134 / Village at War
101st nor Government officials gave notice of what was about to happen,
so people had no chance to relocate graves or to protest. Colonel Charles
Dyke, who spent nearly two years at Eagle, denied that his unit damaged
any graves, but the consensus of many villagers was that the bulldozers
destroyed between twenty-five and thirty graves.4 The 101st left other
graves standing, and simply constructed buildings over and around
them.s
After breaking ground, about two companies of U.S. soldiers brought
Camp Eagle to life with a frenzy of construction activity .6 The first objec-
tive was to secure Eagle's boundaries. Tons of barbed wire arrived, and
soldiers strung it around the camp. They also constructed metal recon-
naissance towers, and dug bunkers, fortifying them with sandbags. And
construction began on Camp Eagle's most dominant and important fea-
ture, a massive helicopter takeoff and landing zone. The next stage in-
volved construction of more durable buildings and other facilities around
Eagle's 3,150 acres. Soldiers laid roads and walkways throughout the
camp, built barracks, mess halls, a chapel, a command headquarters, put
up an elaborate gate at the camp entrance, and placed small signs around
the camp. One sign over a wooden walkway leading from the helicopter
landing zone read, "If You Want It Done, Ask The 101." 7
Camp Eagle presented an image of bustling activity. u.s. soldiers
provided ammunition, equipment, men, food, and artillery support for a
string of 101st firebases throughout the province-like Firebase Bastogne
and Firebase Birmingham-and for ground operations organized from
Eagle and other major installations. A stream of trucks and helicopters
transported requested supplies to the firebases.8
Incidents along the highway became virtually daily occurrences. With
convoys moving more regularly than ever before, the bullets and
C-rations continued to fly, and water buffalo to fall. Air transport of
equipment and men, which with the 101st Airborne meant choppers,
greatly raised the noise level in the village. An average of 45,000 to 50,000
takeoffs and landings occurred every month under the supervision of
Eagle Tower .9
Another important Eagle function involved training. American soldiers
instructed both 101st and Vietnamese soldiers within the boundaries of
Eagle, and at nearby Firebase Birmingham. These were refresher courses
for American soldiers recently arrived from the U.S., and first-time train-
ing courses for Vietnamese soldiers. 10
Although most of Eagle's soldiers kept busy at duty assignments,
many had low morale. Several Americans formerly based at Eagle as-
serted that the morale problem was mainly related to antiwar sentiment
and homesickness, and its most dangerous expression involved alcohol
and drug abuse.11 To their credit, Eagle's commanders did not allow
Fighting the Eagle / 135
prostitutes on base-a ' , solution' , to the morale problem adopted at many
other U .S. installations. But there were quite a few other "morale boost-
ers .' , The doors of many Eagle hootches-buildings for 20 or 30 men
each-had illustrations of a gun-toting Screaming Eagle soldier and the
gently prodding words, "What Have You Done For Him Today?" 12 The
101st also created eight clubs for its different units, and for the different
ranks of American soldiers on base. .
There were films every night at Eagle, and frequent steak and chicken
barbecues. Intramural sports involved many men. A television station
broadcast from a trailer in Hue.13 And occasionally the 101st brought
stage productions to the outdoor "Eagle Entertainment Bowl." On
Christmas Day, 1969, for example, the Bob Hope Show arrived. Connie
Stevens, astronaut Neil Armstrong, Miss World, Les Brown and the Band
of Renown, and "a Chinook-full of great looking girls" appeared before
an enthusiastic audience estimated at 18,500.14 On the camp, Hopejoked,
"In my honor, they changed it to Camp Chicken. I'm under the command
of Colonel Sanders. Hope the enemy doesn't find out I'm finger-Iickin'
good." 15
One Vietnamese, a Government officer, was unimpressed with Camp
Eagle's activities: " America is a very rich country, and came to Vietnam
to support the Vietnamese, so of course it must use everything it has to
support us." But others in the village were not so blase. A peasant re-
called, "When I heard about and saw the activities on that camp, I
couldn't believe it. It was like another world to us."
The images of American superabundance and movement, Americans
at work, and Americans at play baffled many others. But some, though
perhaps baffled, sought jobs at the base. Very little information is avail-
able on the number of Vietnamese hired to work at Eagle. 16 It is clear only
that in 1970 the three major installations in the province-Camp Evans,
the Phu Bai base, and Camp Eagle-employed about 4,700 Vietnamese to
support different branches of the 101st Airborne. The 101st paid Viet-
namese employees an average monthly wage equivalent in 1970 to about
U .S.$23, which is about what blue collar workers earned in Hue in civilian
jobs.17
In My Thuy Phuong, relatively few-between 50 and 75.-:.-sought jobs
on the base. This was partly due to Front pressure to steer clear of the
Americans, and also because of a conscious effort by the 101st to discour-
age job-seekers from the immediate vicinity. According to Colonel Dyke,
residents of the village were in a better position, because of proximity to
the camp, to assist guerrillas in reconnaissance, stake-outs, and attacks.
So the 101st considered them security risks and therefore undesirable
employees.18
Every morning hundreds of Vietnamese men and women, some from
the village, waited outside the main gate. Eagle headquarters set daily
hiring requirements, and U .S. soldiers had to choose from among the
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