Best Friends Best Friends were John Irwin and Harold "Fitz" Fitzgerand.
We lived together in a villa in Saigon not far from the Tan Son Nhut Air Base where we worked.
I was assigned as OIC of the Out Country Photo Interpretation Section. We were responsible for first and secondary readout of Aerial Phototograph taken of North Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. We predominantly looked at day and night photos and Infra-red imagery of North Vietnam taken by Tactical Recon Aircraft (RB-66, RF-101s, and RF-4C, etc). We also did some review of high altitude SR-71 imagery and the Low Level Drone missions called "Bumpy Action."
We would put out reports sent via classified message to all Intel and Operational Strike Forces in the Theater.
I also had the previlage of doing some daily Bomb Damage Assesment briefing to the Director of Intelligence and the Commander of 7th Air Force. Occasionally these briefings would lead to restriking of some targets, and also of pursuit of similar targets that were lucrative in destroying enemy supplies along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
Best Moment
My most memorable moments:
I was at the 13th RTS Aug 65 to Sep 66. I ran the out country PI shop and towards the end I was the photo briefer for the 7th Air Force. I’m trying to find the photos we used to help 7th AF put the smackdown on some trucks in a big truck park in North Vietnam while I was there. RF4s and RB66s flew some Night Photo (cartridges) and Infrared one night and caught a convoy pulling into a truck park just north of the ferry crossing. We walked the info and photos over to 7th AF HQ and they had it struck it at first light. Big time hit on those NVA dudes. Pilots reported multiple secondary explosions and burning POL. Daylight BDA photos during the day showed many destroyed trucks and fires still burning. Also, I sure would like to get my hands on the BumpyAction low level Drone photos I used to identify an SA-2 missile on a camouflaged transporter near the DMZ during one of the TET stand downs.
