Images.....
As mentioned here in the past, my close friend Joe Galloway wrote the 1994 NY Times best seller, We Were Soldiers Once and Young later made into the Mel Gibson film We Were Soldiers. In the year preceeding the movie release Joe made the decision to publically display for the first time some of the photos he took during the battle at LZ Xray in 1965. Consequently he had the photo department at "U.S. New and World Report", where he was senior writer, scan his negatives in very high resolution, put them on a CD and ship them to me for use on our website and in printing them for sale.
For the last two years I have been the keeper and processor of these digital images for use by those media, educational institutions and individuals whom Joe authorizes use to. Frankly at times, like before the movie premiered, I have spent considerable time and effort doing custom reformatting, resizing, cropping and cleaning the images. But it sure has been worth it. I've met some really interesting people, along the way.
Prior to the movie release I worked directly with the Paramount Pictures media people providing some of the photos they used in their advertising. I talked on the phone with producers at The Today Show, The History Channel, 60 Minutes II, and even sent some hard copy images FedEx to Dan Rathers home in Connecticut. I had several images blown up to poster sized proportions to take with me to a book signing with Joe and co-author Gen. Hal Moore [Mel Gibson's role]. For magazines, to name just a few, I've emailed or ftp'd images to "The VFW Magazine, "Soldier of Fortune Magazine", "The Digital Journalist" "The Alabama History Magazine" and "The Hong Kong Foreign Journalist Magazine".
And because of Joe's generosity, it is not only to the large scale media that we have provided photos. I have sent custom digital image files to a student at Texas A&M doing a research paper on Vietnam, to cadets at West Point and the Air Force Academy and to an aspiring journalist in Kansas City who had her story on Joe's tours in Vietnam picked up for major newpaper publicaton. We sent photos and personal stories to a high school student in Mountain Home, Arkansas who won an award for her essay on Vietnam and had her story reprinted in the local paper. She sent us a copy. I have sent complimentary photos to Privates, Sergeants, Lieutenants, Captains, and Sergeant Major's who just wanted a photo or were going to use them in unit displays, awards or visual programs. Two Four Star Generals have our photos in their offices. I personally gave one to General Tommy Franks here in Midland and one to my friend the SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Tom Hill. And........one that I sent to Washington for a Medal of Honor ceremony was presented to President Bush.
I bring all of this up because today I was at it again. This time for Joe's publisher, Random House. It seems that they are going to reissue the book in mass market paperback form and want to use new photos to spice up the cover and to better illustrate the storyline . I spent the better part of the morning downloading and setting up the publishers in-house file transfer system on my computer, talked to Ron the publisher and away went more photos. As I said....it's work, but great fun and somewhat of a thrill to see something that I had a minor hand in come out for public consumption. But, of course, the greatest thrill is sending a photo or two to the soldiers who were actually there.
As mentioned here in the past, my close friend Joe Galloway wrote the 1994 NY Times best seller, We Were Soldiers Once and Young later made into the Mel Gibson film We Were Soldiers. In the year preceeding the movie release Joe made the decision to publically display for the first time some of the photos he took during the battle at LZ Xray in 1965. Consequently he had the photo department at "U.S. New and World Report", where he was senior writer, scan his negatives in very high resolution, put them on a CD and ship them to me for use on our website and in printing them for sale.
For the last two years I have been the keeper and processor of these digital images for use by those media, educational institutions and individuals whom Joe authorizes use to. Frankly at times, like before the movie premiered, I have spent considerable time and effort doing custom reformatting, resizing, cropping and cleaning the images. But it sure has been worth it. I've met some really interesting people, along the way.
Prior to the movie release I worked directly with the Paramount Pictures media people providing some of the photos they used in their advertising. I talked on the phone with producers at The Today Show, The History Channel, 60 Minutes II, and even sent some hard copy images FedEx to Dan Rathers home in Connecticut. I had several images blown up to poster sized proportions to take with me to a book signing with Joe and co-author Gen. Hal Moore [Mel Gibson's role]. For magazines, to name just a few, I've emailed or ftp'd images to "The VFW Magazine, "Soldier of Fortune Magazine", "The Digital Journalist" "The Alabama History Magazine" and "The Hong Kong Foreign Journalist Magazine".
And because of Joe's generosity, it is not only to the large scale media that we have provided photos. I have sent custom digital image files to a student at Texas A&M doing a research paper on Vietnam, to cadets at West Point and the Air Force Academy and to an aspiring journalist in Kansas City who had her story on Joe's tours in Vietnam picked up for major newpaper publicaton. We sent photos and personal stories to a high school student in Mountain Home, Arkansas who won an award for her essay on Vietnam and had her story reprinted in the local paper. She sent us a copy. I have sent complimentary photos to Privates, Sergeants, Lieutenants, Captains, and Sergeant Major's who just wanted a photo or were going to use them in unit displays, awards or visual programs. Two Four Star Generals have our photos in their offices. I personally gave one to General Tommy Franks here in Midland and one to my friend the SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Tom Hill. And........one that I sent to Washington for a Medal of Honor ceremony was presented to President Bush.
I bring all of this up because today I was at it again. This time for Joe's publisher, Random House. It seems that they are going to reissue the book in mass market paperback form and want to use new photos to spice up the cover and to better illustrate the storyline . I spent the better part of the morning downloading and setting up the publishers in-house file transfer system on my computer, talked to Ron the publisher and away went more photos. As I said....it's work, but great fun and somewhat of a thrill to see something that I had a minor hand in come out for public consumption. But, of course, the greatest thrill is sending a photo or two to the soldiers who were actually there.
