The Vets:

 

 

A week after the tragic events of 9-11, a friend from Berkeley CA called and suggested I reach out to the local Vietnam veteran's association and offer my photographic services.  

 

My friend, Joe McDonald, had served in the US Navy in the early 60's before heading back to Berkeley and becoming an anti war activist as well as an effective advocate for Vietnam veteran's rights which he has devoted his entire life to. 

 

(He also started a folk rock band then, called Country Joe and the Fish.)

 

Veteran’s Day always falls on November 11th.  In 2001, this was exactly two months after 9-11.

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I met men and women who had served in the military going back to the Spanish Civil War and continuing up through 'Iraq 1.'

 

This was a time of deeply felt patriotism and it was never more apparent than in the faces of the people I met and photographed both on that day and in subsequent years through 2006.