War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1445 Bathing and Surrounding

On the day they returned to the Cowshed Camp, Wei Ran and the three of them were unexpectedly quiet. It could even be said that almost everyone was avoiding them that day - even dinner was delivered by a soldier they didn't know. Come.

The situation was both good and bad. Taking advantage of this rare opportunity, Zach also took Li Youfu and Wei Ran to develop all the films they took in the Hanbang camp into light-resistant negatives.

"What should we do with these film boxes?" Li Youfu asked in a low voice.

"When it gets dark," Zach paused, "I'll take a bath in the basin myself."

"it is good"

Li Youfu agreed without thinking, but Wei Ran had already frowned.

Basin washing is not a tub bath, and it has nothing to do with taking a bath.

Those who can play with rotary washing machines are basically the real bosses of the film era.

The reason why I say this is to make a simple comparison.

The total length of ordinary 135 film is less than 8 meters, but the film box used by Zach's Super 15 camera contains a total length of meters of film!

This is the biggest problem. In places like the front line where there is a lack of professional equipment, the only way to develop such a long film is the so-called "basin washing".

But this thing is so difficult and the cost of trial and error is so high, at least Weiran doesn't have the confidence to try it.

But looking at Zach's confident look and Li Youfu's accustomed look, it's obvious that this kind of thing has happened more than once.

As Wei Ran waited and expected, time passed by minute by second. After dinner, Li Youfu bought two large packages of cold beer and two large barrels of ice cubes.

Only this time, no one touched the beer and ice cubes at all, and they even wrapped them in layers of blankets to keep them warm.

When night fell, Li Youfu asked Wei Ran to go to the outside of the camp and buy half a watertight Agent Orange oil drum.

After moving all the ice cubes, beer and oil barrels into the bathroom, which was not very spacious, the three of them first blocked the leaking steel mesh floor under their feet with blankets, and then blocked the only window.

When everything was ready, Li Youfu put a small bucket of water into the oil barrel, then took out the thermometer, hung it in the water with a rope, and added ice cubes to it while stirring.

Soon, the water temperature was adjusted to 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Li Youfu immediately covered his head and the thermometer soaked in the bucket with a blanket, and only relied on the luminous light of the watch dial to observe the temperature.

Zach also soaked the basin in the bucket, and then prepared various potions.

"I'll leave it to you outside."

Zach took out the film box and said, "You don't allow anyone to open the bathroom door until I open the door, even if President Johnson comes to show off his pocket dick."

"give it to me"

As Wei Ran spoke, he had already pulled out the 1911 pistol from his waist and helped close the bathroom door from the outside.

Although he regretted not being able to witness Zach's show with his own eyes, Wei Ran also knew that even if he stayed in the bathroom where he couldn't see his fingers, he wouldn't be able to see anything at all. Instead of doing this, he might as well help guard the door.

Thinking of this, he also took out the Ithaca 37 trench shotgun from the metal book that he had no chance to use since he got it, loaded the bullet with a "click", and then put it back into the metal book.

Fortunately, during the long night of waiting, although the helicopters outside the window were rising and falling, no one disturbed them from beginning to end.

At about four o'clock in the morning the next day, the bathroom door was opened by Zhaka from the inside.

"Have you washed it?" Wei Ran asked in a low voice.

"It's washed." Before Zach could finish his words, Li Youfu also walked out from behind.

"Help us put those film cans in safety sleeves."

Zach lit a cigarette as he spoke, "Then we find a place to hide them."

"give it to me"

As Wei Ran spoke, he took out a large pack of condoms from his bag, put the film boxes wrapped in a layer of newspaper in Li Youfu's hands and tied them tightly, and then wrapped them in two extra layers of thick newspaper.

It wasn't over yet. Zach, who was holding a cigarette in his mouth, took out a roll of transparent tape from Li Youfu's large backpack and wrapped it tightly around the film boxes.

Even the camera films that had been developed into negatives and put into sealed tubes were processed in the same way by the three of them.

It took more than half an hour for the three of them to work together to pack these precious negatives. The next question was where to hide them.

"It seems we can't take away these films easily."

Zach whispered, "We need them to hide."

"Just under this wooden house"

Li Youfu whispered, "I went down from the bathroom and buried them under the house."

“This is the only way”

Zach nodded slightly, then pulled out his dog tags, took off one and handed it to Li Youfu, "Bury your dog tags with those films. This is the only way to prove the origin of these films. Something.”

"it is good"

Li Youfu took Zach's dog tag without thinking, then pulled out his own dog tag and took off one of them.

Seeing the two people looking at him, Wei Ran nodded happily, took out the dog tags that were entangled with the light meter, also pulled off one and handed it to Li Youfu, letting him use two condoms to cover the three dog tags. I got up and wrapped the tape back and forth several times.

"The combination to my safe is right there."

Zach said half jokingly and half seriously, "My social security number read from back to front is my safe password, so Troye, you have to bury it deeper, otherwise the treasure in my safe will be It will all be taken away by others.”

"I will bury them deep enough"

Li Youfu made the promise with a smile, and then put the Soldier card, which was almost wrapped into a spindle with tape, together with the crucial film and film boxes, into a rubber waterproof bag and sealed it, and then wrapped it additionally outside. Wear a raincoat.

Finally, he put this bag of things into a butt bag. Li Youfu climbed down the toilet pit in the bathroom to the bottom of this stilt-style room. He took the folding engineer shovel handed over by Zach and carried the butt bag to the room directly below the room. After moving a few meters deep, we started digging.

"What are you going to do next?" Wei Ran, who was guarding outside the bathroom, asked in a low voice.

"What should I do?" Zach asked in a low voice, standing by the window looking outside.

"These films must be taken back." Wei Ran pointed at his feet, "They can't be buried here forever."

"When I go back this time, I will give a positive report to the T team and package them as heroes." Zach said seriously, "Then I will invite reporters from the Saigon press corps and CBS to come to the bullpen camp and invite them to join us. To reveal the truth, I will send them all to hell in a reporter’s way.”

"I hope it will succeed." Wei Ran sighed and said nothing more.

Just as the first ray of sunshine of the day shone through the window, Li Youfu climbed out of the "lattice" and went straight into the bathroom next door.

In the next two days, it was as if all restrictions had been lifted. They could go in and out almost anywhere to shoot at any time without any restrictions - except that they were not allowed to leave the camp.

Likewise, since their return, Platoon Sergeant George the Wild Boar has gone somewhere. Angus and Brad, on the other hand, became as enthusiastic as before after their subtle attitude changes on the day they came back.

Even halfway through, Angus invited Wei Ran to watch his "animal taming" process, while Brad invited Zach to "taste" the latest captured female guerrilla.

As for the film they hid, it seemed as if it had been forgotten by both parties and was never mentioned again.

“Two days left”

At the door of the wooden house, Zach, holding a cigarette in his mouth, said, "We will leave in two days, then."

Before he could finish his words, a helicopter also made a rumbling noise from far to near, and almost roughly landed on the tarmac not far from them.

Immediately afterwards, the three of them saw that another platoon in the camp began to gather. Even Angus, Brad and others who seemed to have deliberately avoided them in the previous two days also ran to the tarmac in full force and started. Rally.

"Hey! Angus! Brad! What's going on?" Zach leaned over and asked as if he was familiar with it.

"Platoon Commander George and the others are surrounded," Brad said anxiously, "Let's go rescue them."

"Zach, do you want to follow?"

Angus suddenly said, "When the support is over, some of the wounded may be sent directly back to Da Nang. If there are vacancies then, you may be able to go back with them."

As soon as these words were spoken, Brad frowned, and immediately after, even Zach almost frowned.

But soon, or without thinking seriously at all, Zach turned around and waved to Wei Ran and Li Youfu, "Quick! Get the camera! Our work is here!"

"Do we have to go?" Li Youfu asked Wei Ran as he turned around and walked into the wooden house.

"If we don't go, if we stay here, I'm afraid we will still die on the battlefield."

Wei Ran muttered in an extraordinarily sober tone, and at the same time carried his hip bag with both hands and feet.

In less than five minutes, the three of them boarded the helicopter following the support team, who seemed to have ulterior motives, and Angus, who seemed to have ulterior motives.

Before the plane started heading towards its destination, Zach suddenly stretched the camera out of the cabin and took a photo of the five-pointed star-shaped bullpen camp from a high altitude.

This time, the helicopter and the surrounding helicopters flew for an hour. When the plane began to lower its altitude, there was nothing but a withered and yellow jungle directly below the cabin that seemed to be affected by defoliants and was constantly blown by the wind from the propeller. Beyond the swaying dry elephant grass, there is a position that is being besieged.

Thanks to the helicopter's high-altitude advantage, the tense situation in the besieged positions below was relieved. The helicopter occupied by Wei Ran and others was also the first to land on the landing site marked with a signal flare.

Before the plane came to a stop, Brad and others jumped out of the cabin one after another. Angus grabbed Zach with one hand and the Weifan with the other hand, and pulled him away amidst the roar of the propellers. Then they were a few steps behind and distanced themselves from Brad and others.

"Follow me later!"

Angus said anxiously, "Just do whatever I tell you, listen to me, and you can go back alive!"

After finishing speaking, Angus took off the M79 grenade launcher he had been carrying on his shoulder and the Type 56 bullet bag filled with various grenades and threw them to Li Youfu, "Hold it for me! No passing No firing with my permission!”

"Listen to him," Zach said immediately when he saw Li Youfu looking over.

"What's going on now?!" Zach asked loudly as he ran behind Angus.

"Platoon Leader George is leading a team on a black mission!" It was Brad who answered the question, "But there was an accident in the mission!"

"Why are all the soldiers in this position holding sticks?!" Zach simply continued to ask.

"We were originally planning to build a new camp here!" Brad explained loudly, "But it's obviously about to fail! Hurry up!"

Before he finished speaking, Brad had already led the team to speed up, passing through the chest-high withered yellow elephant grass, and led his team towards the edge of the jungle not far away.

Amidst the intensive gunfire that came from time to time, Wei Ran and others soon saw Platoon Leader George and others standing in a trench on the edge of the jungle, as well as almost a platoon of soldiers with sticks.

Of course, there are still a lot of wounded here, several of whom are from the T team!

"Get him into the cabin!"

Angus immediately started busy, and issued the order after urgently hanging a plasma bag for a white wounded man.

Zach also subconsciously pressed the shutter. Soon, as the wounded were sent into the cabin one by one, the helicopters also took off one after another. However, the position was stabilized again because the helicopters rushed to reinforce the troops.

"When will the second wave of helicopters come?" Angus shouted while busy bandaging a wounded man.

"18 minutes!"

Robert, the black communications soldier next to Brad, shouted and replied, "The helicopter from Da Nang will arrive in 18 minutes! But it will take two batches to take everyone away!"

"I didn't bring enough plasma!"

Angus yelled, "Photographers! How about borrowing some blood! You're the only ones who don't have to fight now!"

"I have blood type A!" Zach reacted immediately and said.

"I am type AB!" Wei Ran replied.

"I am type AB too!" Li Youfu replied a step too late.

"Come here quickly!"

Angus pulled Zach over and quickly connected him and a white wounded man to blood transfusion equipment. At the same time, he shouted, "Wait a minute and follow this wounded man to the plane!"

"Okay!" Zach replied loudly, already understanding Angus's plan.

"come here!"

Angus waved to Wei Ran, led him to the side of another wounded white man, and also connected the blood transfusion equipment and gave similar instructions.

Soon, even Li Youfu was "blood-connected" with a wounded black man.

However, even at this time, Zach still did not stop taking pictures, and even Li Youfu, who was not sure if he was arrogant, was still helping him change the film!

However, just as the second batch of helicopters was about to arrive and everyone began to hear the roar of the propellers, Angus had already risked jumping out of the trench and rushed towards a man who was still struggling not far away. White wounded!

(End of this chapter)