600th & 601st Photo Squadron veterans; here is your opportunity to tell your stories and have them published in the Smithsonian’s “Air & Space” magazine.
David Freed contacted me through my friend Peter Seel. He has been contracted to write an article for “Air & Space” with the goal of chronicling the 600th Photo Squadron’s efforts in Vietnam. According to David the story will be told in anecdotal fashion, using 6-8 photos taken by Air Force photographers and other members of these units who were there. Each photo will tell its own stand-alone story. While it’s no doubt true that each picture is indeed worth a thousand words, for his purposes, each picture will be worth about 400 words. In essence, he is looking for great stories to go along with a handful of outstanding photos. His goal is to interview those who took the pictures, to profile them as well as their work. Those of you with stories, serious and or humorous, to tell can contact David directly with their shots and stories at suspectfreed@gmail.com.
Some background information about David: I was born on an Air Force base (Turner AFB, Albany, GA). I’m an instrument-rated pilot and aircraft owner, produced screenwriter and a former investigative journalist for the Los Angeles Times, where I shared in a Pulitzer Prize and reported from the Middle East during Operation Desert Storm. My work appears regularly in national magazines, including Smithsonian’s Air & Space and The Atlantic. I’m an adjunct journalism instructor at Colorado State University, but reside most of the year in Santa Barbara. My day job is writing novels. I am the author of the aviation-themed Cordell Logan mystery-thriller series published by The Permanent Press. If you’re so inclined, you can learn more at David-Freed.com.
I’m excited to be working on a story that will give long-overdue credit to those personnel who risked their lives to record the Air Force’s efforts in Southeast Asia.
This is a great opportunity to recognize some of “our” heroes from the Vietnam War. Please respond to David and please send me, kenhackman@att.net, a copy of what you provide him. – Ken Hackman