PFC Daniel Brookes, U.S. Army (1966-1969)

In 2010, because of TWS, I was able to locate one of my best friends from Vietnam, Bob Hillerby. We served together in the 69th Signal Battalion Combat Photography Unit. As a result of our reconnecting, I was able to write and publish two books on the role of military combat photographers in Vietnam.

Bob was my co-author of the first book, “Shooting Vietnam,” and between Bob and I, we were able to share hundreds of photos taken by us and a third writer, Tony Swindell, along with our first-person accounts of our experiences.

I was the sole author of the second book, “Cameras, Combat, and Courage,” which included more firsthand accounts of men in our unit and also the 221st Signal Company, which eventually took over the 69th Signal Battalion.

The purpose of these books was to finally give credit to the MILITARY combat photographers, who seldom shared the limelight with their more famous civilian counterparts, and let them share close personal stories with readers for the very first time. Some of these men were also found through TWS, but I don’t recall exactly which ones besides Bob.

Bob was a truly outstanding combat photographer and flew more than 100 combat missions with the 1st Cavalry and received the Air Medal. Sadly, he passed away in 2013 before “Shooting Vietnam” was published.

The books were published by Pen & Sword Publishing of Great Britain and received worldwide distribution in major bookstores and online as well through Amazon and others.

Thank you, TWS, for helping make all this possible!

I have included Bob’s photograph from 2013.

Read the Military Memories of our Runner-Ups.