Thought we could use a little diversion on this Saturday.
An old friend of mine was going through his stuff and ran across something he found years ago. He decided he wanted to see if he could find the owner using social media. I thought I’d post it here to give it a wider audience. If nothing else, it’s a fun little mystery. He writes:
The longest of long shots. — Going through some of my things recently I came across this. The lighter has been with me for many years after I found it in a specific place that the original owner would be able to identify.
Lighters like this were common possessions among service members in Vietnam. While this is ‘needle in a haystack odds’ social media has made it possible to do some incredible things. Everyone and everything is somewhere.
The original owner was in Danang in 1969 and 1970. That actually narrows it down quite a bit. The lighter might have been carried with them during their service or engraved as a souvenir upon returning home. My guess is they were from Illinois or Indiana, likely some state in the Midwest. Today, this person would be in their mid to late 60’s. (TaMara here: could be older, my dad is 81 and was in Vietnam from ’66-’67).
The original owner would know and could identify the markings on the other side. I’d say they reveal something of his personality.
I would love to return this lighter to the veteran who lost it in that very specific place. I’m sure he used to wonder where the hell it ever got to. It was not sold by him or intended to be lost. The original owner and I both crossed paths, years apart, at the place it was hiding. He could tell me about that, too. Honestly, it’s amazing that I ever found it.
I hope this veteran is alive and well. It would be incredible to reunite him with his wayward zippo and hear the story of that young man and his times.
Life is busy and, as I said, this is the longest of long shots. But if someone were to lay claim to the Danang lighter I’d like to personally place it in their hand while shaking it.
If you are so inclined, especially if you live in the Midwest or are yourself a veteran, please pass this post along. I can be reached by email: HollywoodAWAC (at) GMail (dot) com
One shot. A flicker and flame—maybe some light.
Thanks all!
-Bill
Me again – go ahead and share on your various social medias if you feel so inspired. I’ll let you know if the mystery gets solved.
Otherwise, consider this an open thread!
Another Scott
No Pooh?
There are so many varieties that it’s almost impossible for Bill to find the owner without more information.
Also, it looks too new. And the hinge seems to be on the opposite side from the other images I’ve found.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Good luck!
Cheers,
Scott.
Mike J
@Another Scott: This is the back side of the lighter. He’s not showing the other side so the owner can ID it. Also, he put forward the theory that this was made after returning home.
TaMara (HFG)
Plot twist!
p.a.
If it’s a Zippo the code on the base would indicate production year. Go online for Zippo decoder info.
TaMara (HFG)
@Another Scott: I have purposely not asked him more about this. But there is also something very unique about where and how it was found. So while there may be many…this circumstances around this one are unique.
dlwchico
Found it in a very specific place, eh?
Makes me think of the watch from Pulp Fiction :P
Miss Bianca
@TaMara (HFG): OK, I really, really needed that one today, for some reason. Thanks for sharing!
TaMara (HFG)
@Miss Bianca: Me, too! I was dreading it as I was reading it and then, yay! Made my day.
TaMara (HFG)
@p.a.: Good info, I passed it on to him.
Brachiator
@TaMara (HFG): Funny stuff. One of the messages in that thread included this gem.
Some conservative white people are just crazy.
trollhattan
@Brachiator:
They chose badly–both Clarkson and Ronstadt (coincidentally Hispanic) would tell them precisely where and how vigorously to shove their comparison. Have they completely forgotten Pat Boone?
TaMara (HFG)
So stuff like this always brings up stuff about my dad – don’t ever be in the same room with me when those surprise reunions with kids/soldiers take place. There are not enough kleenex in the world.
But anyway, I vividly remember the weekend he came home from Vietnam – he must have come home on a Friday. It was October. On Saturday, every window in our house was open, letting autumn in, the radio was blaring the NE Huskers game and on the TV was the world series. And on the living room floor was my dad’s foot locker. Oh. The. Smell. We still have it. It still smells. Makes my dad crazy, but gives me all the feelz.
We were talking when I was home a few weeks ago and talking about that day and he looks at me and says, you know who was in the World Series, right?
I looked at him perplexed, I’m lucky I remember it was a baseball game at all. Now, keep in mind, I’m standing in front of my dad’s collection of Red Sox stuff. I’m a diehard BoSox fan. I blink a couple time and then go….noooo! Until that moment I hadn’t put together it was the Red Sox 1967 series. I love that we just shared that moment after all these years. Seriously.
Now I need to find kleenex.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
There are several Facebook groups that specialize in finding former owners of items.
Steeplejack (phone)
Memories . . .
From 1967 to ’69 I lived on Okinawa. Gigantic staging area for the Vietnam War and also an R&R destination. The local shops did a booming business in engraved Zippo lighters and all sorts of other souvenirs and memorabilia. In particular I remember the elaborate embroidered jackets, sometimes profane, sometimes beautiful, sometimes both. Ones like this were common.
TaMara (HFG)
@Steeplejack (phone): I still have a music box my dad sent me from his leave in Okinawa. Still plays, ballerina still twirls.
James E Powell
@dlwchico:
I thought the same thing. Is that bad? Are we depraved?
Steeplejack (phone)
@TaMara (HFG):
Lots of great stuff, surprisingly good quality. It wasn’t (just) about ripping off the GIs. The yen was really cheap to the dollar, and there were amazingly good deals on cameras, stereo equipment, musical instruments, etc.
WaterGirl
Daddy’s girl, here, happy to hear your story.
So glad you can still spend time with your dad! I lost mine over 20 years ago.
rikyrah
John Dingell (@JohnDingell) Tweeted:
They made Jimmy Carter give up his damn peanut farm and yet this president is all but printing money to hand it directly to his idiot adult children as allowance. Makes me madder than a boiled owl. https://twitter.com/JohnDingell/status/1030810480909144065?s=17
mike in dc
My dad was an Air Force JAG stationed at Da Nang AFB in ’69. He returned home to Ohio around 1970-71, and he used to smoke cigars. He’s still alive. I seriously doubt it’s his, though!
trollhattan
@WaterGirl:
Same here. Dad now shares something with Elvis and Aretha–passing this mortal coil on August 16.
Brachiator
@trollhattan: Didn’t know that Elvis, Aretha and Babe Ruth died on August 16.
TaMara (HFG)
Okay, I have to go tend to the garden. But I leave you with one more fun distraction.
WaterGirl
@Brachiator: August 16 was my dad’s birthday.
trollhattan
@TaMara (HFG):
Too perfect!
WaterGirl
I don’t know who posted this link, or in which thread it was posted, but if you didn’t read this article the first time around, it’s well worth reading. Really long, but totally worth it. I can’t stress that enough.
Rachel Maddow interviews John Brennan: Read the full transcript
laura
@Steeplejack (phone): My dad was stationed for a time in Okinawa during the Korean War. When we were wee, he would let one of us blow out the flame from his zippo lighter. That scent- unforgettable. He died in March of brain cancer due to melanoma that may be linked to his participation in the above ground atomic testing in the desert outside of Las Vegas.
I hope the owner is located.
philpm
@WaterGirl: It’s my dad’s too. My mom and dad turned 80 this week.
Litlebritdifrnt
Oh god I just saw a tweet that has seriously made me cry. No idea how to embed, could someone help?
WaterGirl
@philpm: They were the same age! In my experience, that’s unusual.
Everyone who still has a parent, or two. Appreciate every minute, even when they are annoying!
laura
@WaterGirl: Everyone who still has a parent, or two. Appreciate every minute, even when they are annoying!
WORD!
MoxieM
I have my dad’s lighter (a Zippo, of course) from when he was posted to Calcutta (as was) in WWII. It’s a precious object, for sure. I’ll bet this one is too.
Ruckus
@Steeplejack (phone):
That jacket and ones like it were common back then. That one has a rather hand made look to it, makes it look better than a lot of the embroidered ones, which just looked like they tried too hard.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Gods bless John Dingell (and especially at this moment I don’t even want to think about a staffer having the keys to his account) for bringing attention to the grift benefitting the idiot, and unemployable, Large Adult Children.
Let there be retweets till they reach the Gilded Crapper
Ruckus
I still have the Zippo from the ship I was on for 2 yrs. Didn’t even smoke but bought the lighter. And made sure it worked as long as I was on that ship. Never knew why. Still don’t but I’d imagine as a talisman. And I didn’t and don’t believe that stuff. Or…..
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
My dad, who turned 80 this year, was in (a submarine off the coast of) Vietnam in those years, too. He once owned a somewhat similar lighter even though he has never smoked. I have no idea what happened to it, or to most of the rest of the stuff he brought back from his various WestPac tours. My siblings and I have so little left from that era – moving every two years for two decades whittled down our personal possessions to what we could hide in our pockets, and then the pockets and the garments they were in disappeared over time, too.
Ruckus
@WaterGirl:
Sorry about your dad.
Both of mine are gone, and they lived long lives. Dad passed at 84, same as his dad and mom went at 94. As sad as this is to say dad’s was a relief, he suffered from Alzheimer’s for 20 yrs. Really we lost him a lot longer than 17+ yrs ago. But being who he was, given his family tree, he passed on Saint Patricks day. We stayed up and drank Irish whiskey in his honor.
zhena gogolia
@Brachiator:
God, we were discussing this last night, but when you see it in black and white it’s shocking.
I think Ronstadt is an excellent singer with a good voice; Clarkson does nothing for me; but neither of them COMES CLOSE TO ARETHA FRANKLIN, that is just ridiculous.
WaterGirl
@Ruckus: My dad died at 84, also. Alzheimer’s is a terrible disease, and 20 years is a terribly long time to live with it. My mom died much earlier than that, from smoking. There are lots of ways I don’t want to go.
Good for you to honor him with a whiskey in his honor. On Saint Patrick’s Day, no less.
Ruckus
@zhena gogolia:
Go to the twitter link that @Brachiator: posted. The guy from NR tried to justify his bullshit but no one was having it. And Kelly Clarkson was quoted towards the bottom. She’s having none of it either.
Twitter is good for something.
Ruckus
@WaterGirl:
That was his grandson’s idea. Wanker had one drink.
Parents can be funny, good, horrible, first rate or last, but it’s always good to remember that they are human, just like we are. All the foibles, nuance and bullshit that all of us carry with us. If you had good ones, or even one good one, I think that’s just luck of the draw. I’ve known great, good and not even close among a lot of people’s parents, I’ve known good kids, even from lousy parents and exactly the opposite from the kids. Some of us copy, some of us do the opposite. Makes for an interesting life doesn’t it?
Major Major Major Major
I’m suddenly reminded of the Flying Hellfish episode of the Simpsons.
Amir Khalid
@zhena gogolia:
Ronstadt was an excellent singer, until about five years ago: Parkinson’s disease cause her to lose her singing voice and brought about her retirement. Kelly Clarkson is the only American Idol winner to have a lasting post-victory career. I agree that neither would consider herself the artistic superior of Aretha.
WaterGirl
@Amir Khalid: What a terrible thing to get a disease that not only takes your health, but takes your gift, the thing that is a huge part of who you are.
chris
@Litlebritdifrnt: I tried but there are too many hashtags and it went to moderation hell. Retry:
ETA: There it is! Brief tutorial on request.
raven
Fake Zippo’s
WaterGirl
It’s a slow day on BJ, and I’m procrastinating because I don’t feel like working today, so I am cleaning up a lot of open tabs and windows in my browser.
This is a great one, so I added it to my reading list for when I need a little pick-me-up:
Chilean Flamingo Mating Dance (rated G)
Enjoy.
Edward Marshall
My dad was stationed in Marble Mountain and Danang during those years. I’ll ask him if he remembers a lighter like that. He also lives and came from Illinois.
Edward Marshall
(Maybe Marble Mountain is just another term for Danang.)
WaterGirl
Has anyone ever joined a book club with people they didn’t know?
I came back from my abysmal 9-days with family in July feeling like I really need to have more people in my life. My passive-egressive sister left me feeling pretty miserable most of the time, so I vowed to expand my horizons. I thought I might pretend that I’ve just moved to a place where I know no one, how would I meet people?
I’m not a big drinker or a bowler and my volleyball playing days are over, so I thought about a book club. Anyone have any experience thoughts to share?
Edward Marshall
Lighter didn’t ring a bell for him, sorry :\
Litlebritdifrnt
@chris: Thank you so much Chris, hope one of the FPers picks this up.
Brachiator
@Amir Khalid: Carrie Underwood and a few others are having excellent post American Idol careers.
raven
Last weekend I went to Rhode Island for my Vietnam unit 50th Reunion. I found two pics that held special significance to me. One was of me and two other guys outside our sandbagged tents. The other was of a convoy I drove when I had just a few days to go. We started north of Saigon in the middle of the night and sat at the Phu Tho racetrack until sunrise when the MP’s got out in front and swept the road. The road into the Mekong Delta was paved for about 20 miles and then you turned east and it was dirt. A civilian bus got in front of us and when we got about 10 miles in the convoy halted and there was a huge explosion. Luckily the MP’s had found the buried mine and had the engineers blow it in place. The jets and choppers pounded a tree line where, I assume, the bad guys lay in wait. This picture was taken as the smoke rose on the tree line. I had no idea it existed until last week and it brought back how lucky we were that the P’s did their job. They didn’t always find stuff.
raven
It’s both
Marble Mountain Air Facility (MMAF) (also known as Da Nang East Airfield and Marble Mountain Army Airfield) was an aviation facility used primarily by the United States Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. It was a helicopter facility that was constructed in August 1965 and served as home to Marine Aircraft Group 16 (MAG-16), the 5th Special Forces Group and an assortment of other squadrons until May 1971. It was controlled by the United States Army from May 1971 to August 1972 and finally by the Republic of Vietnam Air Force from 29 August 1972 to 29 March 1975 when it fell to the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN). It was located in Quảng Nam Province 5 miles (8 km) southeast of Da Nang Air Base on a strip of beach between China Beach and the Marble Mountains.’
raven
@Edward Marshall: There we thousands of them, no way anyone could ID it from that picture.
WaterGirl
@raven: That adds some perspective, doesn’t it?
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
@WaterGirl:
Yes! And it has changed my life – totally for the better. I should qualify that it’s an interconnected set of online groups, and it’s more of a fandom for a particular author (Dorothy Dunnett, discussed in this book thread a few weeks ago) than a general book club. I started by participating in the online discussions but there have been many real-life meetups – initially with members local to my area, but also larger ones in many other locations – Venice! Malta! Istanbul! I’ve met some of my best friends in that group and see them frequently in person as well as online. I’m not quite sure how to translate that into what you’re looking for, but I’d be happy to discuss further.
schrodingers_cat
@WaterGirl: Yes. It was good fun. I read 3 books with that club at my local library.
frosty fred
@WaterGirl: Not a book club, but feeling some of the same motivations I joined a local genealogy club–we have meetings as such, plus smaller discussion groups that I picture as more like a book club session. It has been great fun and I haven’t regretted a minute of it.
debbie
@Amir Khalid:
Her version of Heart Like a Wheel remains my favorite.
TaMara (HFG)
@raven: If you read it, I don’t think he expects anyone to identify it from the photo.
TaMara (HFG)
@schrodingers_cat: I was going to suggest the library as well. Our library has all kinds of groups, book clubs, language clubs, even a knitting club to name a few. They always encourage folks to drop in.
laura
I thought I might pretend that I’ve just moved to a place where I know no one, how would I meet people?
You may want to get outside as often as possible. Look people in the eye, smile and say hello. Opportunities to be of service are good too. Local Dems, food services, communittee councils…locally owned businesses, and such. Having a task has helped me keep anxiety in check in putting it out there when everyone is a stranger.
Edward Marshall
@raven:
That makes sense, he was a USMC crew chief and said “It looks Army to me”, I don’t know how he even knew that.
raven
@TaMara (HFG):And if I didn’t read it? Detention, demerits, send me back. . . ?
TaMara (HFG)
@raven: Just sad face from me. ;-) No one in their right mind would give you detention.
Ruckus
@WaterGirl:
Neurological diseases don’t just take away things like a singing voice, they take away everything. But usually not all at once, but bit by bit, you get to watch your own body slowly destroy itself. You can rarely do anything about it, now there are some meds that can slow the arrival of just breathing but that’s it. We all get to look forward to dying, that’s just life. If you have one of the neurological diseases you get to look forward to watching it happen in slow motion and bit by bit.
I have a friend, I knew him through my job in pro sports. He was a sponsor/team manager. He had ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. He was a great person, he was built like a somewhat short NFL player. Very physically active and always upbeat. In the course of just a very few short years he became bed bound, his son had to drive him around in his wheelchair, he talked and wrote with a machine because he couldn’t normally. And he passed away not long ago.
Ruckus
@Edward Marshall:
The Zippo lighters in every service look a bit different. Maybe it takes an eye that’s seen a lot of them but they are different. In some ways they actually reflect that the branches of the service are different.
WaterGirl
@Ruckus: I know, Ruckus, I’m sorry if I seemed clueless in what I said. The rest that can e said is that you have a lot of time to wrap your head around it, but that’s surely a curse as well as a blessing.
WaterGirl
I appreciate all the replies to the question I posted earlier in the thread. thank you
Ruckus
@WaterGirl:
You didn’t seem clueless.
A lot of my answers are also aimed at the bigger audience. And it appears that I may have one of those neurological diseases and my father died of a different one. So let’s say it is just a bit personal. But not aimed at you for sure.
Ahh, to be cursed with life, all the good, all the bad and in the end, all the different roads that end in the same place.
WaterGirl
@Ruckus: I have picked up on that and I know it’s personal. You are handling that possibility with a lot of grace, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a shitty road to (possibly) be on.
Edward Marshall
Raven actually helped me out a lot. My dad would get drunk and tell Vietnam stories and sometimes it was Da Nang and sometimes it was Marble Mountain and I’ve sort of half ass tried to figure out what Marble Mountain was or if he was just drunk and it was like “Magic Mountain” and he was drunk. Now I know.
Edward Marshall
The drunk stories he could be quite a fabulist and I’d be like “uhhh, that was Apocalypse Now”, but I never said anything.
opiejeanne
@raven: Dad had a story kind of like that from WWII except no MP found the mine. Dad was Signal Corp, drove a radio truck, and one frozen snowy night he was run off the road by some jerk from another unit. He didn’t pull all the way off into the wide spot, which was really lucky. Someone else pulled over there the next day and was blown to bits. Dad saw the crater a week later when his unit passed back through the area.
James E Powell
@laura:
Not in Los Angeles. Don’t make eye contact. Don’t talk to strangers. Friendly people are regarded with suspicion here.
Ruckus
@James E Powell:
I don’t find this to be true.
I try to keep a smile on my face and acknowledge others as I walk about town. I’m not trying to be their friend, just acknowledge their existence, be it well to do or obviously living on the street. I don’t get talked to often but when I do it’s always positive. It may help being an old fart.
opiejeanne
@Ruckus: Yeah, I’m the same. There’s one area that I do not do that, but it’s only after noon that I stop making eye contact. It’s between 9th and 32nd on Maple. I haven’t been down there since 2000 so it might have changed but not likely. I tried to be out of that neighborhood by 11am when I went there to buy fabrics for dance studios.
WaterGirl
@James E Powell: Did you happen to see the movie Continental Divide? Your comment reminded me of a classic line from that movie.
Ruckus
@opiejeanne:
Maybe it’s because I worked for over 25 yrs just off Washington and Alameda. And that started in the 60s
The whole area has changed rather dramatically over the last 25 yrs.
Pogonip
@TaMara (HFG): I saw the same thing but it was the cop shop in Kennabunk, Maine.