The Ghosts of Devil's Island

By JP Thomas

Many books have been written about the Vietnam War. All leading up to and involving the events that took place while the conflicts occurred. The details of my story are actual events that took place, but the names of the people have been changed for security reasons, as the people that were there at the t

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookTrail Publishing
• Release date: Dec 10, 2020
• ISBN: 9781953731500

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Copyright © 2020 by JP Thomas

Paperback: 978-1-953731-64-7

eBook: 978-1-953731-63-0

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020922383

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

This is a work of fiction.

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Kansas City, MO 64114

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Author’s note

Prologue

How it all began

Our first encounter

The heat was about to start

Heading home

Our night on the town

Men of the rig

My story

Wasted breath

Last trip

The escape

The sighting

Discussions of home

New rig and bad deals

Still looking for answers

Someone listens

My conclusion

Author’s note

As there have been so

many books written about the Vietnam War, each author has their own version of what occurred during the events that led up to the conflict and also of the coverage of the conflict itself. My story will give you an insight into events that were taking place in the war-torn country that had closed its borders to the Western World for almost twenty years before the trade embargo imposed by America was lifted by President Bill Clinton on 4 February 1994.

I had worked in the oil industry in Australia for most of my working life. Starting in 1962 on land and subsequently on offshore drilling rigs up until February 1979, I’d accumulated seventeen years experience when I received the opportunity to work for a Danish company that had recently signed a contract with the Italian oil company AGIP. The plan was to use the semi-submersible drilling rig Dan Queen to work for the Vietnamese Government-owned company Petro Vietnam to explore for oil that had been discovered prior to the fall of Saigon, now called Ho Chi Minh City.

The details of my story are actual events that took place but names of certain people have been changed for security reasons, as the people who were there at the time wish to leave it all behind and try to forget it ever happened so they can just get on with their lives.

Personally I don’t know how they can live with themselves and not be involved in the investigative side of my story.

I believe my tale will shock a lot of people. It will also upset a lot, disappoint a lot and may even anger a lot. But I do believe it should be told.

What I have been involved in has haunted me for over the last twenty years and I wish it was possible to forget that any of the events ever happened. Over the years I have been advised by many people, some of whom are in high positions, to leave things alone. They informed me that people don’t want to know the truth, the war was over, to forget it all and move on.

Well I can only say to the people concerned that the public has the right to know what went on and it should not be swept under the political carpet. So here is my story as it happened, with no intention to cause further animosity or conflict to the parties involved.

My mind keeps wandering at this point in time as the events unfold before my eyes like some kind of horror film but I cannot get up from my seat and walk out while the show is still going on. And where I feel that I have seen enough to make me sick of what I have been witness to, as this is really happening, it was about time I learned to live with it and accept the fact that these things are actually taking place and no-one can do a damn thing about it, as much as we would have liked to.

Prologue

12 February 1979

Leaving my wife and four

children behind in Australia I was bound for Singapore. I found myself in a confused state of mind and wondering if this job venture was going to be worth my while. But I kept reminding myself that the experience I was looking for in my line of work would only be obtained by going out into the big wide world and leaving the safety of the Australian soil. Unfortunately it did not take long to discover that I would be learning about a lot more than oil drilling.

After my arrival in Singapore, my coworker Che and I booked into a hotel as we had a night stopover and then we decided to hit the town, starting with a good feed. The mixture of chilli crabs and humidity led to an unbelievable thirst and therefore quite a few beers were downed as we ate our food. Afterwards we decided to grab a cab and have a look at Boogie Street which I‘d heard so much about and Che had been there a number of times before during his previous stays in the country.

What an eye-opener Boogie Street was. It was filled with Kieties who are men turned into women and although I am definitely not that way inclined, some of them were absolutely stunning. It was almost impossible to tell the difference between them and the real women and I thought some of them must have had their Adam’s apple removed, although I’m not sure if that’s possible.

By the time we left the partying atmosphere of Boogie Street it was nearly daybreak. I could have easily slept the whole day away because the hangover I had was unbearable but Che and I had to check in at our office at 10.00 am so after booking out of our hotel we headed to the office which was situated in town.

Once there, we were introduced to all the staff and were given the run-down on the details of the contract and what we were about to get ourselves involved in as even up till then things were up in the air and negotiations were still going on between AGIP and Petro Vietnam and one of the main issues was regarding personnel as there was to be no-one on board the Dan Queen drilling rig who had any American ties. Shaun the manager was a Canadian and was concerned about whether he could get a visa to enter the country. He asked me if Australia still had any conflicting ties with the Vietcong as they were the people we were going to be doing business with and I told him there were none that I knew of as it was publicised in December 1972 that Australia had ended its involvement in the war by halting its military aid to South Vietnam. But there was an element of doubt and something may have occurred that I was unaware of. It was mentioned that there had been recent fighting between the borders of China and Vietnam and that would put us in a rather dangerous situation as the borders of Vietnam had been closed entirely since the fall of Saigon. I did mention to Shaun that refugee boat people had been arriving in Australian waters since about twelve months after the war ended and were being detained but cared for by the Australian Government although I had no idea whether that would put us in danger. And around the same time there was also mention about the genocide which had been going on in Cambodia and that really gave my heartstrings a pull. Anyway, after meeting all the staff and getting the basic run-down on things, I received the okay to be at the airport that evening to go on a flight to the mysterious place that I would later refer to as the devil’s playing field.

How it all began

13 February 1979

At around 7.00 pm I

arrived at Seletar domestic airport terminal to check in for my adventurous flight that was going to take me to the foreign land where I was to gain so much knowledge and experience that it would take me to the top of the class in my profession.

While everyone was checking in at the counter, I was amazed by the number of different nationalities of the men who had turned up for the trip. I am not sure how many of us were booked on the flight but I believe it was around about fourteen.

Airport staff advised us there were still negotiations taking place between all the parties and that an aircraft was being prepared but there were a few problems they were not about to discuss so we all sat around the departure lounge and got to know each other and where everyone had come from.

About 11.00 pm we were told that a plane was on its way over to the runway and we would be leaving very shortly. Many of the guys had been travelling for quite some time and looked like they were ready to put their heads down anywhere so the news of our imminent departure was most welcome.

All of a sudden we were alerted to the horrible sound of something that resembled a piston-driven motor in great distress making its way around the side of the airport. We all stood there in shock as the monstrosity that was supposed to resemble an aircraft came into view. The beast must have been taken out of the archives as there was dust and fuel emission going in all directions and in fact I think the tyres were only half pumped up. I can remember having seen this type of aircraft flying around when I was a lot younger and we knew them as the Doves. They were a de Havilland make and as soon as I saw what type of aircraft it was I had flashbacks from when I was a young lad growing up in the goldfields of Western Australia. A friend of mine had not come to school on a particular day and it was announced at school assembly that his uncle had been killed in an aircraft disaster. When the cause of the accident was published I also remembered my old dad saying that he had proved his point about why he always felt a lot safer to drive rather than take his chances on one of them. He believed they were a bird that never learnt how to stay up in the air. I can still picture now a heap of the guys running towards the counter to ask if the beast that had just come into view was the plane we were meant to fly on. And the look of disbelief on their faces when they were told that the aircraft on the runway was the one that had been prepared for the mission.

The time came around midnight, five hours after checking in, when we were instructed to board the aircraft as they said that it looked as if the go-ahead had been given but they were not a hundred-per-cent sure at the present time.

We all boarded the beast and sat there for maybe half an hour. The pilot advised us there was a bit of a delay and that we should remain seated as the parties at the other end wanted to know exactly where the aircraft and those on board were at all times until we reached our destination which was to be Vung Tau. It seemed to us that there was a hell of a lot of negotiating taking place and we wondered how long we would have to wait for further instructions regarding the okay to fly.

We sat on the tarmac for another thirty minutes and again the pilot advised us that there could be a further delay. But eventually the word came through that we were given the okay to proceed with our flight to Vietnam.

And so the engines were again cranked up and what a feeling I had when the beast started to move. I am sure the other men shared my sense of dread, as the plane was spluttering and backfiring and making noises that I had never heard in my life!

We got to the far end of the runway and the pilot told us to be doubly sure our seatbelts were secure and we knew then that we were in for one hell of a ride. The pilot gave the beast as much power as he could and released the brakes. Everyone in the plane gave out a painful groan as we slowly began to move down the runway and it seemed that we were not going to get off the ground. I do believe we used up ninety-nine per cent of the airstrip before getting airborne and I will never forget that couple of minutes as long as I live.

As we began to gain more altitude we could hear the pilots going crazy talking on the radio and we joked amongst ourselves that it was more than likely a call to return to the airport. Thankfully the pilot announced that we were on our way and to sit back and enjoy the flight. We all sat back with straight faces and tight backsides, wondering what we had got ourselves into. The country was still very unstable and I felt as if I was travelling to the unknown.

After a couple of hours flying most of the guys had fallen asleep. Except for a few overhead reading lights all the cabin lights had been turned off. I still had my light on as I was reading a newspaper and trying