Camp Evans, DMZ forward base, Vietnam

The 1st Air Cav had a forward base, Camp Evans, 200 miles north of An Khe and just a few miles from the DMZ. Ch. Sams spent several days here in February 1968, and then was more or less permanently stationed here between May and September 1968.

Services at the front lines appear to have been fairly well attended. In February 1968 the 1st Air Cav was mobilizing to assist Marines stranded at Khe Sanh in the aftermath of the Tet Offensive.

Three months after this picture was taken, on the night of 19 May, 1968, the ammunitions depot at Camp Evans was hit by North Vietnamese rockets, starting a fire that lasted for 12 hours and caused extensive damage. Ch. Sams had preached sermon #823, "A Shade From The Heat", at Camp Evans earlier that day.

Ch. Sams' field calls while at Camp Evans often took him close to the front lines. This photo appears to have been taken from his jeep while on the way to one of those calls, and probably shows some of the reconstruction to battlements and roadworks (note the sandbags) the U.S. Army was engaged in as it recouped from the Tet Offensive.