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Dave Berry | all galleries >> Galleries >> Vietnam War '67 - '68 > VC barber
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VC barber

My friend Tom Hinger being shorn in the field. The local villages were heavily infiltrated by the VC. This particular barber cut the hair of a lot of Black Lions. While on an operation in Feb. '68 not far from Lai Khe basecamp, the ambush patrol that Tom was with killed several VC, including this "barber", who turned out to be the local VC tax collector. Incidents like this kept soldiers unsettled and didn't do anything to improve trust on either side.

Photo courtesy of Tom Hinger


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Dave Berry28-Feb-2017 17:37
That was pretty much the idea. The locals gathered a lot of information and passed it on to the VC. Sometimes, like in this case, they fought against us directly.
Joseph Platosz 28-Feb-2017 15:09
I will cut your hair in the daylight, kill you tonight....
Fred Dunlap 22-Feb-2014 21:19
I had a similar experience with the mama-san who did my laundry in Lai Khe. She even made me a hand embroidered pillow case (I have to this day) for Christmas 1967. Then in the spring of 1968, my squad went to check out a mortar attack site on Lai Khe from the night before, and lo and behold, there was my mama-san, dead, next to the mortar! As far as the Papa-san barber I used, he was there when I got there and he was there when I DEROSed.
Tom Nielsen 31-Dec-2012 19:56
We were at Thunder 2 just North of Cu Chi, and one day after we got hit with small rockets the grunts in Apcs(who cleared the road) came to us and asked if we knew this VC Major they had killed, we said yes he was our units barber. It is a little unnerving to think he had a razor right next to your neck, and was the enemy.
Dave Berry30-Dec-2012 02:58
Barbers, bar girls and others who worked closely with Americans made perfect spies. Sometimes they knew where we were going on our next operation before we did.
Mike Mazur 29-Dec-2012 19:56
Like Jack, I also stumbled onto this site. Very good site. What is it about barbers and VC? I was with Charlie company 1st med. batallion 1st infantry division at Quan Loi. In April 1968 rocket and mortar fire hit our area, about 25 rounds (One rocket hit right on top of one of our dustoff choppers) and one hit on top of our main med. operation bunker. We found out later that our barber helped direct fire.
Jack Curry 03-Aug-2012 22:23
Stumbled onto your site while "surfing" today. Very good. I was with 1ID Graves Registration NOV67-JUL68. When escorting casualties to the mortuary at Tan Son Nhut near Saigon we would often get a haircut. In late FEB68 we were told the barber was VC and killed there during TET68. Have a good day. Draftee to Retired Reserve Lifer
D martin 31-Oct-2011 15:44
was ron moreno also with 1/26 blue @sgt mike riley from waco,tx
Guest 18-Sep-2009 22:02
We had the exact same thing happen to us at Xa Cat Dec of 67. We were in an NDP with the 1/18th and some guys from the 1/4 cav. It looks as though some of our intel guys could have figured this out after a while.
Don "Doc"Reynolds 05-Sep-2009 17:04
Abso*******lutely amazing! The barber for the 173rd AHC Robinhoods at Lai Khe was identified as one of the KIA after the January 1968 TET ground attack on Lai Khe. The VC, mostly sappers, came through the old village. They blew up one of the H-13 observation helicopters at the NW corner of the 3rd Brigade on the West side of the runway and the barber, who was killed before he could detonate his explosives, was found somewhere close to Charlie Med, the old French Brick building that served as the (I think)3rd Brigade's aid station.
Henry Rhea29-Jul-2009 07:05
SAme thing at Phuoc Vinh. I left the 1/28th just about a week after your big fight at Ong Thanh to become a door gunner and was assigned to 162nd AHC also at Phuoc Vinh. I went back over to see the guys before the Brigade was moved up to Quon Loi, and they told me of one of our barbers at the battalion barber shop being killed by the 1/2nd on ambush. He was a VC lieutenant. The barber position would have been a great one to gather information from when the guys were in from the field and relaxed a bit.
John McCoy 31-Oct-2008 00:25
When my tour was over and I was stationed at Ft. Ord for several months, a former third herd member from Bravo 2/28 arrived at Ft. Ord and told me about a big operation they were on, just north of Lai Khe, after I left. Guess what?! One of the bodies they found after an engagement was that of the Bravo Company barber. Guess that proves what Joe Hare said about the barber being a favorite spot for a VC spy.
Dave Berry24-Aug-2008 23:44
At least half of the populations of Lai Khe and Ben Cat were VC. I came off a recon patrol during Tet and went to the medic hooch, took off my clothes, and went out back to take a shower. When I came back in and changed into cleaner jungle fatigues, the waterproof bag with my 10 syrettes of morphine that I carried in a pouch pocket was gone. So was the Vietnamese woman who worked around that area and tidied up. When she showed up again and was asked, she didn't know anything about it. By that time, the morphine was already in the village.
Joe Hare 24-Aug-2008 19:20
Being the barber must have been a favorite spot for the VC. Early in 67' before your time with us Dave, we found a VC base camp with several ID papers and pictures and such. Ron Moreno, an execellect soldier and mentor, reconize one of the pictures or ID's as belonging to the barber that was in B Co. every day.
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