[hillerby]

1. Found some "stuff", that I didn't even know I had the other day. The photo of the helmet is has my original camo cover (complete w/Graffiti) that I wore while in Nam'. Just lookin' at it bring back lots of memories.
2. Vet's Cap: This is a shot of a baseball cap that I wear most all the time. Nuthin' special about it except that it sometimes get's comments from others. A coupla' weeks ago however it caused something that still leaves me a little strange.
I'd pulled into a convenience store to grab some beer for the weekend .... In and Out in nuthin' flat, I just wanted to get home for the weekend. I left the store and a man held the door open for me and I say's "Thanks", and proceed to the far side of the parking lot.
I got into my pickup and had put the key into the ignition when I noticed another truck pulled up behind me blockin my exit from the parking space. Now, he didn't just pull in behind me ..... He screached to a rapid stop and jumped from his truck. I'm now wonderin' if I'd done something to piss this guy off to have done this. Anyway, I don't know whether to reach for my pistol, or get back into my truck and lock the door.
The man approaches me and asks, "is that true?", pointing at my cap. I took the cap off and looked at it, and said "yes sir it's true, I am a Vietnam Veteran". He grabs my hand and shakes it while pulling me in to hug me and says, "I just want to Thank You for your Service." I started to pull away from him and go back to my truck when he pulls me in for a close hug and said ......... "My son was in the Navy, and we just buried him 3 days ago".
Now what do ya' do? This guy just lost his son, and He's Thankin' Me for MY Service!
We talked for a few moments and I told him I was deeply saddened by HIS loss, and we both got into our trucks and went our separate ways.
I guess ya' never know what kind of impact something will have till' it happens.

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[Frogfish]

That's a very sad but moving story. Glad you're still posting .. I'm still reading !

[mi2nc]

Hillerby,

There are a lot of us out here lurking and reading your posts. keep up the great work!

[hillerby]

Thanks for lurking ......... I want to post more, but sometimes I have a tough time trying to figure out WHAT TO POST.
I do however appreciate, and am humbled, by the fact that our "little conversation" here has generated more views, replies, etc. than anything I've seen in this forum. I go through this forum (top to bottom) at least a coupla' times a week and I'm still amazed at the response we've had to this one.

[subeeds]

Your hat story is amazing. Maybe by hugging you, he was hugging his son one last time. I'm still loving this thread. Thought I would come out of lurkdom long enough to say that-and thanks. Sometimes your shots trigger music from that time in my head. LOL! Glad it was good music.

[highyellow1]

Hillerby -- still checking in as well, great reading, keep it coming! Good news is I re-deploy in a few weeks...thanks again for the box!

[VaughnA]

I just finished up an American History class in my quest for my overdue college degree (I'm 49). The professor spent a lot of time on Vietnam as that was one of his interests in History. I sent him the link to this thread and he thoroughly enjoyed it for the historical information. He also loved the technical photo stuff as he's also a serious amateur photographer. I think that this thread is an interesting method of learning some history normally not seen.

This is one of the most important threads at Pentaxforums IMHO. It shows the emotions and longevity of a good photograph and its ability to bring back memories, good or bad. The photos are of people, not war for the most part. I have to just go back and read it every few weeks to get a smile and a tear. I'm in awe of the things that you and the other Vietnam vets did for your country without the support that the troops have today. Thanks again.

[CWyatt]

Bob, do you have any favourite war photographers today?

[CWyatt]

Or past, I should add.

[hillerby]

Or past, I should add.

Camus,
I've not really seen that much work from current conflicts. With the death of Life Magazine, and downsizing of major news mags, I just don't see much of it. Our local paper very rarely has anything.
I will say that the military is producing some absolutely awesome work. The Army only has one Combat Photography unit (55th Signal Co., Combat Camera) and I've seen a lot of their work. They have a FaceBook Group which I lurk around on from time to time.
From the past however, I'd have to say that Henri Huett was my absolute favorite. But then you've got Horst Faas, Tim Page, Nick Ut, there are so many I can't name them all. I remember all of those guys, cuz'l I worked alonside them.
No doubt though that Huett was good .... very good! He and Nick Ut probably were there as long as any of them. But they were both born there.

[hillerby]

I've spent a while today going back through some of this thread from it's beginning and I'm very humbled by some of the responses, questions and volume that's been generated here. Anyhow, I found out something really interesting just a coupla'l days ago.
I made contact on Facebook w/a guy who was also in a photo unit in Vietnam who is now retired and works as a volunteer at the National Archives in Washington, DC. He told me that they are just now starting to digitize all the photos (and caption sheets) from the Army Combat Photographers in Vietnam. They just completed doing something over 30,000 frames of film that the Marine Corps. supplied. I think he said that the Army files contain over 50,000 frames!
I specifically asked about the film from my unit and he told me that it was all sent in with the rest of the Army stuff. As they get this stuff scanned, it is being posted on the National Archives website and made available for viewing or download FREE! As they are put up, the archive can be searched by unit, location, names, etc.
It made me feel pretty good to know that perhaps all the grief I went through for 11 months and 23 days will be available for generations to come.
Now, if I can just get another "speaking gig" lined up, all will be well. I'm still diggin' thru stuff sorting out photos to scan and post.
Thanks for your continued interest, and feel free to submit questions any time.

[ChipB]

Bob, that's great news about the photos! Nice to know your work is going to be "public"!!!

[TomK]

As they get this stuff scanned, it is being posted on the National Archives website and made available for viewing or download FREE! As they are put up, the archive can be searched by unit, location, names, etc.

Hillerby - please, do you have a URL for this?
(I googled but came up with a variety of National Archives stuff not related to this.)

Oh, and please keep this thread active and I hope you can post some more pix soon.
Take care.

[hillerby]

Hillerby - please, do you have a URL for this?
(I googled but came up with a variety of National Archives stuff not related to this.)

Oh, and please keep this thread active and I hope you can post some more pix soon.
Take care.

Tom,
This is the link: Footnote.com - The place for original historical documents online
From this main page, you'll need to click on "Post War Era", and navigate into it from there. They have it subdivided by military branch. You can even do a specific search like: "Ia Drang Valley", Khe San, etc. and it will pull up all the photos currently on file for that particular title.
I've spent quite a lot of time there and it fascinates the hell outta' me. Most of the photography from the war is credited to the civilian photographers, and there were some good ones. I didn't realize that the military had some veeeery talented guys as well, they just weren't as widely published.
As I understand the process, they will be updating the site for a long, long time, due to the sheer volume of film that they have to digitize.
I did find a few more of my shots from Nam' and will be posting some of them over the course of the next few days.
Thanks to you all for your interest and support of this rather "long winded" thread.

[A-Craig]

Wow, just found this thread and went through it from page 1.

Amazing photos and stories, thanks a lot for sharing!