Virginia Man Finds Trove of Vietnam War-Era Photos on Film Purchased on eBay
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Courtesy: Ben Larsen(POQUOSON, Va.) — Ben Larsen was only looking to grab a good deal on a rare type of film he collects when he made a purchase last Thursday night on eBay.
Instead, the 21-year-old amateur photographer from Poquoson, Virginia, got not just the film but a trove of photos that appear to be from the Vietnam War era showing U.S. soldiers in Seoul, South Korea.
Larsen, who works in IT, first got a glimpse of the unexpected treasure when he developed a roll of black and white 35mm film that came free with the 127 film he purchased for around $35.
“I saw some foreign buildings so my dad and I began to try to figure it out,” Larsen told ABC News.
“I could see in a negative that there were soldiers in formation so I knew it was during a war,” Larsen said. “I went online and narrowed it down to Korea and eventually found a stock photo of one of the buildings from the side but there was no info so I spent hours doing reverse Google image.”
Larsen was able to determine that the building was a guard tower at Gyeongbokgung Palace and used Google Street View in Seoul, South Korea, to find the exact building.
“As I turned the Street View camera around, I realized it was like the guy was just walking down the street taking photos so I was able to follow his footsteps essentially,” Larsen said.
Larsen posted the photos to Reddit Wednesday along with a description, saying he believed the photos were from the Korean War sometime in the 1950s.
Reddit users quickly weighed in and determined that the photos appear to be from the Vietnam War, likely taken sometime in the late 1960s.
“I spent three tours in Korea 71, 85, and 95. This is definitely 1/12 FA Battalion (which is currently an MLRS battalion in Fort Sill, OK), part of the 2nd Infantry Division,” wrote one user.
“…The pants have a shorter cut, stopping at the ankle instead of continuing over the shoelaces, which came into fashion in the early 60s,” wrote another.
“This isn’t during the Korean war, as Seoul was pretty damaged at that time period. Given the newness of some of the buildings it is probably in the 1960’s, and as some have said here, it’s during the Vietnam War,” wrote another.
Larsen also reached out to the eBay user from whom he purchased the film and found out that the film had originally been bought at an estate sale whose owner was a pilot in either Vietnam or Korea.
“I really don’t know much about him, but I do know I seen a lot of pictures just thrown in a dumpster and garbage that looked pretty sentimental toward the end of the sale. Kinda broke my heart. I’m thinking the kids didn’t want them,” the eBay seller wrote in his reply to Larsen.
Larsen also heard from someone on Reddit who volunteered to process the color film for him for free. Once he has those photos, he says he plans to have them all scanned into a higher resolution and then will decide what to do with them from there.
“I just want to make sure I get the highest quality I can while they’re still good because they fade over time,” Larsen said.
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