These photos were taken by Tom Soma, KIA with Charlie Troop, Vietnam. Tom was on his THIRD TOUR of Duty in Vietnam when he was killed in combat on December 30, 1969. These photos taken by Tom, were portraying the Vietnam known by so many soldiers who had seen it, and lived it. The good fellowship of brothers and the reality of war. Tom told his family in his first tour or so, that it was common for soldiers to hand out food to villagers, especially the children. The Viet Cong and NVA soon figured this out, and had the children run up to the landing helicopters and toss in grenades. Tom was an excellent Scout Observer, and is missed by everyone. His brother Larry Soma, and his family have graciously submitted Tom’s photos to be included in our collection. :
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A full load of 55 gallon drums inside a Chinook
Location?
Tom Soma
Tom’s first tour was with “A” Company, 1st Engineers building bridges
“Sling loading” back a shot up Huey Jan 1968
One door gunner to another…salute! Jan 1968
Tom’s view with his machine gun, Jan 1968
Sling loading back a shot up Scout bird, Jan 1968
…. and the battle rages on Jan 1968
Chinooks in formation, Jan 1968
Below, the smoke tells the tale of a battle raging Jan 1968
Chinook, January 1968
Aerial view of an outpost
Name ?
“Charlie Troop Scouts to the front!” Dec 1968
Low level hell… Dec 1968
The countryside that the war has not yet touched. December 1968
7.62 Mini-gun, six barrels of pure lead
Taking the fight to the enemy, Dec 1968
Cobra gunship escort, Dec 1968
Tom and his machine gun in action, Dec 1968
John Jelich, KIA during his second tour
Name?
The countryside is beautiful, with mountain valleys, and flat lands of rice. Dec 1968
Scout bird, Sep1968
A typical Vietnamese street
A memorial somewhere in Nam, Jun 1967
Name ?, June 1967
Name?, June 1967
Up-graded accommodations (think TENTS!) June 1967
“All we need Tom are some water skis…” June 1967
Some of the most intense weather many of us had ever seen…
Name ? June 1967
Sometimes the deep ditches needed to be much deeper! June 1967
Tent City, June 1967 before the wooden structures with tin roofs!
Tom Soma
Raining buckets. Locals helping fill sandbags, Jun 1967
Names? Sandbag detail June 1967
Names ?< sandbagging home sweet home! Jun 1967
Sandbagging the houches, June 1967
Name ?
Sandbags, and more sandbags!
Tom Soma
Tom Soma
(First name?) Trackwell
Charlie Troop Huey gunship, Aug 1968
The lap of luxury compared to wet tents!
Basic wooden walls, screening under the eaves, and tin roofs. Far better than tents!!
Huge valleys of peace from the air , Aug 1968
Charlie Troop’s new home, before sandbags!
Every dry day was laundry day living in walls of sandbags and bunkers
Cobra from Blue max, Aerial Rocket Artillery, (ARA) Aug 1968
Gun at the ready
Low level over a village, Dec 1967
Vietnamese village, Dec 1967
Tom Soma, Dec 1967
Tom Soma, Dec 1967
Tom Soma, probably 1968
Name ?
Tom Soma
Throwing out “Chu Hoi” leaflets, which described how to surrender, how much would be paid for a weapon, etc Dec 1967
Low level over a “vil” (village) Dec 1967
the monsoon season floods most everything, including the roads in the lowlands.
Monsoon season….when it rains buckets.
The contrast: peace in the background, war in the front. Dec 1967
Catching some sleep “before it hits the fan.” Often crews slept at their aircraft when on standby.
Machine gun at the ready, Dec 1967
Combat is hours of boredom punctuated by minutes of sheer terror…
Modern infrastructure against centuries old, Dec 1967
Beautiful countryside, from the air.
Everywhere one looked, there were military installations.
Tom Soma
“Maggi” from the Red Cross boarding Tom’s Chinook, Dec 1967
Flying “VFR on Top.”
Sure looks like an over-turned truck of Coca Cola!
“The Front Office” of a Huey
Vietnamese lads, Dec 1967
Name?
Tom Soma, Dec 1967
“Mama san” doing laundry
A casualty of the war.
Enemy hit on our forces
Vietnam countryside
Name?, with young lad, Dec 1967
Taking off, looking back, Dec 1967
Chinook field refuel, Dec 1967
Vietnam Jan 1968
Chinook with a sling load
Tom’s machine gun above the countryside, Dec 1967
Americans owned the top, and the bottom… but the bad guys had the sides of the mountains.
A hazy day above the rice fields, Dec 1967
Vietnam… from here, you would never know that a war raged below.
Vietnam, Dec 1967
A “Huey Hauler” Chinook
Name? It may be up north, NOT 3rd Corps
Passengers inside a Chinook
The side and interior of a Huey
A Huey impersonating a Cobra gunship? Aug 1968
Vietnam, Jan 1968
A base camp, Dec 1967
Chinook sling load
Some depot, somewhere! Dec, 1967
Chinook flight line, January 1968
Sling loads..big helicopters haul back smaller helios! Jan 1968
Tom Soma on the loading ramp of a Chinook
Tom’s machine gun; Chinook, Dec 1967
Chinook, Jan 1968
What a battlefield looks like after arty, and bombs hit it. Jan 1968
Vietanmese countryside
Aerial view of a base camp
Tom’s view from inside a Chinook sling loading a Huey, Jan 1968
Re-supplying our troops on the ground, Jan 1968
On the ground, Jan 1968
Chinook, Jan 1968
Jan 1968
Tom’s photo collage of a loach, Dec 68
Reefer Wilson, Dec 1968
Tom Soma, Dec 1968
Name?
John Jelich, left; Tom Soma right
John Strickland
Name?, Dec 1968
Tom Soma being decorated
The “Rythm Masters” on the flight line
Air Force pilots and crew volunteering to join Charlie Troop?
Old and new gunships!
Name?
Charlie Troop, 1/9 Scout aircraft Aug 1968
Reefer Wilson, Dec 1968
Some safety wire and duct tape, and she’ll be ready to fly!
Names? Charlie Troopers!
Greg Jayne
John Jelich, Scout Pilot, KIA second tour
Names?, August 1968
Tom Soma, September 1968
Tom Soma-Dec 1968
Tom Soma and Greg Jayne
Tom Soma, Dec-1968
Tom Soma, left; -name?-Sep-1968
Name? Tom Soma, on right
Tom Soma
Tom Soma and Cavalier Monk?!
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We wish to add this from Larry Soma, Tom’s younger brother:
“The last time Tom was home on furlough was in 1968. We went to the local hardware/appliance store, and brought home a refrigerator box. We made a ‘fort’ out of it, and like kids back then I had a BB gun. So we made some gun ports in the side of the box and sat inside of it. Our mother had a clothesline on the other side of our backyard with the clothespins that had the spring on them. Tom showed me that if you shoot the open end, they would spin around on the clothesline. It was great fun until our mother saw this, and let us know her opinion of our doings!
Tom enjoyed cars and art. He once took a white sweatshirt and redrew some art from a Hot Rod magazine this onto a white sweatshirt. This photo is of Tom, in his junior year of high school, wearing it. The sweatshirt now, though aged, is a great keepsake that I have.”
