Photos from 45th Surgical Hospital in Vietnam

[DiGilio]

I recently got these photographs from an operating room assistant who was with the 45th Surgical Hospital in Vietnam 1966-1967. There are over 400 and Im planning on buying his photos from training too which could bring the number to around 500.

 

My question is what would the best way to store these be? Im thinking about putting them in an album using those corner tab things for the pictures so they could be removed easily. Otherwise is there any chance of them getting damaged from leaving them in stacks like they are now? I dont want them sticking together, curling up or anything and Im afraid handling them loose could put wear on them after a while. I have other small groups of loose pictures but most were removed from albums and not complete. This is the first complete super large group of pictures Ive gotten that arent in any kind of album and I want to make sure they dont get any damage. I have a whole bunch of other items from the vet so its basicly part of a grouping.

 

The photos are mainly of around the base (doing work details and relaxing), in the operating room, helicopters, Black Virgin Mountain, Vietnamese workers, the trip over to Vietnam on the USS Geiger and visits to other areas like artillery, firing range, Tay Ninh town and Holy See. Theres pictures of famous people too including Marta Raye, Nancy Sinatra, General Westmoreland and President Thieu.

 

Heres some quick pictures but the majority were scanned and put online for the units website at http://the45thsurg.freeservers.com/GeorgeStoken.html.

[capa]

My first reaction was "Whoa!"

What you have here is a treasure, a true treasure. My knee-jerk reaction is that you have a photo book that needs to be published. These images are so vitally important and need to be out there for the public.

Now, in the short term you are definetly on the right track about the corner mounting. There are lots of archival supply companies out there including University Products, Light Impressions, and Gaylord. They can all supply the acid free materials you need.

I would suggest that you visit a local museum or library and show your collection to them and ask for advice.

I suppose in the end it depends on what you want the end result to be for this collection, but at the very least I suggest keeping the photos in acid free materials.

Wow, congrats and please keep us posted. It would be awesome to see more scans.

Cheers,

Capa (Fielding)

[DiGilio]

Hello Capa. Here are some more photos I quickly scanned after going through some of the 3 1/2 x 5 inch photos. I know George doesnt have these on the unit website. If people are interested I will try to get some more up.

 

Heres some photos of nearby artillery untis he visited.

[DiGilio]

.

[kekoaiki]

DiGilio

WOW what a great find and to re-live a piece of history

Kekoaiki

[Jeeper704]

I agree with the above comments.

A true treasure of information.

Is that General Westmoreland in those photos?

 

Erwin

[capa]

Thanks for posting more! These are outstanding...

[Bob Hudson]

As far as preservation, understand that these have already aged quite a bit with lots of fading and color shifts. I did some quick Photoshop work to show how these prints would have looked when new, compared to today:

 

 

I would go through these and pull out the "best ones" and scan those at high resolution (high enough so that at 8X10 inch size they would be 144dpi). That is the only way to guarantee that the images will be preserved. The loss of fading and loss of color in these photos will likely get even worse no matter what you do, but the originals should be stored in the dark in an area of "normal" humidity. They do make archival-quality boxes for photo storage. Here's an example from http://www.archivalsuppliers.com/prodinfo.asp?number=462-INF - this comes with some acid-free envelopes for each photo:

 

 

Here's a couple more of these photos after some quick photoshop work. Notice that these do not have as dramatic a difference as the one above: different colors fade faster than others (greens especially) and sometimes you can not bring it back just by using the CURVES and LEVELS options in Photoshop. This fading, by the way, is why old Kodachrome slides can be so valuable: they can be 65 years old and still have all of the original color and intensity.

 

 

[DiGilio]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I will probably over time scan them all in a very good quality. That will take a while but I will try to get some quick scans of more picture up later today (ones that arent already on the units website). My scanner isnt the best and in real life, the photos are a lot more clearer and slightly brighter. The archive box sounds like a good idea. How much more effective would the box be comapred to just putting them in an album?

 

Yes, that is General Westmoreland in a few of the photos. He visited the hospital and wounded. The other famous people in some of the photos are Cardinal Spellman, Nancy Sinatra, Martha Raye and President Thieu.

[R Michael]

Awesome set of photos!

 

I store all my loose photos in "ultrapro" storage sleeves. They are made for the collector card market but come in different size holders in the standard binder sized page. They are acid free and UV treated. The really good thing about these is, you can really view them easily and the backs can be seen to show any writing.

 

Mike

[Bob Hudson]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I will probably over time scan them all in a very good quality. That will take a while but I will try to get some quick scans of more picture up later today (ones that arent already on the units website). My scanner isnt the best and in real life, the photos are a lot more clearer and slightly brighter. The archive box sounds like a good idea. How much more effective would the box be comapred to just putting them in an album?

 

I think boxes are a lot easier to store and will provide a safer environment than an album.

 

I use an Epson scanner: I hate their printers, but their scanners do a really nice job. You can pick up an Epson Perfection for under $140.

[DiGilio]

Heres some more pictures of helicopters.

[DiGilio]

Heres some random pictures and a few more of Nancy Sinatra (the better ones of her and the better pictures of the famous people are on the units website)

And some more of the operating room. The last one is of a hip wound.

[Patrick.]

This photo record is just superb.

 

A delight to view from start to finish, the period details are priceless.

 

Congratulations.

[cszakolczai]

I agree with the comments, scan ASAP and make the appropriate adjustments in photoshop. Levels and Curves sound good, possibly a touch of sharpening. I would also look into having these published.

 

This is really incredible.

[DiGilio]

I just bought the rest of the pictures and should recieve them in the mail in 3 or 4 days. There is about 200 more. About 150 of them are training and when he was stationed in the US. I still dont know yet if Im going to make an album or use a storage box.

 

Some other old photos I have are sort of bended and curved. I can tell they werent really stored the best but I want to make sure this dont happen to these. What makes them do that? I read that you should keep photos pressed down a little bit to prevent this but I dont know what actually causes it.

 

And I know this is a huge long shot but I was wondering if anyone here has the 45th Surgical Hospital pocket patch Mr. Stoken sold on ebay over a year ago (ebay ID: geo1244)? It is basicly one of only two items of his that I missed when he sold them on ebay. I want to try and see if I can bring it back into the grouping. Along with the 600+ photos of his, I have paperwork, souveniers, insignia, uniform items and a bunch of misc. items.

 

Anyway heres a few more new pictures and his original helmet cover. Ive posted the cover on forums before but here it is again. You can see him using it in several of the photos of him by the artillery.

 

EDIT: I just realized you cant see the writing on the cover too good in the scans I have. Like I said before, the scanner Im using right now isnt the best. The actual photos are a lot clearer. I added a photo scan at the bottom where you can at least see the star he drew on it clearly .

 

[Mr-X]

 

Wow is about all I can say DiGilio. :w00t:

 

I think the pic above, showing the beret is AWESOME :thumbsup:

 

I am so very happy to see that the photos were not sold individually and the history of these not lost.

I have seen that too many times. It happened to the grouping of photos to the Artillery Commander of the Americal 1970-71 recently.

 

I think that these photos should be complied into a book and published.

 

I would make sure that Hylands Book Shop stocked it and I would certainly buy a copy!

[paul_bish]

Great pictures and verified graffiti helmet cover, really interesting

[Andrei]

Awesome photos !

I dont know for the other VN collectors but for me this is the first time I see full color patched up type 3 Jungle Jackets. Name on white tape, gold and black USA and colored ranks plus pocket patch.

[cutiger83]

This is simply amazing! It is wonderful that you are preserving these....Kat

[Bluehawk]

I recently got these photographs from an operating room assistant who was with the 45th Surgical Hospital in Vietnam 1966-1967. There are over 400 and Im planning on buying his photos from training too which could bring the number to around 500.

 

My question is what would the best way to store these be? Im thinking about putting them in an album using those corner tab things for the pictures so they could be removed easily. Otherwise is there any chance of them getting damaged from leaving them in stacks like they are now? I dont want them sticking together, curling up or anything and Im afraid handling them loose could put wear on them after a while...

I strongly urge against placing these in an album, using adhesive corners or in any other manner.

 

They are of an age where they truly must be stored correctly in individual neutral pH sleeves, soon.

 

At the moment, they appear to be in almost miraculously good state of preservation. That can irrevocably change in an instant - due to critters, heat, humidity, light or mechanical injury.

 

Here is a source for obtaining such sleeves in a wide variety of sizes:

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...showtopic=26375

 

There are 2 basic types of sleeves. Either one is fine, and choice is largely a matter of cost.

- Clear neutral plastic

- Paper or neutral cardboard

 

Once you have them all in sleeves, then they should be kept together in either a Solander box (more expensive) or a Hollinger box (less expensive but just as good).

[DiGilio]

I am also very happy to see these pictures were not broken up. I absolutly hate when that happens but it seems to happen pretty often now.

Andrei, I didnt realize that untill now. This is probably the latest Ive seen all full color insignia used. Although some guys in his unit seem to of started wearing subdued, I cant find any pictures of him wearing anything but full color. His tour lasted untill August 1967 and if I remember correctly, US Army personnel were ordered in 1966 to start wearing subdued insignia by the start of 1967. I do have some subdued hand embroidered US ARMY tapes he picked up in Tay Nihn town but they are completely unused. I dont think he even bothered to get any subdued name tapes made.

Now Im deffinetly going to put them in sleeves and a box. Thanks for the advise Bluehawk.

Anyway heres a few more new pictures.

Perimeter

[capa]

You know, I realized looking through these again how he really seemed to enjoy, as best as one could, his time there. I would be curious to know if he sent these home to his family who kept them until he got back.

capa

[DiGilio]

Thats a good question. Im actually not sure. The photos that have the date developed all range from March 1967 - August 1967. He returned from Vietnam in August. Some of the photos seem like he sent them home after they were developed because of the captions on the back are very simply explaining something. An example is "These are the "choppers" that bring in the wounded". My guess is that he somehow had them developed in Vietnam and sent some home to show how he was doing, then brought the rest back when he returned in August.

[DiGilio]

Heres some more pictures. These are from his training and pre-Vietnam days in 1965 and 1966.