Why of course I would have to be the first photograph with someone in it! Welcome to my web site! This photo was taken at the entrance to the barracks. See that smile!? I enjoyed myself while in the Canal Zone!
We are now at the jumping off point from which almost all clicks will lead to people, as this is what my web site is about: The other young men I spent my tour of duty with while in the Canal Zone. I have broken down the web site into the following catagories as posted below. Each section has photographs showing many of my fellow soldiers along with their first names, last initials only. You will find a short story accompanying each photo explaining some of the shared experiences we had while serving down there as members of the 549th. You will also find a few photos showing other soldiers I knew back then both in and outside of my company.
As I have previously stated, I smoked, drank, and whored around alot while stationed in the Canal Zone. Therefore, you shouldn't construe my previous statements as meaning that everyone you see here in my web site did as I had done when down there, nor should you find them guilty of drinking, smoking, or whoring around simply due to their proximity to me. I speak for myself here, and can say without any regrets I had fun doing what I used to do down there, and I've been able to leave that pot smoking/womanizing life behind me many years ago.
Yet, there are a couple of people in this site whom I will speak openly about, as that is the only way I can ruminate about my relationship with them. I make this statement because I'll be writing about drug use, and what it was like to whore around in the bars of Colon. I will do this because if I don't have a few salacious stories to tell you, or the promise of one to tell you, then how the hell else am I going to hold anyones' interest in what I have to say here?
Yet, this doesn't mean everything I say here is the truth. There are always two sides to every story, and what I've written down here is the way I think I remember things being way back when I was stationed down there. As I had previously stated, I havn't spent the last 25+ years thinking about my life and the lives of my fellow soldiers. What I've put down here in my web site is what I believe occurred all those years ago.
And I hope anyone with whom I used to party with has changed as I have over the years. I would think it would be a rough life indeed if one was still smoking pot, snorting coke, popping pills, drinking to excess, etc. after all of these years.
Most people would not want their names broadcasted over the internet. There are however, some persons here for which I only have a last name, or nickname for (Smitty. Guess what his last name is...!!?). These people I will refer to as such.
And its only because I had taken the time years ago to write down the names of the persons appearing in each slide that I have as many names as I do. About 2 years after having left the Canal Zone I was showing these slides to a women friend who asked me the names of the soldiers she was seeing. I found I was having difficulty remembering some of the persons staring back at me from the screen, and decided at that point I should write down the names of everyone on the sides of those slides. Unfortunately, I had nowhere to write anyone names on the black and white negatives, therefore many of these have ended up being the main source of those soldiers found under the title of "The Unknowns/Forgotten Persons".
Most of the photographs found here, and throughout the web site were shot in 1973. I invite anyone who served in The Canal Zone at anytime in the past, whether you or your friends were M.P.'s or not, to send me your digital photos from you time of service, and I'll post them here in this web site. No matter what your job was (motor pool, infantry, Air Force, etc), or where you were stationed (Atlantic or Pacific). I'll post your photos here in its own group under some heading I'll come up with later. Maybe you're looking for somebody after all of these years. Send along a name and I'll post it. Who knows what will happen.
My e-mail address is lexingtonand76@netscape.com. I ask you to not send me any files over the internet. Just e-mail me your phone number so that I can call you & discuss how to turn your photos, or negatives into jpegs for publishing here. When e-mailing me make clear your name or something about Panama/Canal Zone in your subject address. If I don't know you and if you havn't expressed something about the Zone in your subject address, or you have attached a file to your message, I will delete your message/file without opening it up. Your best bet is to drop me a postcard, or write me at Gary Wilson: P.O. Box 207, Savannah, NY 13146-0217.
Photographs & Stories From Others Whom Had Served In The Canal Zone.