On Sep 9, 2011, at 00:21 , Bob W wrote: Dan's answers below >>>>>>>>>>
> that was a fascinating piece to read, Joe - thanks. Have you ever been over > here and followed in his railtracks? That would be an interesting holiday. No chance I could afford such a trip now, unless I sold all my cameras and had all my credit cards paid off. Then what would be the point of going? <grin> I have followed it on maps from Liverpool to Utah and through France and Germany. Even have a list of directions on how to get from Texas to the last place he was stationed. Hardest part was finding a train to cross the Atlantic. Haven't been in Europe since 1974 while working as a contracted photographer who was supposed to allow planes full of tourists to leave their cameras at home. We built up a library of stock photos of the places and monuments that each type of tour would visit as part of the group, covering sunny, cloudy, and rainy days which would be the basis of each photo album we would pre-sell them. Then I was at the disposal of anyone who had bought the album beforehand, or anyone I could sell the concept to as we went along, to photograph them in front of attractions, eating at a table, or dancing the night away, sober or drunk. Those were then overnighted back to Massachusetts for processing the night before they group got back on their plane to return. I would have already met the group arriving at the airport that morning, then seen my last group off (same plane, same gate). The random shots were interspersed with the stock shots at appropriate places, and were ready for them to pick up as they deplaned in Boston. It was quite a gig. I was young and thin, dapper in my light beige rough weave sports coat to which I had added epaulettes of similar weight material but in a psychedelic pattern of bright colors, popular at the time, so my damn Pentaxes and camera bag would stop falling off, interrupting my concentration on the subject at hand, usually the just divorced daughters who came with their mothers to brighten their lives after such a tragic event. Like I said, quite a fine gig for a 29 year old who was getting over his first divorce two years prior. Yum. On Sep 9, 2011, at 07:04 , Daniel J. Matyola wrote: > When were you "in country" Joseph? > > Dan > Dan Matyola > http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/danieljmatyola Actually only "in country" for 4 hours when I rode with the COD to deliver something to someone (wink-wink) in Saigon. Landed at Tan Son Nhut and hung out, then back to the USS Bon Homme Richard on Dixie station. Don't know what the package was, but it seemed important. Perhaps some film that had greater priority than the usual daily trip. I was trying to stay qualified so I'd get my flight pay every month, but was unable to catch another ride until we went home to NAS Miramar, now a Marine base. No longer Top Gun school. Sniff. ;-( Spent 10 months on the high seas! :-) What base did you belong to? Joseph McAllister [email protected] “ Nature is considerably more creative and inventive than humankind. Without Nature there isn't any humankind. Without humankind, Nature is fine.” -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
