Sanctuary de Phu My June 1970

Sanctuary de Phu My June 1970-June 1971 Saigon Republic of Vietnam	As told in pictures and text by Richard Carvell 12 RITS Photo Lab OIC Tan Son Nhut Air Base, RVN
(Click pictures to enlarge; click back arrow to return to this page)	Sanctuary de Phu My was the Civic Action Project of the 12th Reconnaissance Intelligence Technical Squadron (12RITS) at Tan Son Nhut Air Base in Saigon. The Sanctuary was almost a city unto itself. It was surrounded by a high block and concrete wall, and that wall -- as was almost every wall in the city of Saigon -- was topped with pieces of glass embedded in concrete to deter intruders. But one toot on the Air Force truck horn brought this man to the gate to open it for visitors from the 12RITS at Tan Son Nhut.
	The Administration Building at Phu My was immediately to the right as one entered the compound. I think this also was where the nuns who ran the place were housed. Note the blue USAF truck at the left and the puddle at the right from a recent rain shower. Note also the gutter downspouts, which were part of a fairly sophisticated system to collect and recycle rainwater. Underneath the awning are large ceramic clay jars used to store the collected rainwater. Municipal water service was not reliable and even not available at certain times during the day. There was no air conditioning in the building and no glass in the windows ... just shutters.
	Here's a closer look at the large jars for Phu My's own reserve supply of water. RITS Supply SSgt Lee Roy Phillips (at right, who died in 2004 in Missouri) and RITS Maintenance Chief TSgt Joseph Williams talk over a laundry machine problem at Phu My that they were eventually able to resolve.
	Williams (left) and Phillips put the meter to it ... that is, check the power supply and electrical continuity of the washing machine itself. Williams asked permission to take the machine back to the RITS for further testing. He discovered an insect stuck in the on-off switch, which, when removed, restored the machine to its original usefulness.
	Phu My was a sanctuary for a lot of different kinds of people, but especially children. It was operated by an order of German Nuns of the Roman Catholic Church. The government of Vietnam paid a tiny amount for each child housed at Phu My.
	Since Phu My was operated by the Roman Catholic Church, there was a chapel and several religious icons in the compound. The Admin Building is in the background and the entrance to the chapel is the archway to the right.
	Although many of the children at Phu My were handicapped ...
	... there were several beautiful ...
	... handsome ...
	... and seemingly readily adoptable children. But these were not the ones available for adoption, particularly by US military personnel.
	RITS personnel who decided to try to adopt said it was the crippled and infirm that were most likely to be made available by the government for quick adoption ...
	... or the children of mixed race -- Amerasian children. Amerasians are descendants of ethnic Vietnamese and American personnel (mostly military) during the Vietnam War. Many of the these Amerasians, and their mothers, experienced significant social discrimination in Vietnam. Many Amerasian children were literally abandoned on the street and ended up in orphanages like Phu My.
	Some children at Phu My were orphaned by the war, but they all knew how to "mug" for the camera.
	Air Force personnel from the RITS, like Lt. Sharon Thomas, knew how to sweep them up in their arms and give them the hug that no one else had the time or inclination to give because there were just too many kids and not enough caregivers at Phu My.
	Airman David Allen was good at engaging Phu My kids, too.
	Any time men and women from the RITS went to Phu My, there were more little ones who wanted to hang on than there were Air Force personnel to swoop them up. Perhaps each thought if he could win the heart of the American, the GI might take him to the US?
	Kids will be kids. I assume that the objective here was to tie the shoe strings together so when the airman jumped down off the sitting post with his boots tied together, he would fall down and everyone would get a big laugh.
	RITS personnel, like Captain Bill Jones, delivered many, many packages of goods and materials from home to Phu My during the year I was in Vietnam. Note also the stacks of bread on the bench and table behind Jones. It was baked at a local bakery and delivered daily to Phu My.
	Many of the children at Phu My were too small or too ill for outsiders hold.
	But anyone who could crawl out of a crib was a candidate for the strong arms of the Americans from the RITS who visited Phu My on a regular basis.
	Those children who were ill were under the care of the nuns ... probably the equivalent of an LPN. Phu My was not a "hospital," per se, but we observed fluids being administered and other medical attention for some of the children of Phu My.
	However, there were never enough hands to do all of the work that needed to be done, and sometimes a nun with some medical skill had to be in more than one place at a time, as illustrated by this slow exposure.
	Phu My had its own vegetable garden, worked and maintained by the adults who lived there. Produce from the garden helped to feed the residents or livestock.
	A Vietnamese woman prepares some of the garden produce for the animals at the Sanctuary.
	Some residents never left Phu My. When an individual died, he or she might be buried in the cemetery that was found at the back of the compound.
	This Vietnamese mother holds her child for the photographer. At the time this 35 mm picture was taken, another individual from the RITS was taking pictures with a Polaroid camera and passing them out. When I snapped this portrait of Mother and Child, the Mother insisted that I open up the camera and give her a picture. I printed one after I developed the film and took it to her.
	I'm not sure if duck was on the menu at Phu My, but these fowl might have been candidates for the dinner table at some time.
	Phu My also was a mini-tuberculosis facility and some adult residents were identified to us as infected with TB. This elderly Vietnamese man was one of those. He crafted birds and other trinkets out of colorful plastic, and the birds were sold in the streets of Saigon. He realized a small return on each. I bought one for my small Christmas tree in in my room in December 1970, and it hangs on our Christmas tree each year now at home.
	There were several things for the Phu My kids to do, including riding the merry-go-round.
	They also made up their own games.
	More games. Saigon had its soccer stadium, not far off Tan Son Nhut Air Base. It was used during the 1968 Tet Offensive as a holding area for VC suspects as they were rounded up.
	It takes wind to fly a kite, and there wasn't much wind blowing on this day.
	But he didn't give up.
	One boy wanders off while a RITS airman in the background tries to organize a game ... or organize something.
	Sometimes, it was just a good time to swing, especially considering the alternative for most, if not all, of the kids at Phu My.
	Drying the laundry -- in this case, the many, many cloth diapers needed at Phu My -- was not a problem. Spreading them out on the warm rocks speeded up the drying process.
	Although dog was a menu item for some Vietnamese families, these canines were Phu My pets. They were resting comfortably on the porch of the Admin Building. Note the rocks holding open the doors in the background.
	This is a truly remarkable woman who lived at Phu My. She apparently had some wealth because she lived in a private room, rather than in a dormitory like most of the other adult residents. She was of French/Vietnamese ancestry and spoke fairly good English. She loved candy and asked for some every time we would visit. She told us this story: She married a Texan who took her back to the US and enrolled her in Texas Women's College in Denton (now a university). But he was a womanizer, and she left him to return to Vietnam ... "The worst mistake I ever made..." she would tell us. I often wonder what happened to her.
	Sanctuary de Phu My was indeed a sanctuary. It provided a safe place for many persons, most of them abandoned or orphaned children whose only home had been the streets of Saigon. This statue of Christ was in a semi-secluded area of the compound. Note the bamboo in the foreground.
Photos and text copyright Richard Carvell 2006	Click this link for a view of Sanctuary de Phu My today.