There was nothing secret last week about the arrival of the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Core. Belching clouds of black smoke from its single stack, Core moved 45 miles up a tributary of the Mekong River to President Ngo Dinh Diem's capital city of Saigon, docked at a wharf directly in front of the Hotel Majestic and the Café Terrasse.
Hotel guests and idlers sipping Pernods at the café tables could count and identify the aircraft on the carrier deck: two H13 and 34 Shawnee H21 helicopters, plus nine T-28 fighter-trainer planes. Leaning on...
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