Korea 1952-54

[cooltouch]

You may have seen some of the Kodachrome images I posted over in the slides gallery showing some sights from the time my dad was serving in the Korean War. Actually I have processed many more B&W images from that episode than color ones so far. So I thought I'd share some of the more interesting ones. Following are quite a few B&W images. I think I'll break them up into more than one message, just for manageability's sake.

His camera was a Kodak Pony 135. I don't know what sort of B&W film he was using other than it was Kodak. Pretty fine grained, really.

It was pretty apparent my dad liked to take pics of helicopters. There were quite a few in his archive.






He even seemed to like taking pics of helicopters that had crashed.




There's more from where this came from.

[cooltouch]

One thing I noticed pretty quickly when looking through the images was that dad and a lot of his friends carried cameras around with them. I'm pretty sure that's another good indication they were REMFs. They all even carried them in the same fashion, strap over the left shoulder, camera close to the body. I wouldn't be surprised if it was brigade or battalion or whatever SOP that they did so.

I don't know who any of the guys are. I just selected them because they were carrying cameras. Can you identify them all? (the cameras, of course) I recognize a couple of cheapo Kodaks, but that's about it.

[cooltouch]

Of course, they were busy taking pictures of Korean sights, and not just each other.

I recall my dad telling me this was a group of orphans who would hang out just outside the base perimeter.


A mom going about her business.


The inevitable signs of war. I believe the next three pics were taken in the Seoul area.

[Orio]

The last one looks like the case of a Kiev-4 or Contax II

EDIT: I mean the last one of the camera bearing guys (another post got in between in the meantime I posted)

[cooltouch]

Various REMF activities

Here's a camera crew filming some guy talking, no doubt explaining how the UN was winning the "police action."


I'll wager most draftees considered this sign to be a pretty good laugh.


Dad on guard duty somewhere, looking all tough with his M2. Pretty sure it's an M2, at least. Notice his partner, shooting away with his camera.


At some point, they relocated to a more permanent facility. This is the entrance. Notice the really poor processing this film received. This was rather typical with many of his B&W images, unfortunately.

[cooltouch]

[BRunner]

Interesting photos, thanks for sharing them.

[Yebisu]

Fascinating. Thanks for posting them.

[mo]

I really enjoyed seeing photos from an ordinary guy doing ordinary things in an awful situation.Thanks for showing these, any more?.I liked the old/new back then jeeps with their funny covers..

[shauttra]

Historical images!!!

[PaulC]

The one in the fourth picture looks rather like the case of my Japanese 6x4.5 Zenobia, which was an Ikonta clone. I don't know if the Ikonta also had the sharply protruding nose on its case, maybe. A Zenobia would be entirely possible at that time and in that region.

There's a picture showing the Zenobia case here :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rebollo_fr/358483851/in/pool-camerawiki#/photos/rebollo_fr/358483851/in/pool-1618922@N23/

[cooltouch]

Thanks for the Zenobia info, Paul. I don't think it is one, though. If you look closely at image #4, you'll note the script imprinted into the case's cover is at a diagonal, whereas the Zenobia cover's script is not. I've tried zooming in on the case in a full resolution dupe and the detail just isn't there.

Thanks for the responses, guys. Yes, Mo, I have many more. Most, however, are just snapshots of my dad's friends or more snapshots of him. I'll keep digging, though, and I'll post more as I come across them. I still have about half of his Kodachromes to finish scanning through as well, but they'll be over in my Kodachrome Korea thread.

[PaulC]

Diagonal script on that sort of case would fit with the Moskva series - the Moskva 2 was out at that date.

Maybe commie cameras were leaking across from North Korea.

[cooltouch]

[cooltouch]

Okay, I picked through Dad's old b&w negatives and found some more that you might find interesting. Digging through them has been somewhat enlightening for me. Dad died 30 years ago, so I can't ask him any questions.

Dad was with the 23 Quartermasters Group, which was a big supply outfit, apparently. It appears that when he first arrived, the 23rd occupied a large building that looks to me like it was a school. Please excuse the horrid film processing.



And a view apparently from his first hq:


Lots and lots of housing.

And then at some point later in his stay there, the 23rd moved to more temporary structures -- the tents. From what I've been able to reason out, this move also brought the 23rd closer to where some of the fighting was going on.


I found a couple more shots of the film crew. Dad missed focus with both of them, but this one isn't so bad. At least he got the camera pretty much in focus.


As I mentioned before, Dad seemed to like taking pics of helicopters. Here are a couple more. This is the early Bell chopper that was responsible for bringing helicopters into the mainstream of flight. Notice the first one even has the litters on it, a la M.A.S.H.


No litters on this one.


Where Dad was first stationed, I'm pretty sure it was close to, if not in, Seoul. There are quite a few pics of him and friends in a city setting. He found a high point probably close to the outside of the city to take this shot:

Note the capitol looking building waaaaaay in the background.

So, if that's Seoul, that's what it looked like in 1952.

This is an interesting building. If you look closely, you'll notices that the building itself is just an empty shell -- apparently bombed out or whatever. But that didn't slow down or stop commerce. Note the flea-market style tables set up out front. And some of the signs are interesting as well.




Here's a crop of a sign on the building you can see in the first photo. Balcom Trading Co. It looks like it reads "Everything Photographic" but the only photographic-related word I can pick out in the rest of the text is the word "film."


And a pretty clear crop from the second image above.


And finally a crop from the third image. This one is also a bit hard to read. I make out "Pictures Canoe (?) Completed Within 10 Minutes [something something] Speed Printing Color Enlargement."


Sorry, I can't read the Korean and Chinese signs. Maybe someone here would like to translate?

I still have a few more worth posting. I'll post them in my next message.

[PaulC]

He didn't miss focus on the film crew. The foreground on the left is in focus and the background on the right is, too.

My guess is that he opened the camera too fast, sucking the middle of the film off the backing plate. If so, it is the first practical example I've seen of what that can do.

[cooltouch]

Hy Paul,

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "opening the camera too fast." Dad's old camera was a Kodak Pony 135, and it wasn't a folder. But I think your analysis is spot on.

Now that I've looked at the image a little more, I note that there is a briefcase on the right that is almost in exact focus and the tent to the right is in focus while the tent in the middle is not. So we have examples of in-focus subjects in the foreground and background and subjects that are not in focus in the foreground and background. The only plausible explanation would seem to be that the film was not laying completely flat against the film plane when the image was taken.

Now what is curious is there are two images like this -- and this one is the more in-focus of the two -- in focus in terms of the movie camera, that is.

[PaulC]

I just looked up the Pony and I see it had a collapsible lens, could that create suction on the film? I don't know, I've never seen one. I can't think of how else you would get that effect - I doubt if a smudge on the lens would be that restricted in its coverage.

And, yes, I had assumed he was using a folder.

[cooltouch]

Oops, you're right, Paul, I'd completely forgotten that the Pony has a collapsible lens. So, I still think you nailed it, and I bet that's exactly what happened.

[Farside]

Fascinating stuff; thanks for showing us them.
I was pondering on the universal wearing of the camera straps and I think, like yourself, it's probably a regulation thing - likely for safety; if a camera strap is over the right shoulder and under the left arm it's harder for somebody to creep up behind and grab onto a ready-made strangling noose, as it would be around the neck. Also, it keeps the camera out of the way of sidearm and rifle use. The camera can be let go and dangle safely on its strap while the owner gets on with shooting things/people as necessary.
I read the notice as 'Photos can be' , by the way.

[cooltouch]

Hey Dave,

Yeah, I was assuming similar. Carrying the camera on the left side allows uninhibited access to the firearm.

And I believe you're right -- "can be" is correct. What threw me in not seeing that, I suppose, was the lack of spacing between the two words, making them appear as a single word.

[visualopsins]

Just in case you miss it, over at the other site arlon has posted some Korean War images from film rolls recently found in his dad's bag:

http://forum.manualfocus.org//viewtopic.php?id=18030

[cooltouch]

Thanks for the tip! Arlon's dad was an Air Force guy, so he got to see an entirely different aspect of the war, most likely. I hope he posts more.

[tikkathree]

[tikkathree]