This panoramic view looking out over Camp McDermott toward Nha Trang was created from two photographs I took during 1970. (Sorry about the focus; 35 years later not much can be done about it.) The green arrow down in the lower right-hand corner marks four storage tanks that are similarly marked on a detailed map (673 Kb). I was up on what we called Hawk Hill when I took the photos. The camera was pointed north, then north north west.
If you were there, between the map and the photo you may be able to locate some features you remember. In the foreground of the photo is Camp McDermott. Stretching out beyond Camp McDermott two-thirds of the way back are the runways of the Nha Trang Air Force Base. The little white shape standing out against the foot of the mountain in the far distance is the big stone Buddha that was familiar to everyone who spent time around Nha Trang. There's a lot more to find, too, depending upon how good your memory is. Just inside the curve of the road toward the bottom left is an area of ramshackle huts we used to refer to as VC Village. That probably wasn't without reason. If you follow that road toward the background and around the curve, to the left you'll see the big church with the statue of Jesus out front. You can just make out the tiny vertical shape of that statue in the photo.
I am told that Camp McDermott no longer exists, except in memory and in fading photographic images. As with my father's war, my own war was a very long time ago. Sometimes, though, it can suddenly seem as if it was only yesterday. Just ask any Vietnam vet what they feel anytime they hear the distant sound of an approaching helicopter...