NC Vets share wartime photos and the memories they brought home

As we honor those who have served this Veteran’s Day, we revisit a story from 2019, when the book Vietnam Photographs From North Carolina Veterans: The Memories They Brought Home was first published. The work is a collection of powerful images — more than 100 photographs taken by the American soldiers who fought in that war. Behind the photos are deeply personal, previously untold stories shared as captions written by the photographers themselves. WFDD’s David Ford was in attendance at the book launch and had this story. 

Martin Tucker grew up in Winston-Salem and comes from a long line of military men. He served in the Navy stateside during Vietnam, and eventually became an award-winning photojournalist and educator. He’s since retired, but about twenty years ago, when it came time to freshen up his class on developing film, Tucker turned to a subject matter he knew well.

"So, I put some fliers up seeking Vietnam Veterans," he says. "If you have any negatives, we’d love to borrow them. You’re welcome to come in and watch your photos come up in that darkroom tray. And for several weeks I didn’t get a bite."

But then he says things just took off with nearly 4,000 old photos and negatives. They were curated, compiled into a traveling exhibit viewed by tens of thousands across the country, and eventually into this 192-page coffee table book. 

Winston-Salem native and U.S. Marine Veteran Joe Anthony points to one of his photos. Three exhausted soldiers on a beach. All three staring directly at the camera.

"These two guys yeah, I went through dog school with them down in Fort Benning, Georgia," says Anthony. "And we were such a small group — 21 marines on an army base. [Laughs] Yeah, you can figure that one out."

Eighteen of them went into the bush in Vietnam, and all but three were wounded or killed. The captions of each of Anthony’s photographs are written in his own words.

"The sand was white, just white," says Anthony. "And the sand reflected up the heat and this was in the middle of the day."

In the photo, underneath one of Anthony’s legs sits a large German Shepherd staring off in the distance, almost smiling, long tongue dangling out.

"He was good with personnel," he says. "He could find cashes of ammo, food, and he was good with mines. When it was time to eat, he would always get the first spoonful of C-rats. The reason I’m [pauses to fight back tears] — the reason I’m here today is because of him."

Anthony says the book has enabled him to talk about experiences he’s kept tucked away for decades. But he admits, he’s still working through some things. 

Mike Callahan is, too. He was born and raised in High Point, served in the army, and while there, photographed several battle scenes. His photo shows a water-filled rice paddy irrigation ditch. In it stands an American soldier waist deep, holding a rifle in one hand. In his other the lifeless body of a North Vietnamese Army soldier, half submerged in the brackish water. As the American soldier stares beyond the camera, it’s clear he’s terrified.

"You can…you can tell a lot in the eyes," says Callahan.

In another of his photos, four army men struggle through thick brush carrying a soldier who’s covering his entire face with both hands.

"The gentleman on the stretcher had been wounded and you know that’s — he’s probably what, 12,000 miles from home?" he asks. "That’s just despair. Absolute despair."

These soldier photographers also have fond wartime memories: celebrating safe returns from the bush, forming lifelong friendships, and, for Callahan, taking local orphans to the zoo in Saigon.

In his photo from 1970, five-year-old Xinh Mai sits on his lap; both of them beaming at the camera as if they’d just been laughing together seconds before the shutter closed. They’ve kept in touch throughout the years. She owns a small clothing store in Ho Chi Minh City and has two grown daughters of her own. 

In 2003, Mike Callahan shared his Vietnam experiences with his two daughters in a photo album created just for them, including this personal reflection. 

"I hope you’ve enjoyed this look into my past," he reads. "I guess it shows a side of me you didn’t or couldn’t know. One day perhaps your son or daughter might want to know what your grandpa did in Vietnam, and you can show them. For sure, for sure I did other things there too — some tedious, some terrible. This is the accounting I choose to remember and how I would like to be remembered. I believe it is up to us to find the good in everything. Sometimes it’s easy, sometimes not, but it’s always there. Dad."

Those same words form the closing statement in the book Vietnam Photographs From North Carolina Veterans: The Memories They Brought Home, by Martin Tucker. In 2020 it was awarded the silver medal by the Military Writers Society of America.