Danny Mizer

Danny and his local girlfriend

Danny Mizer looking shy

Another shot of Danny and his girl

Photo 1

Silhouette of the barracks

photo 1-brighter

an exposure adjustment so you can see what is in the photo

Painting Crew?

This looks like a painting crew

Party Aftermath?

Holding Down The Roof

Those sandbags help hold the roof on in high winds. I love that I’m learning the little details in this project. Can you imagine how strong that guy must be to carry sandbags up onto a roof. Damn!

Photo #5

Clouds over the camp

Dig A Hole

These soldiers are digging a hole using a large auger mounted to a large truck.

Shove a Stick in it

This large post goes in the previously dug hole.

Raising the Pole

See?

More Pole

Hitting the hole is hard when your pole is that big.

Washing clothes

I wonder how clean these clothes were by the time they were done drying. That is a lot of sand the poles are standing in. And that is a lot of sand that could be blown around, sticking to wet clothes. 

And holy cow, that is a lot of clothes to be carrying without a basket.

Back to the hole

So I heard some of the things that this might actually be. Danny told my mother-in-law on occasion about the many holes he had to dig. (And how he didn’t want to dig more now because of it.) He described how they had to put up telegraph wires since the Viet Cong would “take them out.” Not sure if that means destruction or theft. So it could be that. 

It looks like the guys above are carrying a parachute. (I peeked ahead). And my step father tells me that parachutes were often used as a sun shades. So maybe that’s what they are doing.

Hanging a Chute

It’s looking more and more like this is following the hang the parachute as sun shade sort of theory. Since there has been someone without a shirt in most of these, I really hope the army gave the soldiers sun screen. It looks really hot there.

Climbing

I really have no idea what this soldier is doing. I am certain though, that whatever it is, there has to be an easier way.

A Billowing Chute

Guy got up. Still unsure what he’s doing.

Hammer it home

You don’t often see photos of a guy nailing a parachute to a pole.

Hammer it home 2

Here you get to see it twice though.

And it's Up

It is a parachute stuck over a pole between two barracks, next to a basketball hoop, a few picnic tables, a large box and a fuel tank. Oh, and it has wires running around or near it. And I don’t have a clue what the significance was. Danny spent a lot of film on this. Was the chute the important part or the wires? Hard to tell, really. Or maybe it wasn’t any of that. Maybe it was the guys who were the important ones. And they are the thing he wanted to remember. I’d like to think that maybe that’s it.

The Utah Flag

So… yeah. The Utah state flag. It makes me laugh, my mother-in-law warned me that Danny took some random photos. I sort of admire that. I can imagine a scenario where maybe Danny hadn’t seen the Utah state flag before. So he took a photo to remember it by. That’s too funny. 

I really hope that’s the reason. Because that’s the Danny I remember.

Scenery

his is a photo of a landscape. But way off in the distance there is something both interesting and potentially sad. There is a building there. On the ground in front of the building are scattered some orange barrels. I’ve included an unresized version of the scan below, just click the thumbnail. I’ve heard Agent Orange was named for it’s barrels. The photos I’ve seen online include photos that are normal steel barrels with orange writing and actual orange barrels. Could these be some of the barrels that contained the toxin that killed Danny? I hope not, I hope they are just orange painted barrels.

The Orange Barrels

I didn’t expect to find this. They look so innocent. But knowing what they might be, they make my skin crawl.

The Base

It seems to just be a photo of the base and the landscape behind it. It looks like this would have been really pretty county if it hadn’t been so horrible. 

Cam Rahn Bay

Didn’t know where this was when originally posted on the blog. Now I know he was stationed t Cam Rahn Bay. So I’m guessing this might be there.

Fire

Sadly, we know what Danny’s taking a picture of here. Off in the distance there is smoke. Now it might just be a fire. Odds are it isn’t, but from the fact that he took a photo of it, we know he found it interesting. And we can infer from that, that it wasn’t anything routine. I’m really glad I can’t tell what that is. Because out of all the things I can think of, a forest fire is the best possibility.

A Plane

This is a plane. There isn’t much to say about it, except that it looks cool.

Sand

There is one thing about all these photos that I find odd. Well, no, that isn’t true. I don’t find it odd. I just never realized it before. Sand. I can’t believe all the sand. Because my only exposure was from the movies and they always show woods and jungle, I never pictured a military base built on what looks to be a giant beach. I bet it was really pretty at some point. Maybe now it is again. 

Red Cans

I have no idea what these are. I absolutely love the photo though. You know that something has happened. Might not be interesting to those that left the cans there, but it is a story none the less. A minor mystery. I like how the composition is asymmetrical and off balance. It adds to the feeling that something is missing. That something had just happened. 

Of course, I doubt all those things were going through Danny’s mind when he took it. Maybe he thought it looked nice or maybe he was just testing the camera. We’ll never know I guess.

Friends

I have a feeling that these were close friends of Danny’s

Cam Rahn Bay Mess Card

This is the front of Danny’s mess card. 

Cam Rahn Bay Mess Card-Back

This is the back of the same card.

Naked Dancer

This is a naked dancer performing in front of a band. This is a very highly damaged slide and must have been important to Danny. We won’t speculate about whether or not the clothes or lack thereof was the reason for the importance :-)

Danny looking cool

Seriously. Can you imagine a cooler cat than one who can look that brooding and cool with a silly girl on his lap?