Published in 1969

Used with permission of Corky Trinidad

Intro from 1969:

Nguyen Charlie, the "Ngetcong's" own Beetle Bailey with his sloppy black pajamas, buck teeth and a shock of hair sticking out from under a conical hat that hides his eyes, was born a little more than three years ago in the fertile mind of cartoonist Corky Trinidad. Oddly enough, Charlie's birthplace was the Philippine Islands, far removed from the VC tunnels, rocket attacks and terrorist raids of Vietnam.

Now gracing the pages of Pacific Stars and Stripes for his second year, Charlie first appeared in the Philippines Herald in 1966, followed by a short stint in the Saigon Post.

The name Nguyen Charlie was selected long before Victor Charlie lost his first name. Cartoonist Trinidad says he chose Nguyen because it is a common Vietnamese name and Charlie because of its familiar, slangy American sound.

Charlie "plooped" up out of a tunnel into his first cornball rice paddy confrontation with the "Yang Khis" because, as Trinidad explains it now, "It was a gloomy, bitter war around 1966."

"Americans have always been known for their sense of humor, for their ability to joke during a crisis, to laugh at themselves during trouble," reasoned Trinidad. "The Viet War was unpopular . . . because it was one war where the U.S. was not laughing." So just as WWII produced Bill Mauldin and Korea brought forth Shel Silverstein, Vietnam found its chronicler in Corky Trinidad.

Charlie's debut came at the height of this period of gloom and soon had thousands of Americans and Asians eagerly flipping pages for his next episode.

Trinidad made two fact-finding excursions to Vietnam, as much to update his tunnel crawling anti-hero as to ensure that Charlie never strayed into the realm of political issues that might destroy his "strictly for fun" appeal.

Here, in 80 mirth-filled pages, is the first book of Nguyen Charlie, that blundering, sometimes cowardly, sometimes courageous-but always loveable-guerrilla as he joins Comrade Commander and others in a series of spoof conflicts with the pug-nosed, battle-hardened Sarge and other easily recognized types.

-- Russ Havourd