Surfing during the Vietnam War
and the healing power of wave riding
Suggestions or corrections? email: surfupguy.vietnamexhibit@gmail.com
“As a native son of California the beach was the one place I could find solace and
feel closest to home. I missed surfing and would think about all the good times I
had spent on my board.
“The next time I went to Camp Tien Sha to pick up the mail, I started talking to a
Yeoman Petty Officer about China Beach and how I wished I had a surfboard. He was also a surfer and understood my enthusiasm...
He said he knew someone in special services in Hawaii...a month later 10 surfboards arrived. We got them to China Beach, hit the surf and had a great time!”
“There was a little shack on the beach next to the volleyball court, so that was where we stored and secured the boards. We thought it would be a good idea to form a club so others could use and enjoy the boards as well. That was the beginning of the China Beach Surf Club. We made the yeoman petty officer President, a helpful friend of his Vice President, and I was the Secretary/Treasurer.
Dan Emerson...in the
beginning!!
“…I was in the navy and got sent to Vietnam in 1966, assigned to ship’s company in Da Nang Harbor. My job was to be a mail carrier..If all went well on my rounds, I’d stop off at China Beach to take a break and watch the waves roll in.”
1966-1967...
CSM was very pleased to hear from Dan Emerson, Co-Founder and force behind the creation of the China Beach Surf Club, 1966-67.
Dan, atop Marble Mountain above Da Nang Harbor...1966
International Surfing magazine - 1970
Butch Cornelius
"I was in a pretty serious confrontation with the enemy and at night I could hear this noise - my buddy said it was the surf nearby. It sounded so good that I felt I would make it through the conflict. It calmed me down."
"I was sent to Da Nang under attack - I sat there all day waiting, fighting all around us, plowed in to the base - I didn't know where I was. But I would hear this noise at night, and I realized it was the sound of surf at Red Beach...
I was cleaning out a shed of the 1st Cavalry and found a huge, old Velzy board. I took it out and surfed it a half dozen times in all."
Rus Calisch
Ten years prior to a river patrol boat's appearance in the movie, "Apocalypse Now," this picture was taken of Rus Calisch, USNR, and the crew of his naval "swiftboat."
"On surf explorations we made sure to have a Vietnamese kid with us to interpret the signs so that we would know which beaches were mined."
Steve Brown
( Imperial Beach lifeguard...1970-1981)
A helicopter pilot in the army, Steve caught only one wave in Vietnam. It was at Cam Ranh Bay, where he had spent weeks in a rehab hospital in 1969 after being shot down for the third time while on helicopter duty. He had been badly wounded in the left leg, and the doctors stitched it together with safety wire. But after a month he was able to toss away his crutches asnd he hobbled out on the nearby beach. He saw four guys struggling in the sloppy, five-foot surf. "They couldn't even get out," he recalls. "I asked to borrow a board, but they didn't want to loan me one. I think I may have kneeled in the sand and begged. Finally one of them gave in and handed me an 8' pintail transitional board. I paddled out--went all the way outside, caught a wave and rode it all the way in, Hollywood-style, stepping off in ankle-deep water, and returned the board. I thanked them and hobbled away."
Bobby Baker and Steve Brown
"This is what I am living for," he
recalls thinking. "That brief, sweet session brought some much-needed sanity to me."
Jerry Shine
Jerry, a La Jolla surfer who became a SeaBee, smuggled his surfboard into Vietnam in the hold of his ship. The captain discovered the board and told Jerry that having it was a court martial offense. However when Jerry subsequently used it to rescue four endangered swimmers in the South China Sea he was recommended for a lifesaving medal...Catch 22 for the captain!
Bruce Blandy
Bruce was on duty as a river rat at the mouth of the Cua Viet river. There was an in country R & R center there and Bruce managed to secure an abandoned amtrack vehicle which he converted into a surfboard building and repair site. The board pictured above was one that Bruce built in Vietnam and it will be on display in the exhibit.
China Beach sea snake.
I sent this McTavish 8'8" board in a conex to DaNang before shipping out and left it there for the next surfers
Al Daniels
"I was a lifeguard at China Beach during 1969. Almost got into a little trouble for a letter to Surfer magazine.
Fortunately I had made some rescues before the photo and letter was published in Surfer. So all was okay as long as I didn't say any more about being assigned lifeguard duty."
Al in his board shaping and repair space...CRB
Surfer magazine
Dave Hazlett
"Sometime in 1969-68 I was in Da Nang getting artillery parts made and I had time to go to China Beach. I borrowed a board from one of the lifeguards saying that I just needed to catch a wave or two. The sand was boiling, the water was 80-90 degrees, no relief at all. But the pleasure of a couple of waves kept me going."
" When I came home after my first tour I felt like I didn't fit in anymore...drugs were a problem and short boards were in style. So I signed up for another tour."
Dave on a skateboard he made
Larry Martin ...Force behind the continuation of the
China Beach Surf Club in 1968
Ted Wild Chu Lai
"Four grunts in from the jungle amazed to realize there was surfing going on while they were off playing war."
Tom Hoerber...
Cam Ranh Bay...in-country '67-'68
from top...
arriving in country...
"We did a lot of body surfing due to only having a few boards to share."
"...a photo I will always remember because the skeg was broken off, no matter, we used it anyway..."
Tom Rainville...
China Beach...in-country '67-'68
"I borrowed a board from Special Services for the day."
"I (once) found a wood frame for a surfboard. I got fiberglass and foam and filled it in. It was about 8' long and very heavy. I tried it once and left it
there for others to use."
Homer Johnstone...
Brigadier General, USA, retired
"On a weekly visit to Vung Tao, I happened to notice an old lifeguard station with a surfboard in it...As an ex-surfer from Manhattan Beach, every time I would visit the site, I thought 'Wow, wouldn't it be a kick to actually go surfing here'....I finally told myself, 'to hell with it: I'm going to do it!' This clip is the result...
1970 Vung Tao, Vietnam
34 year old, Lieutenant Colonel
Homer Johnstone
Entrance to Eagle Beach, east of
Camp Eagle, 101st airborne, in Phu Bai
Summer '69
Summer '70
Summer '72
Summer '71
Rick Matthews...U.S.Army Phu Bai, Hue, Quang Tri...in-country '69-'71
For me, the approach to Vietnam and surfing per se was different. Even though I had the opportunity to avail myself of the Eagle Beach center, the one time I did, I found it impossible to reconcile the experience with the life I was leading. The beach was stunning, much akin to the Islands. But my survival strategy was to try not to think about anything to do with home so for me it was "one and done" until I could hopefully rotate home.
When I was lucky enough to do so, it was surfing that opened those doors again as I struggled to close others.