Phenomenal! I think I love this one the most.

I never thought to look for Viet Nam war-era pics on Flickr. I know the post depicts the more peaceful side of Viet Nam, but it reminded me that there might be war-era snapshots on Flickr. There are many, many.

My father was home by the time I was two; I'm too young to remember the war itself, but I grew up with its palpable influence. My main way of knowing about the war was through my father's several photo albums of his two tours, snapshots very much like these. Those books were all about something that happened to my dad. It's odd to see those colors, scenes, and atmospheres replicated, thousands and thousands of times by thousands of veterans, on Flickr. When you search "Vietnam 1968" or another such term on Flickr, you also get quite a cross-section - stateside protest march photos, presidential visits to Vietnam, R&R leave photos from Hawaii and Australia. Scrolling down creates a riveting sense of the zeitgeist.

Some things I found.

Lord, look at this image.

Or this one (is that mud that's turned purple as the image colors faded over time?)

You've heard soldiers talk about feet like hamburger.

A child riding a water buffalo

Lighter.

They always said it was all so bafflingly hard to reconcile because it was such a beautiful country.

Spiro Agnew, the pet lemur. My dad had a monkey called JoJo.

None survived.

Strange, war.

Those are amazing, too, Miko. And I want that lighter!

Finally, an opportunity to recommend the book Vietnam Zippos (though I think, based on the little curve in the lid, that that particular lighter is a knockoff).

(Also: Vietnam Zippos pop up fairly regularly at flea markets and whatnot, and on eBay (I like this one). And also also: if you wanted to make one yourself (though that just wouldn't be the same, huh?), a Dremel engraver, complete with stencils, costs about twenty bucks, and I believe a basic Zippo is $15-20 or so.)

Damn, Miko. Those are great finds. It never really occurred to me to go looking for photos which were anything but contemporary on Flickr, despite the postings of class yearbooks and the like. My mind is officially blown this evening.

Is that the photographer leaving comments with captions for each photo? Cause if so? The internet is so freaking cool.

Muddgirl - yes, it is. The photographer is 'arthawaii' @ flickr.

box, that is so interesting about the lighters. Turns out there are a bunch of websites, some NPR audio, and other stuff about the lighters on the web. It would make a cool FPP - do you want to do it? If not, with your permission, I might like to.

If you'd like to, Miko, I think that'd be great.