November 28, 1968. More than fifty Thanksgivings ago somewhere south of the DMZ and East of Laos on a secured helicopter landing zone in Vietnam.

For days the Marine Corps had been promising us a full Thanksgiving dinner. The 150 plus men of Bravo Company First Battalion Third Marines were looking forward to a break from yet another C-rat meal. The day dawned cold, damp and foggy still we were all excited and looking forward to a hot meal and sharing memories of past Thanksgivings spent back in the world with family and friends.

We were in a state of semi-stand down and there were going to be no patrols from our LZ that day. As the morning wore on the fog thickened into heavy cloud cover. We were socked in.

Soon the realization and disappointment began to sink in, the helicopters would not be flying and the likelihood celebrating the day with hot food quickly dwindled.

Around 1400 the radio in the command post crackled to life confirming our fears. The helicopters would not be bringing Thanksgiving dinner. However, there was a road about 6 kilometers off the ridge we were occupying. Trucks would deliver Thanksgiving dinner in vacuum containers to a specific set of coordinates on that road.

About 1600 two platoons of Marines and two Navy Corpsmen left the LZ headed for the road and a rendezvous with dinner. It was nearly 1800 when our two forces connected. Close to 20 vacuum containers each about the size of an ice chest were unloaded from the trucks Thanksgiving greetings and well wishes were exchanged with the truck drivers who soon left to return to the Dong Ha Combat Support Base and the nearly 40 Marines and the 2 Corpsmen began the long trek back up the ridge.

By now darkness had set in and we moved up the ridge in a column of twos each man with the handle of a vac-can in one hand and his weapon in the other. The going in the dark was difficult to say the least and the wet muddy conditions along with the weight of the vac-cans did not make for an easy hike.

It was after 2000 when we crossed back into our lines. The vac-cans were opened, and steam rose from hot turkey, dressing, rolls with real butter, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy and vegetables. There was even pumpkin pie. As we sat in small groups enjoying the first hot meal, we’d had in weeks we talked of our mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, grandparents, wives and children back home and hoped that they too were enjoying Thanksgiving and not wasting time worrying about us.

As much as we enjoyed this small break from the war that was not a war each of us knew that some of us sharing that Thanksgiving would never celebrate another and we were all sure that would be someone else.

I was 21 years old and had the privilege of being one of the 2 Hospital Corpsmen who humped Thanksgiving dinner to Bravo Company that cold Thanksgiving Day so long ago.

Welcome from Angier

Welcome aboard from another Corpsman and fellow Californian.
Bravo 1/3 Nov '68 to May '69, 1st 8" Howitzer Battery (SP) May '69 to Oct '69.
Decided to go Submarines after that.
Oh yea home town Santa Cruz. My brother's still in the house we grew up in, and it's still standing.
Glad I'm NC now.

Steely eyed killers of the deep.
HMCS(SS)

If my wife and I get one it will pay 1/3 of the cost of new vinyl replacement windows. Keep the money moving in the community.

I would like to buy the Nikon 35 1.8 DX is $95 shipped. Where do I send PayPal payment?

My daughter. Born at Groton Submarine Medical Center "C" section 1974. Initial cost $17.00. Then all hell broke loose.

Great shots. Deception Island was our last landing in March 11, 2017. The penguins were all gone by that time. There were plenty of seals and skua. A very interesting site. 56 of us from a passenger list of 130 took the polar plunge there. Water temperature was 37 degrees f. The whole trip was an experience my wife and I will never forget. What ship are you on? We were on MS Expedition. Thanks for sharing.

This is just what I can do. I'm sure there are others with more PP experience that can really bring him to life. Hope this helps.

Thank you. Your image looks much clear than mine did. The original gave his face a burned look. I appreciate your efforts.

[quote
May I have your permission to work with this a little and then repost it for you to see?
/quote]

Absolutely, That is what I was hoping for.

I prefer the B&W also. The red is to in your face IMHO.

I have been shooting for about 3 years, so I consider myself a beginner. I am very uncomfortable taking photographs of strangers. I took this image at our local Christmas Parade about 3 feet from the subject with a Nikon D5300 with an 18-55 mm kit lens. It was shot in Aperture priority f8 auto ISO with a resulting shutter speed of 1/100. The first thing I wish I’d done would have been to open the aperture to blur the background, I don’t believe there is anyway to do that in post processing. I am including the image as it came from the camera, the cropped and processed image and a monochrome conversion. I don’t know whether to consider this a portrait or street photography. My wife who is a non-photographer with an art/art history background prefers the color image. Which do UHH members prefer?
I would love to see what others do with the original image in post.

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I haven't tried this, but you could keep the camera in a small cooler. Take the cooler out of the car, open it, shoot. Put the camera back in the cooler before you get back in the car. Don't know if this will work anyone else ever tried this?

Beautiful images. I'll be in Fairbanks from October 31 to November 7. Hoping for clear skies and high solar activity.

Yes I used manual. Single point auto focus and ISO 100.
Happy shooting