Kenneth talks of the Layton party once more. They now travel to Saigon. They met Colonel Ed Lansdale here, who was later to become a general. Admiral Layton by this time was quite impressed, as Kenneth had friends in Hong Kong and was now also known…
Kenneth tells of the return trip with Admiral Layton. He recalls the plethora of items that the Admiral and Bill Godel were returning with, including a three-wheeled bicycle taxi! Kenneth also tells that this was his first encounter with a to be…
Kenneth tells of Admiral Layton going out on the town. As he had drank quite a bit, he ended up in the hotel late. Upon waking, he found eel in front of his door. He suspected the Japanese girls were being kind, when in reality it was leftovers of…
Kenneth tells of the time when he was to be the political adviser to Admiral Edwin Layton. The Admiral was taking a tour around the Pacific countries and was particularly interested in Japan. Kenneth was asked what he would be drinking on the trip,…
Kenneth explains his encounter with Ko Geng Hsui. He also discusses briefly the program at American University which he set up with a focus on Southeast Asian studies.
Kenneth encountered Bill Godel once again while in Singapore. Bill had been getting involved with the gun industry there, and thought Kenneth might join in. Kenneth explained that he could not, yet spent a nice evening with Bill.
Bill Godel had gotten into some trouble. They talked with Kenneth about testifying on his character. Kenneth exclaimed that he figured Godel innocent, as he wouldn't piddle around with anything less than $10,000--more than that, though, he might have…
Kenneth traveled from Bangkok to Singapore. In Singapore, he got a visit from Ko Geng Hsui. Ko Geng Hsui had come to consult Kenneth about establishing a research group for the study of Southeast Asian affairs. Kenneth found it humorous that he…
Upon sending the reports of the arrested Burmese man to Gordon Gray, the National Security adviser to President Eisenhower, the stories were immediately relayed to the President himself! Kenneth exclaims he had never reported so quickly and directly…
In a recounting of a humorous story, Kenneth tells of a Burmese man being arrested. He was being charged with a traffic violation and defecating in public. However there was a double charge for both defecating and urinating. The man argued that it…
Kenneth discusses his travels to Burma. He explains the difference in government, as U Nu described a broken government which was fragile--something he didn't associate with government officials speaking of their own system.
Kenneth recounts the rest of his 1960 tour through Southeast Asia. He hears of the government in Laos being overthrown the night after he left. After a brief tour he travelled back to Bangkok and briefed the Prime Minister on what he saw.
Kenneth retells the story of his encounter with Prime Minister Sarit. This includes that, while traveling in 1960, he was personally invited to breakfast with Sarit. Again, he tells of Sarit speaking highly of him and recounting their dinner in which…
Kenneth also arranged for a police assistance program for the police general and a military assistance program for Sarit "because", as Sarit said, "if you're going to give forty-some million dollars of aid to General Pao, the police chief, you ought…
Will asks if Kenneth visited Borobudur on this trip, a site of ancient ruins in Java, but Kenneth is not sure, though he thinks so. He remembers climbing the monument, one of the earliest Buddhist monuments in Southeast Asia.
Kenneth and his fellow travelers had a brief stop in Maidan, and Kenneth talked to the consul. He then flew to Singapore, and from Singapore to Bangkok.
Kenneth and his companions spent the night where they had an emergency landing. In the night, the Colonel became sick with dysentery. In the morning he looked pale and said that they couldn't go that day because he was too sick to fly. Kenneth gave…
Merle Cochran was convinced that the administration that had been set up in Indonesia would be reelected. Kenneth was convinced that there would be a change. The two men argued about it. When Kenneth boarded the plane the next day, Merle Cochran's…
Kenneth flew over to Bali There was an artist on the beach in Bali, with a magnificent looking "dancing woman," who was one of the more famous dancers. All the women were bare from the waist up. The woman would come around, and she had great big…
Kenneth arranged with Cochran to have a tour of the islands. Cochran had a Marine colonel with a two-engine Beechcraft, and a co-pilot, six feet four tall or more, and Kenneth toured Java. They flew over to a volcano, the highest mountain on the…
Kenneth was meeting with top government officials in Indonesia, among whom was a man named Sharir, whom Kenneth had first known in Washington. He was one of the revolutionaries and had come as a special emissary in the late 1940's to Washington.…
Merle Cochran gave Kenneth a dinner in which the meat, which was pork chops, was so tough that he could not cut it. Cochran sat there and laughed as Kenneth toiled away on the pork chops. The only way he could get anything off a pork chop was to pick…
Kenneth flew to Kuala Lumpur, and from there to Djakarta. Kenneth was the desk officer for all these areas of Southeast Asia, so here was Ken Landon from the Department of State visiting the new nation of Indonesia. The rate of exchange on the black…
While Kenneth was in Djakarta he became lonesome, so he called home and heard the phone ring, and then Margaret picked up and said hello. He said hello, and she said, "Kenneth! Where are you?" He said, "Djakarta." And she said, "Oh, where in Kansas…
The King was the son of his predecessor, whom Kenneth had previously known, if slightly. The two men spoke in Thai, using the common language. The King gave a dinner, and his wife came. He had told Kenneth that she never came to dinners for foreign…