These photos were taken by Tom Soma, KIA with Charlie Troop, Vietnam. Tom was on his THIRD TOUR of Duty in Vietnam when he was killed in combat on December 30, 1969. These photos taken by Tom, were portraying the Vietnam known by so many soldiers who had seen it, and lived it. The good fellowship of brothers and the reality of war. Tom told his family in his first tour or so, that it was common for soldiers to hand out food to villagers, especially the children. The Viet Cong and NVA soon figured this out, and had the children run up to the landing helicopters and toss in grenades. Tom was an excellent Scout Observer, and is missed by everyone. His brother Larry Soma, and his family have graciously submitted Tom’s photos to be included in our collection. :

We wish to add this from Larry Soma, Tom’s younger brother:
“The last time Tom was home on furlough was in 1968. We went to the local hardware/appliance store, and brought home a refrigerator box. We made a ‘fort’ out of it, and like kids back then I had a BB gun. So we made some gun ports in the side of the box and sat inside of it. Our mother had a clothesline on the other side of our backyard with the clothespins that had the spring on them. Tom showed me that if you shoot the open end, they would spin around on the clothesline. It was great fun until our mother saw this, and let us know her opinion of our doings!

Tom enjoyed cars and art. He once took a white sweatshirt and redrew some art from a Hot Rod magazine this onto a white sweatshirt. This photo is of Tom, in his junior year of high school, wearing it. The sweatshirt now, though aged, is a great keepsake that I have.”