LEGIONNAIRES REUNITE AT TIGER'S DEN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-01208R000100090026-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 22, 2011
• Sequence Number: 26
• Publication Date: February 21, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/22 :CIA-RDP9O-012088000100090026-6
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ON PAGE
WASHINGTON POST
21 February 1984
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. BY ?'illiam Branigin
tti:,shtngton Post Foreign Servltt
BANGKOK-Wearing his Amen=
lean Legion shirt .with ?a Chinese
-dragon embroidered on the hack and
? a U.S. flag oh the shoulder; the ie-
tirPd 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-.~
Pied to perform her specialtv:.top-
less margarita mixing.
. As Nee shook the margarita con-
tamer over her head and portions of
'.her ample anatomy below, the estab-
lishment`s proprietor, Alban (Tiger).;
Rydberg, shouted a cue?and every- I
..one applauded.
. _. The ritual over, Nee slipped back
.into her dress and the talk returned
.to the common denominator uniting
"mcet of the patrons gathered at Ti-
ger's that ? night: war. The white-
haired former New 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-
naives gathered here this month for ,
the first overseas reunion of Amer-
ican Legion Post No. 1, operating in
exile. Established in Shanghai, Chi-
na, around 1920, the post was forced
out f`u-st by the Japanese in .World
VVar II 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 dial charter, the Host is the.
on}v one iii the Amerir?n T ~;~
h t adriiG~ for~ien and nonmili ^rv
_ . e~.uute at
Ti er's ~e~z
other outfits .involved in the Viet-
nam ar, ar veterans and
even oil and- construction workers
v
.use. .
The headquarters-in-en7e of Post
No. 1 is in Scottsdale, Ariz., home of .
the current commander, CA.S: 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 ~Rydbetg;
68, runs with his Thai wife, Lucy. -~
. The reunion here :.earlier ?~ Lhis
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 i
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 mem-
bers 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 givs are to the
right of Attila the Hun."
One of the reunion's organizers, I
for example, offered a simple alter-
native to involving American troops
m 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
Shawcross and photographer Tim
?~ Page? hereto cover the reunion for
` the' ~ magazine Vanity Fair, were
;: banned fror+ ell p-oceedings, includ-
:'.ing.tliose at I:ucy's Tiger Den: Shaw-=
cross wrote~the:~book, "Sideshow' an. I
indictment of the U.S. role in Cam-
bodia, and Page has published a
? book of Vietnam War photographs,
By all appearances, fen if .any; of
the legiornaires? at the reunion ~ha~~e
ever had reservations about Lt.S. in-
volvement in the indochiria conflict:
They believed in it then, and they
. believe in it now.
"h'IaYbe, 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 fiom falling to communism.
Henry, formerh? ?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 "s:^.adox? wars"
since World War II, of which Leb-
anon is the latest,
He dedicated a memorial service
at the banquet to ~~ctims of those
unspecified ware, especially to "those
who must remain nameless, faceless
:and placeless .because of the nature ?
of their calling."
"P4'e are a different breed," he
said, "and we're proud bf it."
Another speaker eulogised two
post members w?ho died in the ter.
rorist bombing of t?:e Amerce-*~ Fem.
bassy in Beirut in April 1953, James
Foley Lewis and Phylls Faraci. '
,CO%~:.T.~Y.L1E,D
,,.- Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/22 :CIA-RDP9O-012088000100090026-6