Dagger Thrust III
I went into Air Operations at Tan Son Nhut Airbase to see if there was a bird to get me out to the USS Valley Forge, an older carrier recycled into an LPH (Landing Platform Helicopter). An Air Force Sergeant heard me. “Hey, Sarge,” he spoke up.

Down here it’s easier to call everybody, ’Sarge’ rather than ‘Hey you.’. I agreed, and after just a few days in country started using it myself.
“Get over there with those Marines. We’re going to the Valley Forge in about 5 minutes. How’s that for service?”

Later, in the ship’s photo lab, I learned there would be an Operations Brief in two hours. The photo lab only had two photographers; PH1 Singleterry , and PH3 Fallon. Knew Singleterry when he was stationed in Memphis photo lab. Fallon hadn’t been in service very long, so I didn’t know him.

All my gear except what I needed in the field (personal items) I stowed out of the way in the lab. I rummaged through my parachute bag I always unwrapped my film, taking them out of the yellow Kodak boxes. I left the color in the can. Now I could reach into the bag and know one from the other without having to look.

Next, I made adjustments to the camera neck straps. One I adjusted so the bottom of the camera was at my navel, then adjusted the other one so there was about three inches between them. Usually, though it depended on the job,. I preferred the Leicas. On the bottom one, a 35mm lense; on the top one, a 90mm lens. I loaded the cameras - the top camera with Kodak Hi-speed Ektachrome ( pushed to 320, 640, or 1280 ASA, and processed to a negative by the Naval Photo Center, Washington). The bottom camera with Tri-X (ASA 200, but pushed to 400, 800 or 1600 if necessary). If it was to be special assignment in addition, then I added a third camera on a wrist strap with correct film for that assignment. I placed a UV filter and lens hoods for protection.

Finally, for each camera, I set the correct shutter speed, f/stop, and focus (focused them on the hyper-focal distanced (or point) for maximum sharpness for each lens.
* * *
People began drifting into the lab for the briefing. Two civilians came in looking like twins. They each wore expensive-looking safari jackets, pockets all over them, button-down shoulder straps. I later would learn that they were correspondents, and weren’t permitted to leave the ship because of the job Classification.

A Captain Youngblood was our liaison. His first words caught me completely off guard.
“Jaynes?” He looked around. I raised my hand. “Be on the flight deck, Zone one, 1000, with bag and baggage for lifting over to the Monticello.” Hello, we’d met. Aw man, another beach assault. I hustled below decks and retrieved my baggage, which had not be unpacked.

Four pilots stood talking. I went over and asked a dumb question, evidently. I asked it my film would be flown out to Saigon, and if so, who was the pilot. The answer?
“I have two missions tomorrow: get personnel into the zone and get people out of the zone.” He turned and they all left.

Up on the flight deck I noticed the shadows were moving. That meant the ship was turning into the wind for flight operations. From somewhere above my head came a loud voice over the ship’s comm speakers, “Purvis, Jaynes, Westlock, to Zone One.”

For all the inefficiency I thought I was witnessing, how was it that somebody was keeping such good track of where Jaynes was supposed to be?

I grabbed the handle pulled myself up into the Marine H-4. The engine was already revving up by the time got into my May West and strapped in. I made a quick count. There were 14 Marines, me, and 3 crewmen. The chopper wasn’t made to haul “standing room only” loads. But we were gonna’ give it a go. The engine built to a piercing whine as it revved up. It raised off the deck a foot or two, but suddenly fell back onto one wheel, bounced, and left the deck a second time.

A lens rolled out of my parachute bag and I trapped it against the deck with my boot. Just as we cleared the Valley Forge’s deck the chopper fell ten or fifteen feet before catching. The big blades slapped the air and we finally started to rise. We climbed to two or three hundred feet,. Then pilot nosed her down and set a course straight to the USS Monticello.
-end-

Sebastopol, CA, has many monuments to recycling..This one is outside the Hardware store, and I had to stop and grab these images while Roma was in my Lexus RX. Details show how many different things make up the base.. He is on wheels and is moved in at night... There are many such scuptures in the town and surrounding area.. There is a huge metal dog of sorts in front of the Human Society also...