Terry A Moon

I value any comments or questions on my book, contact me at firstcavphotog@icloud.com

I was born in Oceanside, CA in 1947. I attended Vista High School and Palomar Community College North of San Diego where I studied photography with Justis Ahrend, a great instructor. Working on the school newspaper and magazine I won photo awards including a prestigious statewide contest.

In the fall of 1966 I commuted to San Diego State University, and worked as a photographer for the local newspaper, the Vista Press. Ii the spring semester of 68 I couldn’t get the classes I needed at SDSU. To avoid the draft and have control on what I would do in the military, I enlisted in the US Army with the guarantee of photo school, and a job as a photographer. Basic training at Fort Ord, California, then in July, I began Army Still Photo School training in Ft. Monmouth, New Jersey. Finishing #1 in my class of 20, I was offered a job as an instructor at the school, but orders to Vietnam for my entire class overruled that. Upon arrival in Vietnam, I was chosen to serve with the Army’s elite 1st Air Cavalry Division. I was so fortunate, it was, without a doubt, the great adventure of my life.

When I returned to "the world", my next duty station was the Military District of Washington D.C. I took pictures all over the Washington area, including the White House, Arlington National Cemetery, and the Pentagon. I photographed Medal of Honor families, and shot pictures of President Nixon with visiting heads of state at military ceremonies many times, and actually took photos in the oval office.

I met my wife Nancy in D.C., a petite fashion show model. Her father was the civilian maintenance foreman for the Presidential Helicopter. When I left the Army in April of 71, we came back to California, I got a job with a large newspaper group and commercial printer. I quickly learned to convert photos to halftones for printing. I eventually became foreman of the prepress department. In the 1980 we built the big house and I moved on to a larger printing company, with more stable hours as Nancy's health declined. I did precision layouts and film assembly, and when we went digital, I was the Mac guy. I finished my career doing mostly quality assurance.

Nancy was finally diagnosed with Lupus in 1995. She took her successful antique business from a Carlsbad shop onto eBay. I was the shipping department. She needed more and more care, so I retired early in 2003, as her Lupus flareups left her very weak.

Everything changed in an instant in August of 2014, Nancy collapsed in the living room, a subarachnoid hemorrhage from an aneurysm struck her down. The next morning she was in a coma, and there was little hope., I told them to remove life support, as I had promised her before, and she died quietly a few hours later. There was never any real response from her to anything I said or did.

About four months before Nancy died all 257 letters that I had sent home from Vietnam were found. My 1st Cav daily journal began to materialize. After the loss of Nancy the writing of my Vietnam journal became a sanctuary for me from the grief.

The general public view of the Vietnam war has changed in the last 20 years or so, we are now heroes and no longer criminals. In 2007 I built a web site about my Vietnam experience, I get great email from Vietnam vets. It is all very positive, I enjoy it all. View my very old site at: http://1stcavphotog.tripod.com/index.html

I had to retrain myself after being a reclusive caregiver for many years. Many friends helped me so much. The Vista High 50th reunion came only two weeks after Nancy’s death. Everyone was so pleasant there. Allan was a big help, as were Kay and George Fleuret.

During that year I changed substantially, I continued writing the story of my year in Vietnam. It was very therapeutic. I made a presentation at my former coach Jim Downs Veteran’s day program, and the following March he went over my manuscript and liked it. He gave me a title, “How Did You Get This Job?” I continued to work on it, at that time it was over 50,000 words and 300 pictures. I invited Nancy’s best friend and neighbor Linda Bodie to visit the house and see my changes. She was interested in my book, and enjoyed helping me with the word for word rewrites. It slowly became a wonderful relationship that has brightened my life.

About this time, I joined a writer’s critique group, Writers Bloc, where I would read 10 minute exerts from my manuscript, they would mark-up copies and comment. Linda helped me prepare but early sessions were brutal. I learned so much in the almost two years I met weekly with them. My writing improved as I worked hard to make an interesting, easy to read story out of my basic daily journal. Throughout the three complete rewrites I would remember more and more details, and it ended up 77,000 words and over 400 photos.

I value any comments or questions on my book, contact me at firstcavphotog@icloud.com