Amen! to your post. In Vietnam racial prejudice was non-existent among those folks who relied upon others for their safety. A true meritocracy existed, with no one looking past the weapon at the skin. Racial prejudice would have been laughable. Any perceived prejudice was treated harshly and didn't recur. I knew a couple of junior officers, products of a Southern military heritage, who were prejudiced at heart and absolutely terrified as being perceived as such.

In the supply and administrative areas there was some self-segregation based upon cultural differences and even that was done without prejudice most of the time.

HOWEVER, there is a dark stain here. Prejudice against native Asians was epidemic, almost universal. Prejudice itself was alive and well throughout the ranks.