VIETNAM CHRISTMAS RECORD

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31224, 23 November 1966, Page 21

VIETNAM CHRISTMAS RECORD

(N Z Press Assn —Copyright) LONDON, November 22. A “mushy” Christmas record about the Vietnam war has sold 50,000 copies in 10 days in America, the “Daily Mail” reported from New York yesterday. The newspaper’s correspondent lain Smith said the song was recorded by a Negro Army private, Charles Bowens, who had asked to be excused service in Vietnam. An advertisement in an American trade magazine showed Private Bowens, in full combat kit, posturing aggressively with fixed bayon-

et at an Army training propaganda poster. The poster showed a slain Viet Cong at the feet of a firing American soldier and lying, perforce, at the end of Private Bowens’s bayonet. The legend read: “Fight like a tiger and win.” The advertisement for the record proclaimed “Christmas it Vietnam” the Christmas hit of 1966, the “Mail” said. Beside the picture was a brief story about Bowens and his group—“the gentlemen from Tigerland.” Tigerland is the nickname for the United States advanced Vietnam training base at Fort Polk, Louisiana.

The words of the song implied that Private Bowens and his group were having a tough time in the jungle. The second verse of the song says:— Lord knows I hate to kill but I have to do it to survive. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to see if I’m alive. I’ve got to keep on fighting for liberty, so this world can stay free. It’s going to be a dark, dark Christmas for me. The information officer at Fort Polk, Colonel Ernest Denham, said: “We are investigating the matter of Private Bowens and his record. “Private Bowens did not go to Vietnam with his squad.

He applied to be excused service in Vietnam because he felt he should be an Army entertainer rather than an infantryman." Later he said that Private Bowens would be going to Vietnam as an infantryman. May Visit New Zealand.— The British Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs, Mr Herbert Bowden, is expected to visit New Zealand and Australia early next year. The date of his visit will depend on the outcome of discussions on Britain's plans to join the European Common Market.