One soldier from the 25 th Division summed it all up. The only problems a soldier will encounter are determining how much sun to soak up, how much food to take in and how much beer to wash down. Nobody wears their rank on their swimming trunks or carries it into the weight room. At China Beach, a soldier can shuck the war for three days to surf, swim, sail and sleep. Someplace else is the China Beach in-country R & R center, a bit of world tucked into a cove near Da Nang. Now there is someplace else in Vietnam a place with beaches instead of bunkers, night life instead of night patrols and steaks on barbecues instead of Cs in cans. Someplace else like Sydney, Tokyo or Hong Kong for Double R. To a soldier in Vietnam, the best place to be is someplace else. Pensacola News Journal.This article – except for my commentary about Vung Tau, was originally published in the 25th Division Tropic Lightning newspaper on 9/14/70. " 'Back to China Beach' documentary premieres at Pensacola Little Theatre on Nov. "Pensacola documentary 'Back to China Beach' chronicles Vietnam War surfing club". ^ " 'China Beach: Surfers, The Vietnam War, And The Healing Power Of Wave-riding' ".^ a b "China Beach: Surfers, the Vietnam War, and the Healing Power of Wave-riding".^ "China Beach: Surfing During the Vietnam War and the Healing Power of Wave Riding – Texas Surf Museum".^ "BEER CITY QUIVERS: GARRETT BURTON".^ "Documentary premiere revisits the legend of China Beach - Senior Life - December 2019 - Florida"."Veterans Head Back To The China Beach Surf". Several full-size renderings of the life guard station are featured exhibits at surf museums across the country and the 2019 documentary Back to China Beach chronicled the club's rise and ultimate disbandment as the war receded. The legacy of the China Beach Surf Club remains visible with the advent of social networking, many of the former club members have reformed the group online and regularly travel back to Vietnam to surf on "China Beach". Kilgore surfing before and after raids, and the iconic surf setting also featured prominently in the eighties show China Beach, with both Hobie and DEXTRA surfboards featured in advertising with cast members. Surfboards and surfing soldiers featured prominently in Apocalypse Now with Lt. The China Beach Surf Club became legendary within the surf and military community, and helped form the basis for the laid back surfing soldier in Vietnam archetype. With surfboards difficult to come by, Martin began giving lessons and issuing board rental cards to people that could surf. The club grew rapidly from there, with soldiers coming back from the front lines and looking for leisure activities after the Tet Offensive. The China Beach surfboard was started when Larry Martin served as a storekeeper in the US Navy, and made friends with the lifeguards at the life-guard station, and obtained permission from his superior officer to organize the club, agreeing to repair surfboards and augment lifeguard duties. Today, a full-size model of the China Beach Surf Club sits in the California Surf Museum History Today these iconic sixties era surfboards made by Hobie's Hobart Alter and DEXTRA surfboards shaped by Dale Velzy are featured in surf museums across the United States and featured heavily as props in the late 80's drama China Beach which focused on the stories and adventures of an evacuation hospital in Da Nang, Vietnam. What started initially as a small lifeguard outpost, grew into a major surf club with soldiers bringing surfboards back from the states. troops officially set foot in Vietnam when 3,500 soldiers disembarked there in 1965. The beach was referred to as China Beach, but technically was My Khe and marked the first time U.S. Military association founded in 1967 in Da Nang, Vietnam and grew into a major cultural and therapeutic outlet for young G.I.s to surf during R&R (military) back from the front lines of the Vietnam War. The China Beach Surf Club was an unofficial U.S.
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