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We have been learning about Norman Teigen, who grew up in Mankato, graduated from Mankato State College, and accepted a teaching position at Marshall High School. When his local draft board notified him in 1968 that he would be drafted, he enlisted in the Army and became a chaplain assistant at Fort Benning, Georgia, before being deployed to Vietnam in October 1970 as chaplain assistant to Lieutenant Colonel Huebner, Chaplain to the 1st Aviation Brigade, at Long Binh Post.
Norman supported Chaplain Huebner's roles at Long Binh and at other installations hosting 1st Aviation Brigade units. Norman also served his share of extra duties at Long Binh Post.
"I was Charge of Quarters (CQ) from time to time. It was like being a night clerk at a hotel. Once an alert came in and I was responsible to notify the company guards to ensure they boarded a truck to the airfield. The command sergeant major interfered because he had friends over and wanted the driver to take (them) back to their units first. So, I followed his order and the driver took them before taking the guard force to the airfield. I got called on the carpet by our captain to explain why the guards didn't get to the airfield on time. I explained the command sergeant major's involvement and the witnesses who could confirm that. The captain heard me out and dismissed me. I don't know what happened to the command sergeant major."
Norman explained his final responsibility as CQ.
"My last duty of the night as CQ was to take an Army truck to a village close to the Long Binh Post. This truck, driven by another enlisted man, transported civilian workers onto the post for day labor. The Vietnamese women would wash our clothes. The men would do heavier duty, which included burning our latrine waste. That was one smelly job. The village didn't have anything that looked like buildings. The people lived in shacks made of discarded U.S. Army scrap lumber and assorted junk. Clearly, their normal homes had been destroyed in the war. The wages paid these laborers were higher than anything available in the Vietnamese economy. We were generous and tipped the women who washed our clothes with a carton of Salem menthol cigarettes each payday."
Norman also pulled additional duty in response to a particular issue.
"We were having a petty theft problem in the enlisted men's barracks area. Selected men were (assigned) night patrol duty as a deterrent to the thieves. I was chosen. We were given a pipe and a helmet and instructed to approach strangers by asking if we might help find someone assigned to the unit. This deterrent worked. However, I once had a startling experience which revealed the corruption in Vietnam. I asked a stranger in a Military Police uniform if I could help him find someone. He said that he was an MP. What was an MP doing in the 1st Aviation Brigade Headquarters enlisted men's area? He motioned for me to walk around the side of the building where I saw a Military Police two-and-a-half-ton truck. MPs were unloading Vietnamese prostitutes from the truck. The MPs were responsible for post security and no Vietnamese nationals were allowed in after 6pm."
Norman found a very satisfying role outside his assigned duties.
"Chaplain's assistants before me started a tradition of visiting a nearby orphanage. The chaplain permitted me to keep this up. Sister Rosalie Chen and Sister Mary Goretti Ngoc supervised the orphanage. The children were war orphans of all ages. My regular companion was another 1st Aviation Brigade guy, Max Hines. We brought medical supplies given Chaplain Huebner by a Medical Services officer friend. The orphanage was a school with classrooms, blackboards, and desks. The children lived in dormitory-like rooms. Some infant children were tethered to their beds to prevent them from wandering around and getting lost. I still feel sorrow when I think of the children; parentless with burns and missing limbs; and a bleak future in the middle of a war."
Norman's orphanage visits resulted in another, unexpected mission.
"When the sisters learned that we had been high school teachers, we were recruited to serve as language tutors. They wanted to learn English. The tutoring involved spoken language exercises. That was the highlight of my time there."
He was delighted years later when reminded of those highlight experiences.
"In the 1990s I got a phone call from a woman with a southern accent. She had been one of those orphans. I had a blog at that time and had shared my experience working at that orphanage. She had been adopted by an Air Force officer and found me via that blog. She was gracious and appreciative of my visiting the orphanage. Another time, one of the nuns from the orphanage had escaped Vietnam and settled in New Orleans. She found the other teacher, then living in the Twin Cities, and rode a bus from New Orleans to visit him. He put her in touch with me in Des Moines and she took a bus down to visit me. It was really special to see her and she was very appreciative of the support we had showed her and the others at the orphanage. When it came time for her to return to New Orleans, I didn't want her to have another long bus ride home, so I paid her air fare back to New Orleans."
Norman's Vietnam days were also broken up by news from home and a couple special events.
©2026 William D. Palmer.