The Vietnamization of Private Gray/Tiger Tooth

Private First Class Gary W. Gray is deployed to Vietnam six months after he enlists in the Army. He makes the best of his situation by learning the Vietnamese language and meeting a Vietnamese maiden, with whom he falls in love. The novel is about their struggle to build a relationship and start a family admis a war torn environment. Private Gray’s use of his language skills prevents his capture by the Vietcong on different occasions’. The novel is about Pvt Grays interaction with the Vietnamese peoples. He is presented a Tiger Tooth good luck charm by a Buddhist Monk, which he attributes enabling him to prevail and overcome  many tragedies during his three years tour of Vietnam.   64,340 words

Chapter 7
  

Thui unzipped the mosquito netting, making an opening in the middle. Slowly, she slipped through, trying not to awaken her three younger sisters, who were sleeping soundly on the knee-

high platform. She had informed her mother the previous evening that she was going to the market early. She could hear her mother moving about in the adjacent bedroom shared by her parents and her eight- month-old baby brother.

As the eldest child with eleven younger siblings, their ages ranged from eight months to sixteen years. Four of her siblings were boys, and three were girls. Her younger sisters were four, six, and eight years old. All the children attended a Confucius school approximately three miles away from their home. The children would wake up soon to get ready for the walk to school. Thui provided most of the care for her siblings and had done so for much of her young life. She had once mentioned this responsibility to Gary, who had told her not to worry. He assured her that all her responsibilities would become his once they were married, promising that her family was his family and they would do whatever it took to make everything work. She loved Gary very much and believed he would make a perfect husband. He let her manage all the money and trusted her with spending it wisely.

However, Thui had grown concerned about the feasibility of their marriage after learning from a fortune reader that Gary’s ancestry contained Asian blood. He had told her that his grandmother was fifty percent Indian, and now she knew their marriage would never work.

It had been difficult enough convincing her parents to permit her to marry an American, but now she would have to inform them that Gary’s maternal grandmother was half-Indian. They would never approve. Girls from good families did not choose husbands or wives from India. It was contrary to Vietnamese culture and norms for the two cultures to intermingle.

She had made the decision yesterday to run away after Gary had gone back to the barracks. She would stay gone until he returned to America. Thui reached under the edge of the platform and pulled out a small suitcase, which she had packed with a few clothes, pictures, and other personal items the previous evening. Grasping the handle, she walked a short distance down the gravel road, walking away from the ARVN Military compound where her family lived. Her father was employed as a civil servant for the Republic of Vietnam, in charge of purchasing and issuing building supplies for Vietnamese military specialists and civil engineers.

When she reached the paved street coming from Dong Tam and passing through My Tho, she stopped a rickshaw and engaged the operator to take her to the bus stop on the outskirts of My Tho. She bought a one-way ticket to Saigon, boarded the bus, and sat in the vacant seat behind the driver. She tapped him on the shoulder and asked him to stop and let her off in Cho Lon. Cho Lon was on the outskirts of Saigon, in an area where all the rich Chinese lived. Thui had a high school girlfriend who lived with and worked for one of the wealthy Chinese families in the city. She hoped her friend might help her find a job with another rich Chinese family in the area.

After about a thirty-minute ride, with numerous stops to pick up and drop off passengers, she finally reached Cho Lon. She hired another rickshaw to take her to the address her friend had previously provided. Thui spent the day visiting with her friend and the lady of the house. In the afternoon, her friend’s boss took her to another Chinese family’s home, a close friend of theirs. The woman hired Thui right away on the recommendation of her friend’s boss. She made a deal to work as a housemaid for the family, receiving room and board plus 50,000 Wong per month.

Thui worked hard throughout the week, getting the family’s younger children ready for school and washing clothes every day. She was very unhappy and depressed, going to bed late every night. She wept quietly until she fell asleep, beginning to think she had made a wrong decision. She desperately wanted to return home but was too afraid. Her father had never beaten her, but she wondered if he might after the stunt she had pulled. She wished desperately that Gary would find her and take her back home, though there was no way he could ever find her. Her parents must be worried sick, not knowing where she was or how to find her.

She awoke on Saturday morning, which felt like the hardest yet. Saturdays where the days Gary would come. What would he think of her when he found out she had run away from home? He must be extremely angry and think she was a very deceitful person. She started her morning chores and prepared to do her daily washing. She much preferred doing the washing for her own family, she thought, as she filled the large plastic tub with water.

The same Saturday morning, I woke up early and went to the bus station. I had deduced that if I showed Thui’s picture to all the bus drivers, someone might remember her. There was a small restaurant with a few tables where passengers and bus drivers sometimes sat and drank tea while waiting for a bus. It was the start of one of my luckiest days. As I walked into the restaurant, I bumped into an operator just coming back out. I showed him Thui’s picture and asked him if he remembered her. He told me that he surely did. Last Monday, she got on his bus and sat in the seat behind the driver’s seat. He said she seemed to have been crying and would not talk much. He said she got off the bus when he stopped at the Cho Lon bus stop. I told him that I wanted to go to Cho Lon to, where she got off the bus. He told me that he was starting the route now and I should buy a ticket and come with him. We walked to the bus together, and I got on and sat down in a vacant seat near him.

After about forty minutes, we arrived at Cho Lon City. He stopped the bus and told me that this was the spot where she got off. Cho Lon is on the outskirts of Saigon. A small river separates the two cities. The city was founded in 1778 by Chinese emigrants. The two cities are unified commercially and physically by streetcars, roads, and canals. The city was not as damaged during the war as other cities within the region. Some believed it was due to the Chinese relationship with Communist China. Most of the citizens were rich Chinese.

After I exited the bus, I walked over to an area that held 10 or 12 rickshaws. I began to show Thui’s photo to the operators. After four or five drivers viewed the photo, finally, one of them finally recognized her. He told me that he had taken her to a house not too far away. I asked if I could hire him to take me to the location. When we arrived, I asked him to wait for me while I checked if she was there. He agreed, and we left to make the trip. He stopped in front of a huge Chinese mansion with a wrought iron gate in front. I went to the gate and rang a brass bell. A young Vietnamese maiden came to the gate and opened it up.

“Anh có phải là bạn của em không, chồng Thui?” she inquired with a startled look. (Are you my friend Thui’s husband?)

“Vâng, tôi đang tìm Thui,” I replied. (Yes, I am looking for her.) “Đợi ở đây, tôi sẽ đưa anh đến chỗ cô ấy,” she instructed me. (Wait here, I will take you to her.) She went back inside the house and soon came back out with her umbrella.

“Hãy đi với tôi, ngôi nhà không xa đâu,” she said. (Come with me, I’ll take you there.) I followed her down the street. We walked about half a mile, twisting through streets and marketplaces until she stopped in front of a rich Chinese home.

“Vợ anh đang ở trong ngôi nhà đó,” she said, pointing at the house. (Your wife is inside that home.) She turned and hastily walked away. I walked up to the gate and pushed it; it opened. There was no one around that I could see. I heard a pan of water splash and hit the ground from a walled area to the side of the home. I walked around the walled area to the backside of the house. I saw Thui squatting over a large plastic tub, rubbing laundry on a hand-washing board.

“Thui,” I called her name. She jumped up, slung the clothes down on the ground, and ran into my arms, crying loudly.

“You came; how did you find me?” she asked. “Buddha guided me,” I answered in a half-truth. “Why did you leave without telling anyone?” I asked.

“I was afraid to tell my father that your ancestors are from India,” she replied.

“What do you mean? My ancestors are from England, Ireland, and France,” I told her.

“But you say your grandmother is half Indian after I tell you’ve got an Asian aura,” she accused.

“Not India, she is Cherokee, Native American, American Indian, not from India,” I informed her.

“Oh, I am so happy. I want to go home now,” she said, clinging to me tightly while wiping the tears away with the sleeve of her Ao Dai. The rickshaw operator had followed me and Thui’s friend to the home and was waiting for me. We climbed aboard and sat together in the seat. We rode to the bus stop with arms wrapped around each other until we drew close to the bus stop area. When we could be seen from the bus stop area, Thui pulled away from me and moved to one side of the seat.

“Good Vietnamese girls do not hold boyfriends in public.

Everyone would think that I am con đi nhiều” (a slut), she explained.

“Thui, we need to get back as quickly as possible. Your parents are worried sick. Can we hire a taxi or some other type of transportation?” I asked her.

“I will ask; you wait here until I make a deal with someone. They will charge five times as much if they know you are an American,” she informed me.

“If they ask, tell them that I am of French descent. I speak enough Vietnamese to get by,” I instructed her. This was a tactic that saved me from capture by the Viet Cong in the coming year.

We hired a three-wheeled cart used for hauling products to the market for the equivalent of ten dollars. One hour later, we arrived at Thui’s parents’ home. They were so relieved to have her back home that they didn’t ask any questions. Thui told them that Buddha told me where to find her. Right away, her mother started lighting incense sticks at the family’s ancestral altar and giving thanks to Buddha. She went to the market and bought a black chicken to fix me a Chinese chicken dinner. She knew that I loved her Chinese chicken dish. Her preparation of the dish was her way of thanking me for finding her daughter and bringing her back home.

After we had finished dinner, Mr. Vo, Thui’s father, asked if I knew anyone who would sell a five-ton truck. I asked what it would be used for. He informed me that the bed and cab would be removed, and a bus would be built on the chassis. His business kept him abreast of all things related to transportation. I told him that I did not know, but I would be on the lookout. I also asked how much money he would make from selling the truck. I was not even going to bother if hardly any money was to be made. He told me that he could make the equivalent of ten thousand dollars for a five-ton truck. I asked if there were other items that would bring good money.

He told me that he could get fifteen to twenty thousand dollars for any type of earth-moving equipment. I asked how the vehicles could be hidden from Military CID. I knew that CID would be looking under every rock and crevasse until they found any item stolen from the government. He also told me that he could make five hundred dollars for each ¼ inch by 8 feet by 4 feet steel sheet I could find. I told him the steel would not be too hard to come by. I had a Supply Sergeant friend in charge of the S-4 yard on Dong Tam. He had once asked if I knew any Vietnamese who would buy items he had in the yard. He had mentioned that most of the construction materials in the S-4 yard were not in the books. He had told me that numerous materials were acquired or brought over by the 93rd Engineers. They brought the materials when they began construction on the compound starting in 1966.

I spent the rest of Saturday with Thui. We lay on a hammock in a room adjoining the kitchen, making out. Her younger sister became our lookout, sitting by the door and making funny kissing noises. She always enjoyed teasing me when I visited the family. Thui never let me touch her below the waist when we lay together and made out. She and her family had high moral standards due to their Buddhist and Confucian teachings.

That was one of the reasons I fell in love with her. I also came from a very religious family. My father is a Pentecostal preacher. I have two uncles who are also ministers—one is a pastor, and another is an evangelist. It would not do for me to bring home a wife with loose morals. My morals were not as they once were, but I was still a strait- laced individual. I didn’t drink, smoke, or use God’s name in vain. I had grown up as a strong Christian. Thui once told me that my strong faith was one of the characteristics that drew her to me.

After a couple of hours lying together, we said good night and went to bed. She slept on a mat with her three sisters atop a knee-high platform. I slept on a mat with her three brothers in a sleeping area on the opposite side of the room. The two sleeping areas were constructed the same—each was about knee height off the floor and covered by mosquito netting that zipped in the middle.

Sunday morning, we had breakfast of rice and chicken soup flavored with Nước Mắm, a fish sauce made from fermented anchovies. I stayed at Thui’s home until around 1400 hours. Then, I walked across the street to the front gate of Camp Viking and shortly caught a ride back to Dong Tam.

****

Born in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, Gary Wayne Gray has led a distinguished life of service, education, and leadership. His military career began in 1968 when he enlisted in the United States Army, where he served with dedication until 1976. Gray was stationed in Vietnam from 1969 to 1972 with Company B, 93rd Engineer Battalion. After his tour in Vietnam, he was assigned to the 63rd Ordnance Company at Fort Lewis, Washington; the 702nd Maintenance Battalion at Camp Casey, Korea; and the 43rd Engineer Battalion at Fort Benning, Georgia. He remained a U.S. Army Reservist from 1980 to 1996, 411th Engineer Battalion, Fort DeRussy, Hawaii.

Following his active-duty military service, Gray completed higher education through a Bachelor of Science degree from Warner Pacific University in 1995 and a Master of Counseling degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2003. His career in public service includes roles with the U.S. Navy Department of Transportation and various human service organizations across the U.S., from Portland, Oregon, to Jonesboro, Arkansas.

Gray further pursued his professional journey by moving his base abroad as he taught at an elementary school in MaJI, South Korea from 2005 until 2009. From 2009 to 2019, he worked as an employee of Pathfinder Inc. in Jacksonville, Arkansas, As a multifunctional person, Gray has been enabled to dedicate his life to the cause of service education, and to help communities in his country as well as abroad.