CLAdictic
Established
The time was 1965, the place Pleiku, Vietnam. I was an Army military policeman working out of Pleiku. One morning the M.P. station received a call from the Special Forces B detachment located down the highway from II Corps HQ. They advised one of their troop's had run over a Vietnamese citizen in the old market area of the city. Being the senior M.P. on duty I grabbed my partner and we headed toward the scene. Arriving, I located the American Special Forces truck driver and his 10 ton truck. In the middle of the right rear wheel assembly was the body of the Vietnamese pedestrian. Knowing this accident would get close scrutiny in Saigon, I wanted to document it as best as possible. I would complete a traffic accident diagram with measurements, but I wanted to photograph the scene. Problem, M.P.'s in Pleiku did not have an Army issued camera. Telling my partner to secure the scene as best possible, I jumped into my jeep and headed toward Camp Holloway, home of the 52nd Aviation, Huey's. They had a small post exchange (PX). I went in and told the clerk I was in a rush, but needed a simple camera to record a fatal traffic accident, involving an American G.I. He had several different makes of cameras. He showed me an Olympus Pen EE half-frame, that would give me 72 exposures on a 35 exposure roll of film. It was basically auto except for three different scenic settings. Two rolls of B&W film, plus camera I was on my way back to the scene. Arriving, I first had to read the manual on loading the film. I then started to photographically record the scene. I determined the driver was not at fault, the breaks on his truck failed, and I recorded the break petal down on the floor board. When I had completed my diagram, we went back to the office, so I could write the report. I knew that there was a Vietnamese photo studio in downtown Pleiku, and I hoped to get the film developed. There was no classified or sensitive information on the roll, so it was OK to have it developed at the studio. I dropped the film off, our P.I.O. specialist said he used the studio for film developing. The shots came out, with the diagram, and report I had the package ready for our C.I.D. agent's review. He really liked the photos, and said he never expected photos. I still retain several prints from that traffic accident scene. It was a number of "first's" for me, and thanks to that little unsophisticated camera, a good report became a great report.