USMC Pilot Photographer J.R. Todd

[bloodhoundbob]

If you ever flew or worked with Papa Mahew during your time there. Then you worked with one of them. He retired out of El Toro in 66 and went directly to SE Asia. He was one of the last 6. All of them were there in 66. I left in July of 67 and two had retired by then.

To be honest with you, we never got into personal details and I never learned any of their names. The Air America pilot who offered me a ride back to Nha Trang from Tan Son Nhut in his Bell Jet Ranger knew me by sight, but I don't think we ever exchanged names. Since pseudonyms were routinely used, I would have had even more trouble remembering them!

[bloodhoundbob]

I was USAF Rec Tec in the early 60s and we were offered the opportunity to volunteer for TDY for 60 days to work with a private airline in SE Asia with a guarantee that we could not then be sent PCS to that area. One of our guys took the offer and returned with a neat Aussie hat!
Another went when he was discharged and came back on leave and told us not to take the offer!
When Tonkin Gulf happened the first one with the guarantee was put on the alert plane with the rest of the squadron and went directly to Thailand. So much for guarantees!

Bob, I was in basic at Ft Leonard Wood when we heard about The Gulf Of Tonkin. I learned shortly afterwards while attending Intelligence School at Ft Holabird that it was useless to try to figure out military logic. For example, we had an agent class graduate before ours. One graduate was from LA and another from Philly. Since one of their primary duties would be to do background investigations for security clearances, it would seem logical to most of us to assign them to their home areas, as they already knew the streets and neighborhoods. The Army sent the LA guy to Philly and you can guess where the Philly guy was assigned!

[Bob Salomon]

Bob, I was in basic at Ft Leonard Wood when we heard about The Gulf Of Tonkin. I learned shortly afterwards while attending Intelligence School at Ft Holabird that it was useless to try to figure out military logic. For example, we had an agent class graduate before ours. One graduate was from LA and another from Philly. Since one of their primary duties would be to do background investigations for security clearances, it would seem logical to most of us to assign them to their home areas, as they already knew the streets and neighborhoods. The Army sent the LA guy to Philly and you can guess where the Philly guy was assigned!

That was the Army, I guess!
When I tried to find a job in Seattle the first question everyone asked was my draft status and that was in 62. When I told them I was 1A they had no openings.
So I went down and joined the AF because they guaranteed me, in writing, that I would go into Photo. When I got to basic and took the aptitude tests they congratulated me and told me that I was going to Yale to learn Chinese to become a high speed radio intercept analysit. I said that I was guaranteed photo. They said that that was my second aptitude.
So I took out the paper that guaranteed photo. They read it and called a halt to the meeting. Went out and got the OIC who read the letter and made me a deal. If I could pass the photo test I would go to photo otherwise to Yale. I passed their test, so I got photo.
Two days before Tonkin Gulf my father had a major heart attack and his doctors wanted me at home. So the next day I applied for a Hardship Family Medical Discharge. Around midnight we were called back to base on alert and boarded a transport plane. While I was boarding the Operations Officer pulled me off since I had submitted the discharge application that morning. That plane went to Thailand, I was frozen to base for two weeks till I was discharged.
So I just missed the fun, although over a 100% of our Phantoms were lost over Vietnam running photo runs!

[bloodhoundbob]

That was the Army, I guess!
When I tried to find a job in Seattle the first question everyone asked was my draft status and that was in 62. When I told them I was 1A they had no openings.
So I went down and joined the AF because they guaranteed me, in writing, that I would go into Photo. When I got to basic and took the aptitude tests they congratulated me and told me that I was going to Yale to learn Chinese to become a high speed radio intercept analysit. I said that I was guaranteed photo. They said that that was my second aptitude.
So I took out the paper that guaranteed photo. They read it and called a halt to the meeting. Went out and got the OIC who read the letter and made me a deal. If I could pass the photo test I would go to photo otherwise to Yale. I passed their test, so I got photo.
Two days before Tonkin Gulf my father had a major heart attack and his doctors wanted me at home. So the next day I applied for a Hardship Family Medical Discharge. Around midnight we were called back to base on alert and boarded a transport plane. While I was boarding the Operations Officer pulled me off since I had submitted the discharge application that morning. That plane went to Thailand, I was frozen to base for two weeks till I was discharged.
So I just missed the fun, although over a 100% of our Phantoms were lost over Vietnam running photo runs!

I heard horror stories about guys whose contract was not honored and they never got their chosen MOS. I was facing the draft when I received a postcard saying I may be qualified for Army Intelligence. It happened so fast that I never did think to inquire about becoming an Army photographer. As it turned out, the intelligence work turned out to be very satisfying. As I recall, from what I saw of the photographers in Vietnam, they had already transitioned from Speed Graphics to 35s. I did talk to Bill Geist of CBS fame one day, but neglected to ask him what specific cameras the Signal Corps photographers used.

[Bob Salomon]

I heard horror stories about guys whose contract was not honored and they never got their chosen MOS. I was facing the draft when I received a postcard saying I may be qualified for Army Intelligence. It happened so fast that I never did think to inquire about becoming an Army photographer. As it turned out, the intelligence work turned out to be very satisfying. As I recall, from what I saw of the photographers in Vietnam, they had already transitioned from Speed Graphics to 35s. I did talk to Bill Geist of CBS fame one day, but neglected to ask him what specific cameras the Signal Corps photographers used.

Once I passed that test I was awarded a MOS of 5, before finishing basic. Then they told me that I would then go directly to my duty station when I finished basic. So when basic was ending I was told that I was going to photo school. When I asked why, since I already had the MOS of a Staff Sargeant they explained that once I finished photo school I would have a MOS of 3. Somehow they could not figure out why I should have a MOS lower then what I already had!

Unfortunately the unit I was assigned to was a Rec Tec unit and that meant that the film was shot in long roll 5” and 9” cameras operated by the pilots and we photographers only did the D&P after the film reached the lab. We never used cameras.

[Merg Ross]

Once I passed that test I was awarded a MOS of 5, before finishing basic. Then they told me that I would then go directly to my duty station when I finished basic. So when basic was ending I was told that I was going to photo school. When I asked why, since I already had the MOS of a Staff Sargeant they explained that once I finished photo school I would have a MOS of 3. Somehow they could not figure out why I should have a MOS lower then what I already had!

Unfortunately the unit I was assigned to was a Rec Tec unit and that meant that the film was shot in long roll 5” and 9” cameras operated by the pilots and we photographers only did the D&P after the film reached the lab. We never used cameras.

I was drafted in late 1963, and came out of basic with the good fortune of being sent to the Army Pictorial Center (APC) in Queens, NYC. I was almost twenty-three, and had been working five years as a professional photographer. Duty at APC was mostly lab work until being sent to Thailand as battalion photographer with the 809th Engineers Construction Battalion in September, 1964. We were building the Bangkok By-pass road to airbases in northern Thailand, (Udorn & Korat Royal Thai Air Force bases.) Eighty-percent of flights over Vietnam originated from Thailand. Among my duties were over-flights of road construction progress in an L-19 Bird Dog observation plane. My photos were sent monthly to Washington. The road was finished in 1966, known as the Friendship Highway.

[Nodda Duma]

Thanks for posting, a very nice story and the follow-up posts are awesome. It is good to see that it turns out he was not forgotten.

As Keith said, the Museum of the Marine will keep donations forever. The USMC takes the phrase "once a Marine, always a Marine" very seriously.

[bloodhoundbob]

I just recalled that my oldest brother served in the Navy from 1950-1971 and told me that he had the honor of meeting one of the last Marine enlisted pilots. He served on the aircraft carrier USS Boxer during The Korean War, so that may have been when they met. Unfortunately, he passed in 2013, and I don't recall the details of their meeting. Semper Fi to my Marine friends.

[Chauncey Walden]

Bloodhoundbob, your mention of the Intelligence School at Fort Holabird reminded me of the day I reported for a preinduction physical at Holabird. As the bus is pulling into the center I noticed that it was at the corner of Counter and Intelligence Streets and knew that it would be all downhill from there. I was working with computers and had already taken the Air Force Entrance Exam and they wanted me and then I got the letter from the Army. As it turned out I flunked the physical so I went back to work in DC,

[bloodhoundbob]

Bloodhoundbob, your mention of the Intelligence School at Fort Holabird reminded me of the day I reported for a preinduction physical at Holabird. As the bus is pulling into the center I noticed that it was at the corner of Counter and Intelligence Streets and knew that it would be all downhill from there. I was working with computers and had already taken the Air Force Entrance Exam and they wanted me and then I got the letter from the Army. As it turned out I flunked the physical so I went back to work in DC,

Although intelligence units were about as non-military as it gets, this was not the case at Ft Holabird. The Commander was a Major General who LOVED parades. Every Friday afternoon we had to hit the parade ground and march for him while he watched from his Jeep that had white-walled tires. We had a contingent of Green Berets who were all E-6 and above who were there for intelligence specialist training. He loved watching them march, as they were NEVER out of step.