Record date:
Edgar Lewin, SP5 US Army DASPO
Seeing as many as fifteen countries and touching five continents, Edgar Lewin recounts his experience in the military as a combat motion picture photographer with pride and reverence. From helicopter rides bought in film to being present for Operation Homecoming POW release in Saigon, Lewin operated with carte blanche and equipment and skills rivaling that of Hollywood cinematographers, showing the true and often gruesome reality of Vietnam.
Edgar Lewin, one of seven brothers among eleven siblings, would leave home at an early age and relocate to Vermont. There, Lewin would stay with a family friend who introduced him to the world of motion picture photography at the age of thirteen. Lewin would join the military in 1972 advised by his older brother to relay his motion picture experience. Doing so landed Lewin in 84C, a military occupation specialty of combat motion picture cameramen. Attending the motion picture school while at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, Lewin would rise to E-2 and squad leader, tied for first place in scores. Orders for Africa and then Washington, D.C. were up first, or so the plan seemed. Instead, the Pacific Detachment of the Department of the Army Special Photographic Office [DASPO] in Hawaii was Lewin’s intended destination.
Fort Shafter, Hawaii welcomed Lewin with a couch on his first night. Lewin would be taken to his unit the following day and received his first mission within the first half week of his arrival to DASPO. Vietnam was his second mission, and Lewin would leave in September of 1972 where he soon became accustomed to work in the field. Trading film for rides, filming combat missions, documentaries, and Country Background, Lewin was privy to the uniqueness and independence that DASPO offered its members. Missions could be good or bad, resulting in unexpected and deadly violence. Lewin recounts his fortunes in surviving many of the helicopter ops he worked on.
Beyond Vietnam, Lewin’s service was equally intense. He does not remember a time where he was not on travel duty, managing five continents by the end of his tenure with DASPO. In Thailand he would get a small experience of the villa life. In Korea, he would shoot at their Demilitarized Zone [DMZ]. Lewin would also have the great honor of being the unofficial military escort for the only American Samoan POW of Vietnam for one of his travel assignments. Transported with Sergeant Isaako Malo to Hawaii, Lewin would remain with him through to American Samoa eventually returning him to their high talking chief.
Closing the chapter of DASPO in the US Army, Lewin would be the final remaining DASPO member to turn out the lights in December 1974. This would not be the end of Lewin’s service to the US Military. He would continue up through the ranks, working at the US Navy as the motion picture and television production comptroller, becoming the senior visual information executive, and finally as Director of the US Army Visual Information Management Office at the Pentagon, resigning in 1989. Lewin’s journey through the military resulted in full circle; he worked alongside and eventually oversaw many of the officers and officials that were behind the scenes during his time as a member of DASPO. He would come to understand some of the shortcomings in archiving combat photography and the unsettling reality of the lack of accreditation for the numerous, many popular, photos and films shot by DASPO.
Lewin encourages those that view the work of DASPO and other combat photography to take some learning from what they see. Forty years later, Lewin looks back at DASPO and is proud of the commitment to truth from himself and others, capturing the dark reality of Vietnam for the American public and the world to see, often withstanding pressure from higher-ups. Lewin remembers his teammates in DASPO as an incredible group of folks with unmatched dedication, professionalism, knowledge, and expertise that has made him very happy to have served with while enlisted in the US Military.
