Bullets Close During Night In Qui Nhon

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31111, 14 July 1966, Page 2

Bullets Close During Night In Qui Nhon

Tracer bullets flying past her open bedroom door all night brought home very forcibly to a Christchurch nurse that Vietnam is a country at war with itself.

The nurse is Miss Helen Shand, formerly charge nurse at the Nurse Maude District Nursing Association’s Averill House. She left Christchurch in May to join a New Zealand surgical team as ward sister for the hospital at Qui Nhon, a small fishing village north of I Saigon.

Writing from Qui Nhon to Mrs Grace Adams of Christchurch, Miss Shand said that “on my second night here, they scared the daylights out of me with shooting all night. Tracer bullets flew past my open bedroom door. “It was described the next day as friendly fighting—the army letting the Buddhists know it was taking charge,” the said. The weather was not a topic of conversation. “This is the hot season and it is damn hot day and night I never inquire what the actual tem-

perature is, as I am sure I would feel worse,” Miss Shand wrote. ‘‘lf there is a breeze it is usually warm. There is no such thing as air conditioning or hot water. The hospital

is over-crowded, with often two patients to a bed. There are stretchers all over the floor.” In the few weeks Miss Shand has been in Qui Nhon, the cost of living, already high, has increased. A sandwich costs 3s, bread smaller than quarter-pound loaf is 3s 6d, a small bottle of orange fizz is Is 3d. Butter cannot be bought locally and there is no substitute.

Milk or a substitute is practically non-existent and Miss Shand has had to learn to drink tea, and coffee without it

"Our breakfast consists of coffee and toast; lunch, Vietnamese soup and tea; dinner, some form of meat or fish, local vegetables and potatoes. We have fresh fruit with every meal,” she said.

The streets of Qui Nhon are lined with trees and littered with rubbish. There is a small strip of sealing down the centre flanked on either side with sand. Footpaths are occupied with hammocks, stretchers, chairs, and are the home of hundreds of people. There are no amenities and people urinate, defaecate and spit anywhere. They are contaminated with lice and sit and deiouse each other.

“Don’t get me wrong. They are not all like that. The better class women wear long white trousers under a long frock with a high collar and long sleeves. The side seams are open from the waist to the ankle.

“Others wear long black trousers and short coloured jackets. The children’s clothing varies from birthday suits to European or national or a combination of both.” Miss Shand said that in spite of all the hardships she found life in Qui Nhon very interesting. "I am going to enjoy my 12 months here,” she said.