[Leica] OT - another horror story about photos and the Patriot Act

[doubs43 at cox.net (Walker Smith)]

>
>
>There are not many photographers on this list who were practicing
>during WW II. I wonder what responses the taking of photos with a
>tripod would have elicited from them? Probably not too friendly.
>
I can relate a story told to me by my father who had an experience with 
the US Army in 1942. Someone had reported seeing a parachuitist landing 
one night in the Spring of 1942 near the small town in Maryland where my 
father was born and raised. The Army sent a small detachment of soldiers 
to investigate. They were camped in a wooded area on a farm owned by a 
Mr. Carey. My father always had his camera with him and took a couple of 
pictures of the soldiers. I don't recall the location of the pictures 
and they may have been taken anywhere in the local area. At any rate, my 
father was "detained" and taken to the unit Commander's tent where he 
was held until they could establish exactly who he was...... a matter of 
an hour or so. Once his identity was verified, he was released. I think 
his film was confiscated but it's been years since I've heard the story 
so I'm not certain. The soldiers stayed several days, determined there 
was nothing to the parachuitist story and left. The camera was likely 
his Foth-Derby that my mother had given him for Christmas, 1939. It was 
the beginning of an almost 60 year love affair with photography and the 
Leica figured prominently in his years of experience.