Finally, I’m finished with grad school and back to work! My first assignment back in the photo world was for the New York Times last month. I met NYT reporter Jim Dao in Santa Clara, California, to work on a piece about Vietnam veterans from the 11th Armored Cavalry’s Alpha Troop. Alpha Troop was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation at a banquet on the Sunday of that weekend, September 12, 2009.
One of the experiences I was able to listen to was that of 58-year-old Ray Moreno, an Alpha Troop vet. During the second day of the assignment, I stayed in the room alongside Jim while he recorded the interviews that went into the final multimedia package. Some of the stories were, expectedly, heartbreaking. The final multimedia piece can be seen and listened to on the NYT site here. The editors combined my pictures and pictures from Vietnam to make the end product, a series of slideshows that play while audio from each A-Troop vet recounts their experience.
Overall, it was a great assignment. The 11th Cav guys were a boisterous and hospitable bunch, and I felt blessed to be able to bear witness to one of their reunions. I left with a notebook packed with names, email addresses, and instructions from various vets regarding where and how to email them photos. Many of the guys there weren’t exactly fans of the “liberal” New York Times, and told me I should get a better job working for Fox News. It was also the first time I’ve ever been photographed while taking pictures- kind of amusing.
I left wondering about all the stories that will be taken to the grave by the thousands of vets who- like some members of the A-Troop- came home to shame and stigma, drowning memory in silence.
Erin Siegal McIntyre 