Wednesday, October 20, 2010

"At Ease, Soldier," circa 1955.

Lighthearted hijinks during a peace-time afternoon in the U.S. Army, Germany, ca 1955. One soldier "polishes" my Dad's shoes, while the other one cools him down with a fan. I suspect it was coffee break time, that's one of my Dad's homemade Thermoses in the background, and it looks like he's got his hand on a Cup o'Joe. They could have been reacting to my Dad's cigarette holder... 

This would have been the Motor Pool office at the base in Stuttgart. I like the tone and subtext of this moment in time among co-workers that enjoyed each other's company. I also like the pure graphicness of the scene, the dark diamond-shaped items on the wall, the well-pressed uniforms, the bit of period typography on the wall at the left and the honest, most likely homespun, young faces.

7 comments:

  1. OK, back up...."homemade Thermoses"? Your dad made this? Now there must be a story yet to be told.

    also did you add the ribbons and bullcase name tag?

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  2. nope, I didn't add anything to the photo. I'm not sure what Bullcase is!

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  3. With the chest of ribbons I would imagine it's like bull as in BS. lol

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  4. 1955 WAS A GOOD YEAR.

    GRANNY

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  5. From the pictures I've seen of you, you look a lot like your dad.

    He was lucky he was stationed in Germany and not Korea during the 50's.

    If I was stationed in Stuttgart, you know where I would be handing out :)

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  6. actually my Dad was stationed in Japan during the Korean conflict and fought in it in Korea. Then in early '55 they were transferred to Germany. I have some cool photos of Japan and Korea in the fifties, i'll get around to scanning one of these days.

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