Hawaii, July, 1971

Hawaii, July, 1971

Because I didn't get to leave Vietnam early, - I took a late R & R (a week's vacation from the war) in Hawaii.   I had my trusty Nikonos II underwater camera and since I was alone - which I don't recommend because it's boring - my camera was my companion.   Because I was a single female-starved guy near the end of my year long tour in the war, most of my pictures had young women in them.

Despite being jet lagged, I hit the beach and because I have light skin that doesn't tan, I got a dandy sunburn immediately.

This is one of those pretty girl pictures.  This was 44 years ago but I'll bet they still look the same.

The tropical dusk was something.

We don't have palm trees or the sea in the U.S. Upper Midwest where I'm from so I enjoyed the novelty of these things.

Selfies weren't in vogue yet but I was ahead of my time.  This is me in a Hawaiian mirror, Nikonos in hand.

A Christian rock group was proselytizing us beach denizens - they can be seen in orange in the left side of the picture - but I'm sure all the skin was the focus of this shot.

It probably was the young women at the window that encouraged me to take this picture but I find the 1971 beach joint pricing more interesting now.  I couldn't figure out how to get any of these pictures into my "War Stories" book - they would have been off the subject - but Hawaii was a pleasant if dull diversion from the war.  And I did it cheaply - it cost me $80.