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!!! WEBMASTER !!!
KENT HAWLEY
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Kent Hawley 1970

Kent Hawley 1970

1970 (over 33 years ago)



SHORT BIOGRAPHY

This picture was taken on the helicopter deck of the YRBM 20. This was one of 2 uniforms I had at the time. Vietnam was typically 100 degrees and 99 percent humidity. My sea bag of uniforms quickly became a bag of mold and mildew.

During my Vietnam Experience I was stationed on the YRBM 20 which is on the Bassac River near the Cambodian Border and near Chou Doc. As I traveled the country I kept my pentax camera ready and photographed whatever looked interesting.

The author of these web pages now lives in the San Joaquin Valley of California and plans Environmental Clean up Projects at the former Castle Air Force Base.

The author served one year in Vietnam (OCT 1969 to Oct 1970) as a seaman and a Communication's Yeoman. As a seaman I was a crew member of the YRBM 20 and went TDY to advance bases (ATSB Vinh Gia) near Tien Binh on the Vinh Te Canal and at ATSB Rach Soi near Rach Gia on the west coast. As a Communication's Yeoman I delivered messages by boat to Chau Doc. Also made frequent travels to Siagon and Binh Thuy.

After Vietnam I graduated (thanks to the GI Bill) as a Mining engineer (U of Utah) and worked in Moundsville WV and Silver City NM. Next I conducted mining safty research as a Mechanical Engineer in San Ramon CA. Invented, tested and marketed safety hardware. Then I conducted cost estimation and mine planning in Oakland CA.
The mine planning industry then died.

I was rescued by the US Navy.
Worked at Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Submarine Safety and Submarine Configuration Control. While there the Shipyard recieved a rare Civilian Unit Citation. I contributed to the Safety of the Sea Cliff, USS Parche, and USS Richard B Russel. My sincerest admiration goes to those brave submarine crews on their cold war adventures which I never had a clue about until recent books were published. Hope my safety management kept you submariners dry.
Mare Island Naval Shipyard then closed.
During the transition I planned the basewide unexploded ordnance investigation, and the first unexploded ordance removal action.

I was rescued by the US Air Force.
Now I am manageing environmental cleanup projects at the closed Castle Air Force Base in central California.

With difficulty I am still working even though the VA rates me as 70% disabled due to Agent Orange. My job at Castle will end soon. My free time is reduced and updates to this Web Page have been delayed.


Sampans on the bassac river

HISTORY of WEB SITE and SCANNING TECHNOLOGY

* In 1997 I copied my Vietnam Slides onto print film using a generic screw mount slide copier aimed at a 500 watt blue photo flood bulb.

* Next I scanned the photos at about 100 dpi using a Mustek 800 IISP flat bed scanner and used the gamma correction feature to brighten the dark tones. Some photos were done using an Easy Photo Reader. They are scanned either 480 or 600 pixels wide. (6 inchs wide at 100 dpi is 600 pixels wide)

* Picture Publisher 6 was used to size, repair and tone balance each picture. They are sized to either 480 or 600 pixels wide and saved in jpeg format. Picture Publisher gives a full range of control over the quality and percentage of JPEG compression for compact photo files. The thumbnails are 1/4 size and converted to GIFs. The divider bars were cropped from 4 inch by 6 inch photos. Badges and Patches are interlaced gifs with transparent backgrounds.

* I learned HTML from books and from http://htmlgoodies.com, designed HTML Pages and started the Brownwater Navy in Vietnam Web Book with my photos. Soon people began to donate photos and the Page expanded.

* In 2000 I began to use a Hewlett-Packard C5101A PhotoSmart S20 Photo Scanner Slide Scanner to redo my photos. It scans 35 mm Negatives and Slides and recovers an awesome amount of detail. I also upgraded to picture Publisher 8 for photo editing and restoration.

* My slides are starting to fade after 28 years and some repair work was done to restore the colors. Also some of the colors on the divider bars were altered for artistic effect.

* I now use a Nikon COOLSCAN IV to scan slides and negatives and and Hp 6200C to scan photos. I still use Micrografx Picture Publisher 8 even though I have Adobe Photoshop LE.

* I provide a free scanning service for limited amounts of Brownwater Navy slides or photos if I can post the photos.

* You are welcome to copy my web page images for your personal collection (private use). If you wish to use my images for your Web site (with credits), or another use, please contact me by email to respect my ownership and copy rights.

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Experience the Brownwater Navy
in the Mekong Delta
Through the links Below
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Three Junks on river Panorama

PLEASE EMAIL ME
IF YOU HAVE
BEEN THERE
!!!

P.S.
BEST VIEWED AT
1024 X 768 or Higher
SCREEN RESOLUTION

Military Payment Certificate
HAWLEY'S
VIETNAM
BROWNWATER NAVY
PAGES

The Webmaster
Communications Center

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SEND YOUR EMAIL TO:
Hawley [ at ]
Brownwater-Navy.com
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*** HAWLEY'S WEB BOOK ***
THE BROWNWATER NAVY IN THE MEKONG DELTA
BROWSE THESE WEB PAGES
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Vietnam Campain Ribbon
A 120 PLUS PAGE TOUR OF THE BROWNWATER NAVY IN THE MEKONG DELTA from 1966 - 1971
US Flag MEMORIAL PAGE
The YRBM 16 Memorial Page
It recieved a National 1998 TOP GUN Bronze Award
NEW PAGES OR MAJOR CHANGES
FROM OCTOBER 2003 TO
-none- minor edits only
Vietnam Campain Ribbon
Guest Book Page

[Over 2100 Guestbook Entries]
cataloged by number, location, Unit or Vessel.

LINKS TO OTHER VETERAN'S SITES

Vietnam Campain Ribbon

Certificate from PRB Forces Veterans Association

LINKS TO MY YOSEMITE SITES

Half Dome in Yosemite Valley

El Capitan in Yosemite Valley

Panoramic Sunset

Vietnam Campaign Ribbon             Vietnam Campaign Ribbon

Page Hits since November 2003



All PHOTO IMAGES, TEXT AND THE PAGE DESIGN ARE THE PROPERTY OF THE AUTHOR
UNLESS OTHERWISE CREDITED.
All RIGHTS RESERVED.