for printing, so Christmas cards could be sent overseas to them. It started the first week of November, with a dozen names, and on December 15th, the cut-off date for mailings, there were nearly 100 names on the mailing list.

​I'm not sure who submitted my father's name to the list, but I clipped one of the entries:

Portsmouth Herald, 9 Dec 1966

Below are a few pictures brought back from "so far away", taken sometime between 1965 and '67. While Google does not have a "Street View" option on their maps of this region, there are public submitted photos (links given on bottom of page) from various places in the vicinity of the beach, so I was able to match up some of the locations with the old photos (I scanned from original negatives).

Phan Rang Beach, looking north (2015)

landing ship, Phan Rang (1966)

Southern view, 1966

Phan Rang Beach, southern view (2016)

(Drive-by) photos of the Po Klong Garai Temple, ca 1966. It was located near the military base (south of the airport). 

I also have several images from the market place and down town area of Phan Rang, but couldn't match them up with current images, so will close this posting with one more beach shot.

Links:
​Website with many other photos from this area in 1965-66
Wikipedia article on the Po Klong Garai Temple
Phan Rang Beach (Oct 2015, Google maps)
​Phan Rang Beach (June 2016, Google Maps)