I was in a Marine Phantom II squadron, VMFA-542, based in Da Nang, Atsugi Japan 5 weeks) and Chu Lai. I flew 280 missions in country and north of the DMZ. Dan Matyola http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/danieljmatyola
On Fri, Sep 9, 2011 at 4:16 PM, Joseph McAllister <[email protected]> wrote: > 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. > -- 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.
