Name this place for cash and prizes… uh, you know there’s really no cash.
If you can't remember this hotel's name, does the inset photo give you a hint? If you can identify either, two CC window decals. We thought we'd give you a change from faces and move to places. This place housed CCs many decades ago. Can you identify it? Your guess should be made by clicking the link below ... "Leave a comment," or "Comments." DO NOT EMAIL YOUR ANSWERS. Leave them on site for the world to see. The winners will receive a prize from CCHQ.
Okay, guys, since no one has been able to come up with the correct ID we’ll let the cat flee the bag. The larger shot is of the Bach Dang Hotel in Danang. Regardless of what several of you thought, this is the old Grand Hotel where many of us were billeted in 1965 before they restricted the city.
Once the Press Center got up to speed, Marines moved out of the hotel. If you look closely you can see sets of stairs on either side of an enclosed entrance area. In 1965 this entrance area was not there but there was a broad set of stairs – broad enough for a jeep to drive up. This was proven when a certain “dead-eye” Public Affairs officer tried it one night, somewhat unsuccessfully. You can see on either side, the open verandas that ran across the sides and front of the hotel. The open veranda areas allowed the breezes from the river across the street to provide what “air conditioning” we had. There was a very good French restaurant in the hotel in those days that served some of the best French onion soup and hard bread rolls any of us had ever tasted.
The inset photo shows the massive gates guarding the entrance to what then was the Danang Press Center at Museum Pier. The area now is for military storage and, should you try and enter, you will be turned away by guards carrying AK-47s. Obviously, the old Press Center buildings have all been razed.
The photos are courtesy of Capt. Ed Garr, USMC (Ret.) Ocala, FL who is Senior Vietnam Director for Military Historical Tours and who makes the trek regularly. Ed says that in pursuing these photos and watching our website he now feels like a CC. We do offer Affiliate status, Ed.
— Jack T. Paxton, Executive Director