Photos STORED IN AN OLD BROWNIE CAMERA

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3 responses to “Photos STORED IN AN OLD BROWNIE CAMERA”

1. 

   gpthelastrebel

   October 2, 2024

   Stan,
   It has been reported that these photos by an amateur enlisted photographer is a hoax.

   No one man could have covered all that ground. I lived on Ford Island 38/39 where my father advanced from YN1 to YNC. When he was promoted we moved from an apartment on Ford to one of those cottages you see just off battleship row. I used to try to throw rocks at them but never quite did any damage. We left December 1939. Can you imagine a Chief assigned one of these units? I’ll bet they’re for Commander and above.

   See Snopes: http://www.snopes.com/photos/military/pearlharbor.asp

   I was playing up a tree in Everett, Washington playing with Navy signal flags during the attack. My father was on the reefer ship Polaris on the North Atlantic Convoy run to Iceland, Britain and Russia at the time.

   George M

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2. 

   gpthelastrebel

   October 2, 2024

   George, I spent 30 minutes in Honolulu, so have no perspective on the logistics of covering all the sites. I did note that the snopes pix include aerial shots that our Brownie list does not have. The story did not say the sailor was on the Quapaw at the time. The ship was commissioned in May 1944. One picture has a clock in the corner, showing the time as 12:20, with “22” written over it, probably a sequence number. This picture shows someone could cover a lot of ground in four hours. It also is not likely a Brownie shot, as I do not think the Brownie had a clock image. While at least some of the pictures may be suspect, the premise is possible; if stored with relative temperature and humidity conditions that do not vary widely. the pictures could have survived. There was a film available at the time, Panatomic X, by Kodak, with a 25 ASA speed. This very slow speed film had extremely fine grain, and would have given such good images from a Brownie, which used this film produced on a metal spool for use in the Brownie and other similar box cameras. OK, while it is likely at least some of the pictures are Navy photos, they could have been made by the Brownie, and possibly by one man in a day, since he would not have been confined to a ship not built at the time. Whether true or not, the story does bring back memories to some of us, and show a time those younger need to be reminded of. As James Stewart’s character said in “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance”, “When the legend is better than the truth, print the legend.” Stan

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3. 

   gpthelastrebel

   October 2, 2024

   Here is what Chief Boring has to say about his experience–

   George, I spent eleven years on active duty as a Navy Photographer, motion picture and TV cameraman, and film director. I then did nine years in the Reserves, and Retired as a Chief Petty Officer in 1980. I attended still photo school in Pensacola in 1957, and spent a year in a special cinema course at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles in 1964/65. At that time, only twelve sailors and Marines were selected each year. Check that time frame on this site: http://www.navyphoto.org/Pages/usc-list.htm

   I spent three and a half years at the Naval Photo Center in Washington during the Kennedy Years. We made films of visits by heads of foreign states. Plus lots of more regular stuff. I was also in both the Atlantic and Pacific Combat Camera Groups, and their detachments in Naples and Yokosuka. Interesting times. I have a BS in Communications and an MS in Human Resource Management from Georgia State University. If you need anything else let me know. Stan

   H. Stan Boring, PHC, USN (Ret.)

   You are welcome to come to your own conclusion about the photos.

   GP

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