Pleiku Area, 1969-70 Road Construction

I spent the dry season of 1969-70 re-building QL-14 South from 
Pleku to Banmethout as an Army Engineer with the 15th Light Equipment Co.
  Had a lot of contact with Montagnards in the area. I found them to be
a warm and gentle people.  We used to feed the kids who hung 
around the jobsite our uneaten lunch C rations.  Watching them eat the 
GI peanut butter for the first time was entertaining, they loved the
canned fruit and jelly.
  I felt bad when the land clearing units stripped away trees
and brush from large areas along the road side. It looked so desolate, but in weeks
the locals took advantage of the cleared land and planted gardens.
I will always remember the gatherings at the local ponds as they shrunk
during the dry season, and the unusual way the montagnards fished.
We worked out of an engineer compound with a quarry by a waterfall.  It 
was near Plei Mei if I recall correctly.