Saturday, October 29, 2005 Photos from Vietnam Veteran's Camera
By JERRY NUNN
Smith's war-time photographs and experiences are chronicles of history and some have recently been published. Smith, of Bay City, was also interviewed for an upcoming book titled, "Marine Air," by Robert F. Dorr. The book is a history of the U.S. Marine Corps' use of airplanes and helicopters. Plenty of other photographs, along with many of Smith's, appear on the Web site of Smith's former squadron - HMM-364.org. "More people are opening up now," said Smith, a former crew chief and gunner aboard a "Dog" - a UH-34D Sikorsky helicopter. "For a long time, because of the nature of that war, people snuck back to their communities and their families. They never talked about it." "Because of the Web site people are finding each other," added Smith, a retired Dow Chemical construction supervisor. When Quang X. Pham, a former Marine pilot and Vietnamese refugee, wrote "A Sense of Duty," he used a photograph Smith had taken. The photograph showed the wreckage of an A-1 Skyraider, its fuselage pierced by 50-mm anti-aircraft rounds. It was the same plane Pham's father was shot down in 40 years earlier while flying support for American troops. "(Pham) wrote the book to honor his father," said Smith, noting the father survived, but spent more than a decade in a communist re-education camp. "He was looking at the Web site and low and behold, there was a photograph of his father's downed plane." Other photos were used by author Robert F. Dorr. In his book, "Chopper," a history of the helicopter in American warfare, Dorr used a photograph Smith had taken of a pair of Sikorsky helicopters. And Dorr also interviewed Smith and perused more of his photographs for his soon to be released book on airborne Marines. "(Dorr) likes to get the perspective of the ground crew, mechanics, pilots and flight crew. The whole thing that made it work" said Smith. The whole thing that made it work for Smith was his Minolta camera and a few lenses. After his return from the battlefields, Smith sent his Minolta to the factory for repairs. "They sent me a note back and asked 'What did you do to that camera?' I told them, 'Well it rode around in a helicopter for a year,"' said Smith. "They said every screw in that thing was loose." During his time in Vietnam, Smith's squadron never lost a soldier, despite the loss of half their two dozen choppers. Smith was awarded two medals - the Sikorsky Rescue Award, for the use of his chopper in rescue operations, and the U.S. Marine Corps Air Medal. Smith gives attribution to the squadron's Web site for his newfound popularity, but perhaps the real credit lies with Smith himself. "I tried to look at the unique characters and the unique situations," he said. Among his vast collection of photographs - many showing a human side of the Vietnam War - Smith has many photographs of the country's children. One photo features a young man in a military uniform. "He is going to be an infantryman in a few months," said Smith. "He could not have been any more than 13 years old in that photo." Another features two young boys wearing ear-to-ear grins and yet another shows a small group intently involved at play. "They were having a tea party," said Smith. "Kids do the same things all over." "With all the problems surrounding them, they are still smiling." - Jerry Nunn is a staff writer at The Times. He can be reached at 894-9647 or by e-mail at jnunn@bc-times.com. |
Along
with the government-issued equipment Warren Smith carried off to Vietnam
in 1964, the U.S. Marine corporal hauled some gear of his own - a Minolta
SR7, SLR camera. And while the standard equipment served him well
- 40 years ago - the photographs Smith took are serving historians now.