Tray 8 of 8 · 22 Slides

June 64

SP4 WIL SCHAEFER · 45TH MED DET · JUNE 1964

This is the only tray with no handwritten titles at all — just numbers. There's also no military content anywhere in it: Buddhist temples, city streets, a portrait of him off duty. The architecture identifies as Bangkok's Dusit district, and the date (two months before his tour ended) fits an R&B trip — Bangkok was a standard rest and recuperation destination for servicemen in Vietnam. That's inference, not something written down anywhere, but it's a well-supported one.

Marble Temple facade
#1
Marble Temple facade

The white marble walls and tiered orange roof identify this as Wat Benchamabophit — the "Marble Temple" — in Bangkok's Dusit district.

Seated Buddha, shrine alcove
#2
Seated Buddha, shrine alcove

A gilded seated Buddha figure, ornate patterned backdrop, in the classic meditation posture — not standing.

Seated Buddha
#3
Seated Buddha

A dark bronze seated Buddha on an ornate gilded pedestal, a numbered museum-style label mounted below it (marked "13") with an English description — too blurry at this resolution to read in full, but confirms this is a specifically catalogued piece, not a generic shrine figure.

Buddha gallery
#4
Buddha gallery

A row of seated Buddha statues along a covered gallery — this matches Wat Benchamabophit's well-documented cloister of 52 Buddha images, each in a different posture.

Buddha on ornate pedestal
#5
Buddha on ornate pedestal

A bronze Buddha framed by a flame-shaped niche with naga serpents on either side, another numbered museum label mounted on the base (marked "40") — same catalogued-collection pattern as slide #3.

Temple entrance
#6
Temple entrance

White marble columns and entrance, a standing black Buddha visible in a red-and-gold alcove, guardian lion statues flanking the steps — Wat Benchamabophit again, a different angle.

Roof detail
#7
Roof detail

Close view of a tiered temple roof and gable, gold and orange decoration.

Temple building
#8
Temple building

A separate temple structure — the gable itself carries a detailed narrative scene, figures and animals rendered in gold relief, with distinctive curved chofah roof finials.

Colossal standing Buddha
#10
Colossal standing Buddha

Not a stupa — this is a colossal standing Buddha statue, alms bowl held at the chest, ornate crown structure, scaffolding around the head from maintenance work. Strong match to Luang Pho To at Wat Intharawihan, Bangkok's famous 32-meter gilded standing Buddha — the statue itself was completed in 1927, so this scaffolding reflects later upkeep, not original construction.

Chinese guardian statue at a porcelain tower
#11
Chinese guardian statue at a porcelain tower

A bearded Chinese stone guardian figure beside a tower faced in mosaic porcelain — a specific, well-documented combination found at Wat Arun, the "Temple of Dawn." Its guardian statues arrived as ballast on Chinese trading ships; its prangs are famously clad in broken porcelain. A different temple from the Marble Temple photos elsewhere in this tray.

The Golden Buddha, Wat Traimit
#13
The Golden Buddha, Wat Traimit

A confident match: the Golden Buddha at Wat Traimit, the world's largest solid-gold Buddha statue, 5.5 tons. Its true nature — solid gold under a plaster covering — was only discovered in 1955 when movers accidentally cracked the plaster. This photo, June 1964, is just nine years after that rediscovery, likely still in the simpler building the statue had before the current one was built in 2010.

Bird behind wire mesh
#14
Bird behind wire mesh

Not a pheasant — a red facial shield, dark plumage, and long red legs point to a swamphen or gallinule, a wetland bird common across Southeast Asia — in an enclosure, grounds of a temple or park.

Wooden house
#16
Wooden house

A traditional wooden house with a peaked roof and garden.

Statue on the boulevard
#17
Statue on the boulevard

A standing figure — not equestrian — in a pith helmet and military dress on an ornate Thai royal-style pedestal, with a bronze sunburst emblem and actual floral offerings left at the base: a real, actively venerated monument. Who specifically isn't confirmed.

unidentified — who this figure is isn't confirmed
Portrait, off duty
#18
Portrait, off duty

A man in a short-sleeve civilian shirt, leaning on a stone railing, writing something on a piece of paper — postcard or notes, mid-thought. Possibly Chubb from the Tan Son Nhut dispensary.

City street
#19
City street

A wide, divided highway with a grassy median, no streetcar visible — a truck carrying people in the back, a cyclist, sedans of the era, wooden buildings along the roadside. Urban outskirts, consistent with Bangkok.

Tree-lined path
#20
Tree-lined path

A path or median strip along a street.

Residential street
#21
Residential street

Wooden houses along a street, utility poles.

Footbridge
#22
Footbridge

A wooden footbridge through trees, park-like setting.

Building with signage
#25
Building with signage

The signs are legible and translate directly: "Suksapan Panit," a schoolbook and educational-supplies retailer run by the Khurusapha Trading Organization — Thailand's Teachers' Council, under the Ministry of Education. Founded 1942, still operating today.

Grand building, boulevard's end
#26
Grand building, boulevard's end

A domed white building at a wide plaza, an equestrian statue on a tall pedestal in front of it — that specific combination is Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall and the King Chulalongkorn Equestrian Statue at Bangkok's Royal Plaza. A stronger match than the standalone statue guessed at in slide #17.

Field, closing shot
#27
Field, closing shot

A genuinely large herd — over a dozen animals — grazing an open field, dark bodies and curved horns reading as water buffalo rather than cattle or horses. A quiet closing image, though this tray has no "Fin!" written anywhere.