Marine Vietnam Veterans Step Into 50 Year Old Looking Glass

Vietnam vet Marines recreate beach photo after 50 years
WFAA
Jacob Carpenter, Naples (Fla.) Daily News
April 25, 2016

Re-creating a moment from 1966:

Dennis Puleo, from left, Tom Hanks, Bob DeVenezia (kneeling), and Bob Falk met on Cinnamon Beach April 23, 2016, in Palm Coast, Fla.

(Photo: Luke Franke, Naples (Fla.) Daily News)

PALM COAST, Fla. — They wanted the picture to be just right, to look as close as possible to the one they'd taken together 50 years ago, back when their memories hadn't yet been clouded by the images of war.

So Saturday morning, on the sun-drenched Atlantic shore of Cinnamon Beach on Florida's northeast coast, four U.S. Marine veterans gathered around a yellow longboard turned upright, trying to re-create a moment from five decades earlier.

Bob Falk, 71, wearing a mirror-image blue-and-white striped shirt, leaned against the longboard's left side, resting his spare hand on his hip.

Dennis Puleo, 69, removed his shoes, revealing the feet scarred by shrapnel, and pulled off his shirt, flanking the longboard on the right, mugging a wide smile for the camera with his arms extended.

Tom Hanks (not that one), 69, stepped in front of the board and took in a long, deep breath, flexing his still-thick upper chest and sucking in his now-paunchy belly.

Finally, Bob DeVenezia, 70, crouched down in front of Hanks, resting his elbows on his knobby knees, feeling Hanks' hands placed on his back.
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