Vietnamese Sam

45acp

45acp

naw man
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Texarkana
Alright, fun story time. This thread is going to be memories of Sam, an older Vietnamese guy at work. I'm warning you ahead of time... this is all going to sound like a bunch of made up bull****- I assure you it's not. Sam died back in '06, and was.... basically awesome. I'm gonna ****ing honor his ass.

Sam was allegedly South Vietnamese and fought for our side during the war. Earned citizenship for himself and his wife and newborn, and was shipped over here in '72. All the 'Nam vets at work highly respected Sam. My dad (USMC) swears up and down that Sam was actually Laotian, and did "helpful things" with the Force Recon guys. Dad won't talk about Vietnam, so I never got further info. Dad did say "don't ever mess with Sam at work, he'll kill you". Dad seemed serious.

How Sam died

Me and a friend are walking in to work one morning (6:30), and walk passed Sam to clock in. He looked like he wasn't feeling well and was walking slow. Behind us, he swiped his badge and hit the floor (dead). We were about 50ft in front of him and ran back as soon as we heard the commotion. An ems guy happened to be right behind him, and pretty much started cpr immediately. My buddy called 911 and the main office and the ems crew quickly took over. All for naught- widowmaker heart attack.
 
Was hoping you would do this thread. I’m in for stories
 
Back around 1990, Sam bid on a job in my current department. Not long after being trained and qualified, a supervisor saw him at the end of the day seemingly exhausted and down.

This supervisor was a black guy that looked like an NFL linebacker.

sup- "How'd you do today Sam?"

sam- (shaking head, dismayed) "THEY WORK MY BLACK ASS OFF TODAY BOSS."
 
45acp said:
This thread is going to be memories of Sam, an older Vietnamese guy at work.

Sam was allegedly South Vietnamese and fought for our side during the war.
Click to expand...

He sounds like our old trim guy, Sonny.

He called me Bok Jim and I called him Bok Son.

He claimed he was Laotian and fought for our side In vientam. We all assumed he actually wore black pajamas.

He could trim a house that took me and my partner 2 days to trim, in one day, by himself. He never recut. If a piece of base was a hair long, we would have to adjust the door. Other than that, he was excellent. He was 60ish and looked 30ish.
 
DUI trigger warning-

Sam told me about when he quit drinking. It was 1996. The riverboat casinos had just opened in Shreveport, which back then was an hour drive. Sam's 2 favorite things on earth was gambling and whiskey.

Sam's describing his last trip home from the casino- you gotta read this in broken Vietnamese english-

"I come home from boat, it foggy as hell. Can't see ****. Jack Daniel kick my ass all night. Then kick my ass some on way home. I get behind car I think I recognize... I follow him watching brake light. Car go left- I go left. Car go right- I go right. Car take my exit, I know this right car. Car go right- I go right. Car go right again, then tail light get real bright and disappear. I strain eyes looking for tail light.... BAM!!!! I PUSH CAR THROUGH LIVING ROOM!! I go jail for little while. I feel bad, I go help build wall and ceiling back. Nice people. Insurance fix car, I not worry about that. I leave Jack Daniel alone since then."
 
This might be hitting close to home... I knew a Vietnamese refugee that died of cancer; but was one hell of a stand up engineer! :smokin::smokin::smokin:
 
9/11, there was a crazy black guy at work that in recent years had converted to Islam. Bat**** nuts before the conversion. Zero friends, everyone kinda avoided him.

I was on a different shift and off that day. A day or 2 after it happened, Malcom Wrecks is walking around all happy, cheering, "man we finally got 'em!" and basically about to get his ass whooped.

He comes in the break area and sits at a table by himself, grinning from ear to ear. Sam walks over and sits down across from him, talks to him for a minute, then gets up and leaves. Malcolm Wrecks turns white as a ghost, walks off, never speaks of (that day, or anything else) ever again.

A friend of mine asks Sam what he said to the guy. "I tell him exactly where he will be buried. I tell him other people that will help. I tell him not to worry, it will be painless... I tell him he has 2 days to say goodbye to family or not speak at work anymore. He chose not to speak."
 
In, thanks for the chance.

I love immigrants. Especially those who saw communism.

We had a parish priest that came from 'Nam. He taught in a seminary until Saigon fell, then taught in an underground seminary for 7 years before they were gonna torture/kill him to set an example. Became one of the boat people after that, bounced from refugee camp to refugee camp until he landed in America in the late '80s. Became a priest in the Des Moines diocese after that until he died a few years ago.
He was a tough old bird. Had a strict sense of right and wrong, after I learned his backstory he earned it.

Carry on with ARVN(?) Sam.
 
shortbus4x4 said:
Alot of the Hmong (Laotians) and Montagnards (Vietnam) were bad ass fighters and were very good allies, of course we left them hanging when we pulled out of Vietnam.
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My dad was 5th Group SF in Viet Nam and he said pretty much the same thing - little badasses. His said his usual team was himself, another Group member and 4 Hmong mercenaries.
 
No way I can get close to the OP but I had a little Viet Nam war veteran guy experience. I was in Kodiak for the summer of 81' sleeping in a tent outside of town to walk 4 miles in and work the cannery shift, 12-16 hours in a halibut wet dip, stack and trundle to the freezer to glaze the fish at minus 40. I dont know the guys name, we were the white college boys in a sea of Filipinos, Koreans and the Nammer. One Gook, "little Nipper" who was a snitch for the cannery and we all vowed to kill him, box him, dip and freeze him, and include him in a shipment to Japan. I asked Nammer one day if he had fought in the war and he raised his shirt to reveal a huge scar running from his waist up almost to his armpit. He had that grin. I asked him about Saigon, was he there ? "Sy-Ghon pretty good. Feefty dollah five gurl **** **** **** ****y all nite" He might have been 5-2 at best. That morning a green tag wet halibut slipped off a tray and flopped onto the freezer floor. The greens were over 80-lbs. This baby was about 6-ft long minus the head which had been through the guillotine. I recall that that some how it had been weighed and was 240 lbs soaking wet and slimy, slippery as ****. Oh ****, who is gonna pick that SOB up ? Our crew was maybe 4 white boys, the Mexican and the Nammy. We agreed to all kick in $10 and jackpot to whoever could pick it up. Too slimy, too awkward to grab, even with the open body cavity. Even the Mexican was stymied. Nammer waited until we had all choked, smiled had easily picked that ****er up and slung it on the cart like it was Saigon hooker. No one said a word as he snatched cash and disappeared back into the -40 flash freezer. :ghost:
 
Splib said:
Nammer waited until we had all choked, smiled had easily picked that ****er up and slung it on the cart like it was Saigon hooker.
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Talons?
chinese-man-long-fingernails.jpg
 
I think the long pinky nail is an Asian thing? I work with a 50 something Filipino and he has a long pinky nail like that too and it's not for coke. lol
 
Splib said:
No way I can get close to the OP but I had a little Viet Nam war veteran guy experience. I was in Kodiak for the summer of 81' sleeping in a tent outside of town to walk 4 miles in and work the cannery shift, 12-16 hours in a halibut wet dip, stack and trundle to the freezer to glaze the fish at minus 40. I dont know the guys name, we were the white college boys in a sea of Filipinos, Koreans and the Nammer. One Gook, "little Nipper" who was a snitch for the cannery and we all vowed to kill him, box him, dip and freeze him, and include him in a shipment to Japan. I asked Nammer one day if he had fought in the war and he raised his shirt to reveal a huge scar running from his waist up almost to his armpit. He had that grin. I asked him about Saigon, was he there ? "Sy-Ghon pretty good. Feefty dollah five gurl **** **** **** ****y all nite" He might have been 5-2 at best. That morning a green tag wet halibut slipped off a tray and flopped onto the freezer floor. The greens were over 80-lbs. This baby was about 6-ft long minus the head which had been through the guillotine. I recall that that some how it had been weighed and was 240 lbs soaking wet and slimy, slippery as ****. Oh ****, who is gonna pick that SOB up ? Our crew was maybe 4 white boys, the Mexican and the Nammy. We agreed to all kick in $10 and jackpot to whoever could pick it up. Too slimy, too awkward to grab, even with the open body cavity. Even the Mexican was stymied. Nammer waited until we had all choked, smiled had easily picked that ****er up and slung it on the cart like it was Saigon hooker. No one said a word as he snatched cash and disappeared back into the -40 flash freezer. :ghost:
Click to expand...
Triton or ocean beauty?
 
Good chance that Sam worked with the MACV-SOG guys.

"Across The Fence" by John Stryker Meyer is a great book about that unit for anyone who's curious.
 
DWT said:
Triton or ocean beauty?
Click to expand...

B&B Fishery in Kodiak. I doubt they are still in business. The purse sein and tender fishing boat jobs were long gone by the time we got there and we took cannery jobs.
 
Splib said:
B&B Fishery in Kodiak. I doubt they are still in business. The purse sein and tender fishing boat jobs were long gone by the time we got there and we took cannery jobs.
Click to expand...
When I was up there in 99 I was with ocean beauty. Phlips did all the fish processing, Mexicans wrecked the forklifts and crackers ran the joint and fixed everything. :laughing:
 
Yotota said:
Good chance that Sam worked with the MACV-SOG guys.

"Across The Fence" by John Stryker Meyer is a great book about that unit for anyone who's curious.
Click to expand...
I've not read that book yet but just added it to my cart to buy it. I listened to an interview with him on the Jocko podcast. The **** they went through and did:eek:
 
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