June, 1966-UFO Incident Nha Trang, South Vietnam

I have searched the site for a story on this particular incident and only netted one result in a collaboration thread. That being said, I would like to do another write-up on the case with a twist.

I'm sure that a lot of folks here realize that by the time the US entered the war in Vietnam in 1964, we had already had Special Forces in the region for 14 years. These Special Forces groups were there, behind the scenes, trying to create a "Strong Anti-Communist Coalition." They were bringing groups together from South Vietnam, North Vietnam and Laos to try and combat the communist threat.
For their part, they were somewhat successful. Successful enough that they could eventually petition the Government here in the States for more and more support by way of equipment and military "advisors" on the ground.
(I don't want to focus primarily on the war, but just try and set a climate for the events to unfold)

John F. Kennedy had backed this tactic even well before he was elected President as he had good intell on the situation through unofficial sources.

"Even before his inauguration, Kennedy had access to extensive policy planning studies on Vietnam through unofficial channels ... Kennedy also received one or more of Edward Lansdale's 'think' papers on Vietnam and was roundly impressed by his advocacy of a 'nonbureaucratic' approach to counterinsurgency. Kennedy's prompt approval just ten days after taking office of a new 'Counterinsurgency Plan' for Vietnam-a shift away from a prior emphasis on a Korea-style threat to South Vietnam-suggests a more than casual acquaintance with the issues involved." Instruments of Statecraft: U.S. Guerilla Warfare, Counterinsurgency, and Counterterrorism, 1940-1990

While it was reported that the Vietnamese struggle was going well for the US' interests in '61 and '62, there were those that felt this wasn't enough. That the US had to be directly involved in the fighting.

Kennedy wasn't playing ball. Mainly due to the mistreatment of the Buddhists at the hands of the South Vietnamese President Diem. Anyone seen pictures like this on the net? I'm sure you have.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/794f2ec3a1e2.jpg[/atsimg]

By 1963 scenes like this were becoming common place in South Vietnam as Diem's oppresive control was unrelenting. Even though 70% of the Vietnamese people, at the time, were practicing Buddhists. This concerned Kennedy enough that he made it very clear that the people of Vietnam should be looked after by their Government and that the war was their's to win, not the US's. The US would continue to provide support, but that is all.
Robert Kennedy says Diem must go. (Note the phrase "get rid of him")

"Diem wouldn't make even the slightest concessions. He was difficult to reason with ... The important thing was to try to get somebody who could replace him and somebody who could keep, continue the war and keep the country united ... Nobody liked Diem particularly, but how to get rid of him and get somebody that would continue the war, not split the country in two, and therefore lose not only the war but the country. That was the great problem." Robert Kennedy CBS interview, 1964.

So, a coup was staged, Diem was removed and executed. In the same month, Kennedy was assassinated. With his brother to follow. (Not sayin, just sayin, ya' know)

So, back to Nha Trang, with the key players out of the way, the stage is set for Johnson to go ahead and go against previous policy and send military into Vietnam. Nha Trang was the largest staging point for the US War Machine in the region. From there the US forces were deployed to over 270 locations in Vietnam and in June of 1966, this happens.

"At first we thought it was a flare."

noted a witness who recalled them being used regularly. "But then we realized it wasn't".
This flare had a tendancy to move very slowly horizontally and suddenly increase to tremendous speed.

This was the scene for unknown numbers of witnesses who were gathered outside the Coastal AirBase to watch an outdoor movie (the ability to do so had just arrived to South Vietnam). A picture of the base.
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/ad11974c9062.jpg[/atsimg]

Things to take notice of are the Theatre (this is where the countless witnesses would be), the "generator" (actually a large group of generators used to supply power to the entire base and the runway (There were two prop-planes about to go out on patrol in staging on the runway). Also, somewhere near the runway there were bulldozers in operation cutting roads into the soil as the event unfolded.

So here we have a base that is alive with activity and this UFO is flying overhead. Witness states that pilots were estimating that the object was traveling at about 25,000 feet overhead until the object suddenly descends upon the theatre area to a height of between 300-500 ft. where it suddenly stops... ...as does everything else on base.
No lights.
No movie.
No planes about to take off.
No bulldozers cutting roads.
Nothing. No engines were running for approximately four minutes.

And unfortunately, that is where the story ends. The next day witnesses report that a bunch of "Washington types" were crawling all over the base investigating the source of the EMP and the UFO.

So, why did I bring up JFK and RFK? Because considering the geo-political climate of the time at hand, this would have been an EXTREMELY sensitive case to the Government.
This was a breach of airspace during hostile conflict rendering the entire base without power.
This was a case that only came to be because of a series of "unfortunate events" that allowed the US to even HAVE a war that was going to kill 60,000 Americans and untold numbers of others.

I feel that this was a message to the American Government, sent by whomever, that someone isn't pleased with the way they were conducting business.

Don't go too hard on me here, I'm chuckling at myself right now thinking "nobody is going to buy this outlandish story." But, I wanted to put it out there anyhow.
Thanks for reading.



www.ufocasebook.com...


[edit on 4-10-2009 by JayinAR]

reply to post by JayinAR


Dear JayinAR

Good post.

I think you can quite safely bet that there was an investigation in circumstances like that.

However I think it is just as good a bet that you will never find out more about it. I will look forward to anything more you can fine though.

reply to post by MAC269


I'm afraid that the trail to this particular case stops pretty much right there.
No named witnesses have stepped forward and there doesn't appear to be much, if any, documentation. At least not any that is available to the public.

And like I said in the OP, I think that this is a case that will be kept very securely behind tight-lips due to the political climate during the time.

Thanks for the post.

Tight lips on the case indeed.

You guys realize that your avoidance of my OP just furthers my point that this stor is legitimate, right? [/sarcasm]

Yeah, it was a waste of my time. Sorry for bothering you guys.

reply to post by JayinAR


interesting story JayinAR,

i guess there is no way to verify any of this but none the less it's an interesting story. i think ufo's have been watching our wars for centuries.

The first recorded incident regarding Alexander the Great and UFO's was recorded in 329BC. Alexander decided to invade India and was attempting to cross the river Indus to engage the Indian army when "gleaming silver shields" swooped down and made several passes over the battle.

ufo.whipnet.org...

and there are many other incidents like the foo fighters and ufo's seen near nuclear missile sites. i believe there were also reports during the Korean war

"We suddenly noticed on our right-hand side what appeared to be a jack-o-lantern come wafting down across the mountain. And at first no one thought anything about it. So we noticed that this thing continued on down to the village to where, indeed, the artillery air bursts were exploding. It had an orange glow in the beginning. We further noticed that this object was [so] quick that it could get into the center of an airburst of artillery and yet remain unharmed.

"[The] time element on this, I would say, [was] anywhere from, oh, forty-five minutes to an hour all told.

"But then this object approached us. And it turned a blue-green brilliant light. It's hard to distinguish the size of it; there's no way to compare it. The light was pulsating. This object approached us.

www.nicap.org...

not a stretch at all to consider your story might be true

reply to post by easynow


Thanks for the post.
Yeah, I knew it was a dead-end case going in. I just felt that considering the time, place and political atmosphere it may be an interesting discussion.

Oh well.

PS - it is also interesting to note that in none of the cases, mine or the two of yours, di the object in question actually do anything other than make an appearance.
In fact, I feel that this particular case mirrors the account of Alexander's very well.

Just a show. A buzzing, or whatever, to the largest (or most powerful) military on the planet.

[edit on 6-10-2009 by JayinAR]

reply to post by JayinAR


Great post Jay, this is an interesting case that you have presented very well. I have heard many UFO related stories surrounding Vietnam, as well other war zone areas. The power going out is also not that uncommon, as electromagnetic interference is somewhat common in UFO reports, it may be as a defense or a side effect of their propulsion system. I am glad you decided to post this case on ATS, keep up the great work my friend.

S/F...

reply to post by jkrog08


Thanks man.
Yeah, the reports from war torn areas are far and wide.
I really just liked this one because of the political climate during the time.

As far as the EMP goes, I have no idea.
Both possibilities make good sense. Although in this case, I don't think the object had anything to defend itself from and it certainly didn't need to speed out of the area. Unless there is more to the story we aren't getting, which is very likely.

I think this was a show of force, myself.
A neener-neener-neener type of thing.

Glad you enjoyed the thread.