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This is a picture of a kid over in Viet Nam, Circa 1970. He sat on a FireBase somewhere in Quang Tri Province. A buddy, no doubt, of Bill Haynes, the newest member of the 8th RRFS Email Squad.
Bill sent me a bunch of pictures like this of where he was in Nam and the guys who were with him. As I perused these old, mostly faded shots I was reminded of how often we'd pose for each other, it seemed like everybody had a camera over there, and we always flipped each other either the bird or the PEACE SIGN. Bill's pictures also bring back the horrors of war, not captured on film, but in the associations one makes with Fire Bases in general. I can remember seeing pictures in the Stars & Stripes at the time of fire bases to the north and the west of Phu Bai that looked like the surface of the Moon after a NVA rocket attack. I gather thats exactly where Bill spent his time..moving around to different FB's. So, where I'm going with this is... As my wife and I were sitting around looking at these pictures, it dawned on me how many photos in the world like this there must be. 18,19, 20 year old kids stuck out in the boonies giving peace signs to the folks back home. That is where we all knew these photographs would most likely end up. We were sending a message home, saying stop this war, we wanna get off! Then, I wondered as I looked at these young dudes, how many of them ever got home (Bill mentions that two of his squad died and one had his leg blown off)??? I thought what a great poster it would make if I could get hundreds of other guys who had similar pictures and I could put them all together. My wife added that it might make and even more powerful statement if the pictures of the kids giving the peace sign were of "ONLY" the ones that didn't come home. I had to agree. This will sound rather blunt, but, you know I know, and all that, right?...But... If you have a picture of a buddy giving the PEACE SIGN who didn't make it home, send it to me. Via Email attachment or Snail mail is fine. I'll compile and post all the pics I get here on my pages and when we have enough, I'll find a printer to print this poster. Then, we could donate the proceeds to VA hostpitals or Viet Nam veterans groups. I feel the world needs to be reminded about what they do when they commit troops to active duty in a war zone. Im sure most of you agree with me. P.S. The pictures shown here are not necessarily of Viet Vets that died, but, Imagine that they are. |
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------------------------------------------BILL's EMAIL---------------------------------------------
SUBJECT: PHU BAI > Curt--I am sending you some pictures to the above address. You may keep them if you wish. B Company 1/501st was hdq at Camp Hochmuch (spelling?). We were never there [ PHU BAI ] much but 3 day stand downs for resupply. I was a radioman and carried the Delta One (jamming device). I lost two friends over there and have lost touch with the rest from my squad except for Tom Caneup (lost his leg to booby trap) who lives in Georgia. My wife and I are both school teachers. We have two sons. Tom and I discuss Vietnam when I see him which is rare but I do think of things that happened there often. ( sights, smells, insects, aninmals, the people, and the horrors that occured) It does not bother me anymore. keep in touch. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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