Joe Holt
Joe Holt and Ed Crisp, recently.
Here's a picture of the India Headquarters group in Okinawa just prior to
shipping out to Vietnam. The only folks I recognize are in the bottom row.
Sgt. Fletcher on the left, Lt. Kopfler in the center, and Gunny Walters on
the right. Maybe somebody else can remember the rest of'em. (Update
3/18/02: more folks identified: Top Row left to right: Cpl. Dupree, Cpl Jerome
Czarnowski (Ski II), unk, unk). Middle row on right is Zaidinski. Bottom row is
Fletcher, First Sgt Thorpe, Lt. Kopfler, unk, and Gunny Walters).
Pictures from Ed Crisp. On left the India Company Office at Camp Margarita.
On the right the gun emplacement in front of Battalion Headquarters. Taken 2 February 1966.
This was taken in Camp Schwab in Okinawa in late May or early June of '66 just prior to shipping out as BLT 3/5
As with all the pictures taken by Blackie the Photographer in Okinawa, there were never complete units being photographed. The group pictures were taken whenever Blackie happened to show up, never during personnel inspections. During normal duty hours there were guys with dental appointments, guys at sick call, guys who were on the list to get their rifles gone over at the armorer, and in the case of lowly Private Holt, I was the Company runner that particular day.
For this particular day these were the lucky participants;
Front row. Left to right. Staff Sgt. Ralph Morton, Second Lt. Lance Woodburn, Sgt. Jerry Hailey. I can’t remember if Sgt. Hailey made Staff Sgt. or not by that time. I have a feeling he had.
2nd row. L/Cpl. Bob Kessler, Corporal Kenny Walker, Sgt. Clarence Drake, Corporal Joe Luzietti, Corporal Romanyshun. I’m not sure about the spelling of Romanyshuns’ name.
3rd. row. Larry Daniels, Reed, Malone, Ray Carroll, Lynn Felton, Reyes.
4th row. Ken Newby, Wayne James, Larry Messmore, Mike Craig, Jim Kranz, Del Horsley, Olsen.
Top row. Doc Wise, Gerry Malak, Ray Higginbotham, Henderson, Marty Morris, Larry Bishop.
The obvious missing guys are Fenstermacher, Cruz, Dawson, Golston, Doc Collins, McGuire, and me. Probably more if I think about it for a minute.
This is a photo of a Corpsman being lowered, not a casualty being lifted. Considering this was an ass kicker canopy jungle area we'd blown apart a pretty good helozone, don'tcha think? We were proud of it! The guy in the middle with his back to the camera is Marty Morris...again. If there was a camera in sight he'd find a way to get in front of it. Truthfully Marty was one of the guys that did everything and anything that needed doing for those two days...with little bits of shrapnel in his feet. Then he walked out with the remainder of us the next day. Only then did I learn of his itty bitty wounds. When he took his boot off it looked like a ripe pomegranate. I, personally, would have raised holy hell until I was lifted out with the rest of the casualties, but no, not Marty. He felt this sorry sort of responsibility to his unit. You know, duty and all that. The guy reaching up, with the attractive bandage around his jaw is, I'm pretty sure, Bill Lacerte. I believe that he believed that if he was the first guy that unlatched the corpsman, then he had dibs on being the first guy up the sling. I'm not sure about that, but his enthusiasm is a little too obvious. (Editor note: see the middle picture below, same action....Hill 362 on Hastings). Click on any of these images to see them full size.
3 from Joe Holt. 1) On the left is Sgt Poisso of India on Hill 362 on July 24, 1966. His arm was very badly shot and there were fears that he would lose it. Joe is happy to report that the last he heard he had turned into a fanatic golfer.
2) July 25, 1966, a picture that made a bunch of newspapers. Marty Morris reaching for the helo sling, Lynn Felton with the bandage on his head. Steve Fautch crouching in the background. Holding up Felton is an unidentified helo crew member.
3) Recent mini reunion with Steve Dawson in Idaho.
From Joe Holt, "This was taken in Camp Schwab in Okinawa in late May or early June of '66 just prior to shipping out as BLT 3/5. I'm not in it".