Linda Giese of San Mateo, California is a big hit with the children of Phu Loc. Mrs. Giese is in country to visit the 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division near Phu Loc, Vietnam. She flew to Vietnam to spend Christmas and present medallions in the name of her hometown to members of the Battalion's A Company, with which her brother - Sgt. Joe Artavia -  was killed in action 9 months ago. Alpha company was not really equipped to have a woman as a house guest, but Mrs. Giese didn't mind, saying she wanted to see it the way her brother had. So she walked the miles and half-miles to landing zones and bunked with the nurses of "Fort Chastity" at the 22nd Surgical Hospital in Phu Bai.

Dave Warsh, © 1968, 2018 Stars and Stripes, All Rights Reserved | BUY THIS PHOTO