Joel Dinda's photos with the keyword: soldiers

That would be D ate of E stimated R eturn from O ver S eas. Cam Ranh Bay.

Roscar Siminski, Gil Wall, and Hoot Headrick meet the local rice farmers. This photo was taken just a few yards from the concertina wire boundary which separated us from Vietnam.... According to Jim Lovins, we who served in SSDP could be sorted into two groups--the Townies (most of whom drank), and the Heads (few of whom went into town with any regularity). There's some truth to the claim, though it oversimplifies what was actually a rather complicated social arrangement. And Gil Wall wouldn't fit into such a breakdown; unlike most of us, he avoided everything mind-altering. FWIW, Jim was a Townie; I was a Head. Mostly, though, we were just two guys running teletypes in a hostile environment. Now we're older guys with heart problems who occasionally trade emails. Even we Heads sometimes had native encounters. This was one. It's one of my favorite Vietnam pix. Pleiku, Republic of Vietnam, 1971.

A little fuzzy.... The army was scaling down the war while I was in Nam; over the course of my year the Pleiku Army CommCenter shrank from a large operation with 50 or so staffers working two shifts to a place which could be run by two crews of four, plus administrative staff. This party celebrated the largest staffing change, as about half of the GIs left within a few days. Obviously we had pizza. And Coke. We had beer, too. Probably weed, too. Names are a problem. 35 years is a long time; you tend to forget. I don't fully trust the labels I've put on the pic, and welcome corrections. ========== On June 1, 1971--before this party occurred, but not a lot before it--I recorded a tape to send home. Listened to it the other day, and pulled these names out of my comments: o Burnis Johnson (we'll show a picture or two of BJ one of these days) o Curtis Alford (see above) o ??? Correll (???) o Rick Edmonson (or Edmiston?) o Charlie Panquerne (Charlie's the one member of the gang who died in Nam) o Alexander Carson o Oscar Siminski (his photo's already in the set) o Pete Carlson

A Veterans Day memory. Memories, unfortunately, are fragile.... Members of Signal Support Detachment Pleiku, or perhaps its predecessor Company A of the 146th Signal company, relax out in front of the barracks in late 1970 or early 1971. This view shows one of the walkways at the Pleiku Army Hospital, with Tropo Hill a rather ghostly presence in the background. Although I recognize most of these faces, I can't seem to come up with any names. Sorry, guys; if you want to help, feel free. Photo by Jim Lovins Lots of notes on the Flickr copy of this photo . Worth a look.

All dressed up; no place to go.... Leaving Nam, 1971: A bunch of strangers, and a few friends, waiting for the Freedom Bird to take us home to the States. In my experience, Cam Ranh Bay was sand, cheap shacks, and lots of G.I.s. My Vietnam near-year started at Cam Ranh on January 30; it ended at the same post on December 15. One of my very favorite pictures. Camera: Minolta SR-T 101. Updated to newer scan 11/27/05. Unfortunately, both the only existing print and the negative are damaged beyond my ability to fully repair them. Added to Cream of the Crop as my (current) personal favorite picture 1/8/06. Explored #22 (7/23/2007) on Flickr. Thanks, everyone!