By Gerald A. McGill
I was the Commanding Officer of the Point Welcome, an 82-foot Coast Guard Cutter from 22 October 1967 to 23 May 1968. For most of this time, I operated out of CG Division 12 in Danang Bay, approximately 40 miles south of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). During my seven months as CO of the Point Welcome I was underway in the South China Sea 70% to 80% of the time. This was typical of most of the other 82-foot cutters.
On 23 May 1968, I was relieved as CO of the Point Welcome and assigned to the Coast Guard Division 12 staff as the Readiness, Psychological, Operational and Intelligence Officer. Once attached to the Division Staff, I lived aboard a U.S. Navy APL which was a large permanently moored ship tied up on the opposite side of the pier that the Coast Guard cutters and U.S. Navy PCFs (swift boats) moored while in port in Danang.
I was not too keen on shore duty, so I took every opportunity to do fill in duty aboard any of the 82s that had an opening. For example, I would occasionally ride for a few days on an 82 that had been transferred to Danang from other Divisions to assist that unit with I Corps indoctrination and policies.
In addition to these short trips on WPBs, I was also sent for two weeks as the U.S. liaison officer to the South Vietnamese Coastal Group 16 about 30 miles south of Danang.
Coastal Group 16 was at the mouth of a small river. It was a contingent of South Vietnamese soldiers consisting of a few officers and a good many more soldiers and their families. There were also civilians living there who were mostly fishermen. The importance of the military was to prevent the Viet Cong from using the river to infiltrate weapons, ammunition, medical supplies and food up the river to their forces further inland.
On the morning of my arrival, I was told that there would be a feast in my honor that evening. I was also introduced to my translator. I spent the rest of the day looking around the compound. Truth is I was looking for my exit strategy.
At the end of the workday, probably around 17:30, there was a gathering of 14 to 16 individuals sitting in a circle on the ground. The village chief was seated at the head of the circle. To his immediate right was a man, another civilian, who I assumed was the assistant chief. I was shown to sit to his immediate right. The rest of the circle was made up of a couple of military officers and enlisted men and several civilians who I assumed from their apparent age were the village elders.
When everyone was seated, a person appeared with a basket containing what appeared to be eggs.
I recalled hearing somewhere, probably from the Filipino cooks who served on Coast Guard high endurance cutters that they ate a Filipino dish called “balutes” which were fertilized and fermented duck eggs. I was hoping that these eggs were not the Vietnamese version of “balutes”.
The first egg was presented to the village chief. He held the egg in his left hand, smaller end up. He took his knife and used the blade to break off the top of the egg, looked at the contents and then turned the eggshell up and in one motion drank the contents. The next egg went to the assistant chief who performed the same ritual. The next egg was presented to me.
I decapitated my egg with my knife and looked at the contents. To my horror, I saw forming feathers and blood vessels. Not wanting to offend anyone, particularly since my life could depend on them in the event of attack, I upended my egg. In order to swallow the mass in my mouth, I had to chew several times.
Suddenly all eyes were on me. I turned to my interpreter and said, “What did I do?” He said only, “Too done, too done”. Apparently, I had eaten an egg that they would have rejected. I saw on at least 2 occasions that night when others would look at the contents and deciding that their eggs were “too done”, they would throw them out of the circle for the dogs to eat. They would then be given a replacement egg.
Apparently by trying not to offend anyone, I came off as a barbarian. No wonder some the village children ran away from me the next day.
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