LEGIONNAIRES REUNITE AT TIGER'S DEN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000100010006-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 2, 2010
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: February 21, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/02 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000100010006-3
AP,TIC::E A-pPEARID
ON PAGE A
WASHINGTON POST
21 February 1984
Legionnaires
Reunite at
Tiger's Ben
By William Branigin
W hington Post Foreign SerCe
BANGKOK-Wearing his Amer.
ican Legion shirt .with ?a Chinese
dragon embroidered on the back and
a U.S. flag dh the shoulder, the re-
tired Navy fighter pilot and his wife
walked into Lucy's ~ Tiger Den as
'Nee, a veteran hostess of Bangkok's
Patpong bar and disco strip,: pre-
pared to perform her specialty: top-
As Nee shook the margarita con-
tainer over her head and portions of
her ample anatomy below, the estab-
lishment's proprietor, Alban (Tiger)_-
Rydberg, shouted a cue and every-
one applauded.
The ritual over, Nee slipped back
into her dress and the talk returned
to the common denominator uniting
mast of the patrons gathered at Ti-
ger's that* night: war. The white-
haired former Navy pilot likes to say
he's been to five of them, and hasn't
been to a had one yet.
He and about 300 other legion.
naires gathered here this month for,
the first overseas reunion of Amer-
ican Legion Post No. 11 *operating in
exile. Established in Shanghai, Chi-
na, arourd 1920, the post was forced
out fast by the Japanese in World
War H and then by the Chinese
Communists.
Called the China Post and named
after generals Frederick Townsend
Ward and Claire Chennault, it is
dedicated to "soldiers of fortune."
By special charter. the Host is tht.
onlc -Qne in the Am ri n I egion
other outfits involved in the Viet- ~ e of the reunion's organizers,
Ham . ar Uold War veterans,
even oil and construction workers
The headquarters-in-exile of Post
No.1 is in Scottsdale, Ariz, home of .
the current commander, C.A.& Hel-
seth, who worked in China" before
the Communists' 1949 victory: Di-
visions of the post have been set up
in several states and countries. The-
Bangkok Memorial Division is based
at Lucy's Tiger Den, which Rydberg, '
68, runs with his Thai wife, Lucy.
..The reunion here earlier this
month ended with a brunch that
evolved into.sessions at Tiger and
other bars into the wee hours. ' Its.
members decided to approach -the
Chinese government about holding;
the next convention in Shanghai,
provided . neither side makes- the
event political and no restrictions
are placed on the usual Legion ac-
tivities.
Some old China hands and Indo-
china War veterans had reservations
about the move, feeling that men-
hers of the staunchly anticommunist
American Legion would not be wel-
come or comfortable in China today.-
The week-long gathering was
marked by reunions of former com-
rades-in-arms, war stories and a mix-
ture of fervent patriotism, bravado
and irascibility.
Many of those present were air-
men involved in secret operations
over Laos during the Vietnam War.
Even now, many are reluctant to
talk about their activities with out-
siders and are deeply suspicious of
the press. They are, to say the least,
politically conservative.
"I thought I was pretty right-wing
myself," said a post member who
works for the State Department.
"But some of these guys are to the
right of Attila the Hun."
for example, offered a simple alter- I
native to involving American troops
in Central America and other world
troublespots: use mercenaries. '
Such was the legionnaires' hostil-
ity toward those considered to hold
leftist views on the Vietnam War
that -British -journalist William
Shewcross and photographer Tim
Page,: here to cover the reunion for
the` magazine. Vanity Fair, were
banned from all proceedings, includ-
b'ing. those at I:ucy's Tiger Den: Shaw-
cross wrote- the:book, "Sideshow;' an
indictment of the U.S. role in Cam-
bodia, and Page has published a
book of Vietnam War photographs.
By all .appearances, few if ;any; of
the legionnaires- at the reunion have
ever had reservations about U.S. in-
volvement in the Indochina conflict.
They believed in it then, and they
believe in it now. ?
"Maybe, just --maybe," retired Col..
Tom Henry said in a banquet speech
at ?a Bangkok, hotel, the American in-
volvement in Indochina kept the dom-
ino theory from coming true and pre-
vented Southeast Asian countries like
Thailand from falling to communism.
Henry, formerly associated with
the elite, secretive Delta Force, some
of whose members were involved in
the failed hostage rescue mission in
Iran in April 1980, said the United
States had been in 19 "shadow wars"
since World War II, of which Leb-
anon is the latest.
He dedicated a memorial service
at the banquet to victims of those
unspecified wars, especially to "those
who must remain nameless, faceless
.and placeless -because of the nature
of their calling."
"We are a different breed," he
said, "and we're proud of it."
Another speaker eulogized two
post members who died in the ter-
rorist bombing of the American Em-
bassy in Beirut in April 1983, James
Foley Lewis and Phyllis Farad. '
,COMON ED
membe*s. In its rAnks of ahn,,r
2.000. therefore- are, azents hf the
;'ALILQIice of Strateg r
Services (OSS) and its s u=Mor the
Central Intelligence Agen '9fl
for the CIA eirl'n it-America,_and
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/02 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000100010006-3