Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

1969 Gulf of Tonkin

TCrowe

TCrowe

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 14, 2014
116
1
Glen Ellen, CA.
This is a shot, one of many, that I took while serving in combat during two tours of Vietnam. This looking aft aboard the USS Jouett DLG-29. I was a radarman and also did Intel. Photos so I had use of the ships darkroom. I developed this and printed this on the sly. I was 20 years old then. This was my start in photography and a Professional career Camera: Nikon Photomic FTn. I later went to college and majored in photography and cultural Anthropology.
 

Attachments

  • img-chrome004.jpg
    img-chrome004.jpg
    55.6 KB · Views: 422
TCrowe said:
This is a shot, one of many, that I took while serving in combat during two tours of Vietnam. This looking aft aboard the USS Jouett DLG-29. I was a radarman and also did Intel. Photos so I had use of the ships darkroom. I developed this and printed this on the sly. I was 20 years old then. This was my start in photography and a Professional career Camera: Nikon Photomic FTn. I later went to college and majored in photography and cultural Anthropology.
Click to expand...

Fascinating photo and a wonderfully interesting story behind it; and now, I'll echo SBG's question - have you any more from that era?
 
Glad You Asked

My wife mistakenly put 4 boxes of 100 slides each (yes, I can develop slides and color and b/W) in the garage for two years. Luckily I found them before it was to late. There was some damage to the slides so I bought an Epson Flatbed Scanner V750Pro and am in the process of saving them as best I can. Some are not repairable but, that in mind, I scanned them anyhow. They show the damage, but, so do I. I will post a few more and see if there is interest and go from there. Here is another. That is the USS Truxtun in the background relieving us off North Vietnam. From being on station we proceeded to Japan for Liberty for a couple weeks and then back into combat.

The USS Truxtun was Nuclear powered. Hence, no stacks. The stacks in the first I posted were called"MACs. That is a combo word for masts and stacks.
 

Attachments

  • img-chrome019.jpg
    img-chrome019.jpg
    207.1 KB · Views: 284
Last edited:
TCrowe said:
My wife mistakenly put 4 boxes of 100 slides each (yes, I can develop slides and color and b/W) in the garage for two years. Luckily I found them before it was to late. There was some damage to the slides so I bought an Epson Flatbed Scanner V750Pro and am in the process of saving them as best I can. Some are not repairable but, that in mind, I scanned them anyhow. They show the damage, but, so do I. I will post a few more and see if there is interest and go from there. Here is another. That is the USS Truxtun in the background relieving us off North Vietnam. From being on station we proceeded to Japan for Liberty for a couple weeks and then back into combat.
Click to expand...

This is genuinely fascinating, and thank you for posting them. Do please post more of these - and yes, the story of how they came to be preserved and salvaged is also interesting.
 
For Paul

Were you shooting this type of photograph in 1969? I got a ride into DaNang on this for intel. briefings. Took a .50 cal round on the way back. Missed us and the hydraulics and the rotors or I wouldn't be here. Did kinda put a damper on my day though.
 

Attachments

  • img-chrome011.jpg
    img-chrome011.jpg
    75.2 KB · Views: 269
TCrowe said:
Were you shooting this type of photograph in 1969? I got a ride into DaNang on this for intel. briefings. Took a .50 cal round on the way back. Missed us and the hydraulics and the rotors or I wouldn't be here. Did kinda put a damper on my day though.
Click to expand...

Again, an extremely interesting photograph, with a wonderful backstory. Thank you for posting and sharing.
 
Thanks. Those were fascinating days chalk full of experiences for a 21 year old. I made E5 before I got out and was qualified on the .45 semi-auto for Quarter Deck watch and the Thompson sub-machine gun for Nuclear raids by enemy combatants trying to take over the ship. Needless to say the re qualifications every 6 months were a lot of fun. I killed a lot of weather balloons in our wake. No firing range on the ocean, just bouncy balloons.

Speaking of the Quarter Deck....Here it is looking down from the 04 level.
 

Attachments

  • img-chrome039.jpg
    img-chrome039.jpg
    27.9 KB · Views: 221
As you can see with the helo photo I got to these just in the nick of time. A book. Hmmm. Not sure about that. I started a book with a trial name of "Meanderings" that I have done about 670 pags of and it is basically a compendium of my life experiences with a ton of interruptions that are off track and then a sudden return to the the main with a line like,"Oh...yeh, the Navy. Remember when I was speaking of Vietnam? Where was I...oh... this or that crewman and then I go back to the main stream and knit it all back together until I throw in another tangent. I started this over a year ago and I thought i was retired from photography. Couldn't do it. I had to go back and start shooting again. I just cut out and sold all my lighting and studio items as I am sick of the studio confinement. I am very comfortable out doors and finding things to photograph that most walk by and don't notice. We walk past some fascinating things when those things are in the right light. See, you got me started.
 
Last edited:
!

One More. Cruiser USS Chicago off Haiphong Harbor, N. Vietnam. We were stationed 15 miles off the coast in range of surface to surface missiles made by the "ChiComms" and smuggled in by sea in infiltration trawlers. We killed a number of them and then looked for survivors. I'll leave it at that.
 
Me....Then 21 yrs old

This takes me back to when my Nikon, with which I shot these, was brand new. Taken aboard the USS Jouett on the Fantail near the 5" gun.
 

Attachments

  • img-chrome014.jpg
    img-chrome014.jpg
    20.9 KB · Views: 195
Quite a pain to grow is what it was! I recall that I got helo'd from my ship to a Cruiser to analyze their Electronic Warfare division. I think it was the Cruiser San Diego, though I could be wrong. In any case I gave them a good grade and when the Cruiser got back to San Diego from local ops. I needed to get off the gangway and get back to my ship.

Now, the Admiral of the Navy at that time was Elmo Zumwalt. The Adm. decided to let sailors grow "groomed" beards. Mine got a bit wild for Navy standards and it was so when I got flown out to that particular Cruiser.

On my way across the Quarter Deck the ships Captain was giving pre-shore inspections. You know what happened next, eh? I got taken to task by said Captain and I struggled to explain that I was not a crewman aboard his "spit and polished" ship but had been flown in to do what I did with his EW team. 20 minutes later I got free of him and the Cruiser after sweating it out for what seemed an eternity. The USS Jouett gangway never looked so good as it did that afternoon.

That's the thing about the Navy, the bigger the ship the higher rank of the commander and the more expectorant and shoe black ya gotta put up with. The Jouett had the rank of Captain assigned, and, if you remember your history, the Captain of our ship just happened to be Samuel P. Gravely and on our way back from our second combat tour he became the first Black Admiral of the US Navy. Look it up. Perhaps you can find some photos of he and the Jouett. I have the opposite of regrets when I remember that time. It peeled back the trappings of society for me. I went to Vietnam at age 19 and came back 4years later at the age of 40. No regrets. I would do the whole thing over again to serve my country. TCrowe RD 2 (Radarman 2nd class or E5)

Here is a ship side photo of Guam on the way to Vietnam the second time. that is the only stop after Hawaii for refueling and picking up Nuc. warheads.Next stop, the Phillipines.
 

Attachments

  • img-chrome051.jpg
    img-chrome051.jpg
    55.8 KB · Views: 252
Believe me, this is fun for me also. This is the first time I have publish/posted them outside of my PhotoForum. You guys are the first to see them on the world stage. I'm just glad I was able to save them in reasonably good condition.

More to come. I have another carousel to go through and it takes about an hour for the scanner to irradiate and save them. That is after the cleaning that it takes just to get them as you see them. TCrowe
 
We're also glad you were able to save and share them. I'm enjoying the history of your experiences quite a lot.
 
TCrowe said:
Believe me, this is fun for me also. This is the first time I have publish/posted them outside of my PhotoForum. You guys are the first to see them on the world stage. I'm just glad I was able to save them in reasonably good condition.

More to come. I have another carousel to go through and it takes about an hour for the scanner to irradiate and save them. That is after the cleaning that it takes just to get them as you see them. TCrowe
Click to expand...

I just stumbled across this thread and decided to resurrect it to see if you ever got around to scanning more? I was finding the pictures that you already posted fascinating.
 
Nice!!!

If you live close to a Military base folks are looking for Vietnam pictures for the 50th anniversary celebrations. I've gotten pretty good turn out from the guys in my area some interesting pictures ans stories. My dad was a brown water sailor in Vietnam Mekong Delta twice over so his are different than most from that time but they just are not the quality of yours.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back