Mass in Vietnam

Company A

227th Assault Helicopter Battalion

1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile)

Mass in Vietnam

By CW2 Robert W Kelly

Mass in Vietnam was quite an adventure. For those of you that spent some time in Phan Thiet you may remember the church. It was on the right as you entered the City of Phan Thiet. I attended mass twice at Phan Thiet, A/227 and twice at Camp Evans D/227. They could not have been more different from each other or from home.
I walked into the church at Phan Thiet with some trepidation.

Downtown Phan Thiet had been pretty calm. You never really knew how safe you were in a confined area. I noticed an open pew at the right rear. It seemed a good place and I headed there. At the same time I saw three pair of 2nd of the 7th Cavalry troopers. What really stood out is that each one had an M-16 slung over his right shoulder. Very surreal - weapons in church. And I was armed with my .38. The weapons, while so out of place, were very comforting.
I can't recall whether the priest said the mass in Latin or Vietnamese. It did not matter. None of us understood the sermon anyway. The rest of the mass is the same the world over.
The mass at Evans was also different. The U.S. Army priest arrived carrying a folded table and a box with a handle on it. He set up between the 227th tents and the flight line. The folded table opened into an alter and out of the box came the chalice. He then told all of us he did not have time for individual confessions.
We were about to receive general absolution. I remembered from grade school what general absolution was and thinking back then I would never get that. In those early years of my life I could not conceive of being in a "general absolution" situation. The participants said a private "act of contrition" then the priest absolved all of us of our sins. The mass and communion were over quickly.
And just like that the priest was gone.