The ace of spades 1804

      Joyce was playing cards at home yesterday and when she was shuffling she noticed that the Ace of spades was frequently at the bottom of the deck.
      Now I am no expert on Vietnam, but one thing I heard through my experience during that time was this. The Vietnamese thought the ace of spades was a sign of bad luck. I always wondered why?
      I tried to understand that and this is what I came up with. There were many helicopters in country and many crews painted the ace of spades on the nose of their helicopter. It was rarely a good thing for Vietnamese when there were helicopters approaching an area. There were many ground troops with the ace painted on their helmets or had an ace stuck to the helmet. Maybe most of all, navy seals would go into villages in the middle of the night, extract Viet Cong leaders or suspected sympathizers and left their calling card, the ace of spades.
      I cannot be sure if it started before Vietnam, but if it did, it was cemented into the Vietnamese psyche by the soldiers and sailors of the United States. As always I could be wrong, but if it is not true, it oughta be.