Men of the Mighty 8th Air Force, 351st Bombardment Group, 509th Bombardment Squadron

In honor of the upcoming Independence Day, I decided that I wanted to post a military photo, and I knew immediately which one I wanted to post. And boy have my husband and I already gone down quite the rabbit hole with this one!

This might be breaking my own rules a little since it's not really a "lost" photo that I found. My step-grandpa, Vern Palmer, was a tail gunner on the B-17 Bomber Flying Fortress and this was his crew. I've had this photo scanned in my own family archives for quite some time and I've always wondered about the other guys in the photo... especially since Vern wrote their names on the back. He was being coy and wrote (6) "?" for himself. But that's him on the right in the back row.

So I think this photo qualifies as the spirit of my mission to reunite people with photos of their family members. The family members of these guys might already have this photo (in fact, I found this identical photo on Instagram posted by someone else already...more on that later), but in case they don't have it and have never seen this photo before, we're hoping to track them down.

Unfortunately, this era of war heroes is rapidly dwindling. But by the off chance any of these fellows are still around, it would be incredible it talk to them.

My military-history-nut husband has done a lot of research on these guys the last couple days. He has a website that lists all their missions in great detail. Here's the account of one of their last missions, which was the closest they came to disaster. It even mentions Vern by name in an excerpt from a book about the 351st. This website is how we found the full names of all these guys.

Lieutenants -
1. Donald McLott
2. James J. Redmond
3. Martin Strom
4. Anthony Wagner

Sergeants -
1. Wesley Creech
2. Lloyd Bogle
3. Wilbert Beyer
4. Aldridge Vinson
5. Samuel Bell
6. Vernon Palmer

It was exciting to go through and see all their missions, targets, flight paths, and the severity of the combat they saw. The bottom line, these guys flew about 34 missions over Europe and had 0 casualties. Those are great stats compared to other B-17 squads. They were either very good or very lucky or both. Probably both. Here's the picture of "My Princess" one of the B-17 planes they flew in.

Now, in our extensive Googling (which my husband is still currently deeply diving into) we found that the pilot James J. Redmond wrote a memoir. It's on Amazon and it's called Reddo's Raiders. We just bought it. It's all about his missions and war experience so we figure it's got to have some stuff about my grandpa in there. And it might have clues as to what happened to these other guys, as well. I'm pretty excited for it to get here!

That led me to look up "Reddo's Raiders" on social media and found the hashtag #reddosraiders on Instagram. I gasped when I saw someone else had posted this very same group photo. The account seems to not be used anymore, their last post was two years ago. But I tried contacting them there anyway, just in case. It also says "RIP grandpa" in the caption of another photo of James J. "Reddo" Redmond. We also found his obituary online and have read about the amazing life this man went on to live.

And his family obviously has this picture already, but I'd still love to hear from them if we can figure out a way to make contact.

We're digging into whatever we can find about the other guys, but that's where we stand now as I post this. So, like always, please let me know if you have any leads or if by some rare chance you recognize one of these names. I could go on and on about Grandpa Vern, and his love story with my grandma, but for this project, I really want to find out whatever I can about the other guys in this photo. If you're interested in learning more about Vern and my grandma, Betty Palmer, you can read about them in this school project I did years ago.

My Life During the War as told by Betty Palmer

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And one last photo of Vern with a picture of "Betty" pinned up on the side of his plane. Because it's too cute and one of my favorite pictures of all time.

UPDATE - Hodges Art Gallery Couple

I've gotten some great feedback on this photo so far, and I wanted to do a quick update to share the new details. First of all, Main Street was renamed to State Street, possibly in the early 1900s. So 529 State Street still exists and is on the Virginia side. Here is a Google street view of the building, 529 is now a hair salon (the red section of building in the center).

This is one of the original storefronts in the town and the building itself is also on the National Register of Historic Places. Here is a document from when the area was nominated.

It is loaded with historical information about the street and stores. What I find most interesting is that the street itself serves as the state line. So one side of the street is Virginia and the other is Tennessee. I had pictured it the other way, where if you drove down the street, eventually you'd cross the border perpendicularly. 529 State Street is mentioned in the document specifically. However, it seems the construction of this particular building would have occurred AFTER the period when this photo was taken. It declares: "The storefront at 529 State Street was built in 1939 and has maroon colored Carrara glass." So, it's safe to assume the actual photography studio or "Art Gallery" building is long gone.

Now, about the photo itself. I've been in touch with a gentleman who is a historian of the Bristol Historical Association (isn't the internet wonderful?!) and he says about the photo: "That is very interesting...[The] assumption could be right. Prostitution was fairly common turn of the century, not likely from a bar or saloon. It was a little more private and off Main Street." He also mentioned that this photo would have been very risque at the time.

Although I'm no closer to figuring out who the actual people are in this photo, it is wonderful to have it firmly connected to a time and place now. My next steps are to finish reading through the National Registrar document for any other clues. I'd like to find out when Main Street was renamed to State Street. Then another trick up my sleeve is to check the census from this time period. Back then most people lived above their shop, so I could potentially track down the name and info of the Hodges shop owner (probably with the last name Hodges, making it all that much easier, in theory) by finding the address in the census. If I can't find the descendants of the people in the photo, it would still be cool to be able to tell someone that their great-great-granddad was the photographer who took this photo of an old man and his whore.  😂

Hodges Art Gallery Couple - Bristol, TN

Before I start with the first official post of Lost Photos Found, I want to say thank you for your patience. I teased the project and set up the social media accounts a few weeks ago and so far the interest you have all expressed has been very exciting for me. I'm already getting submissions and stories from people who have come across lost and discarded photos in their lives, whether it be random finds at estate sales or at local thrift shops, or from career "pickers," and even in abandoned buildings. The photos and stories I've been seeing make me more and more excited about this project.

I'm also realizing this project is going to require skills outside of my abilities. There are clues hidden in these photos that can be found only if I'm one part collector and one part historian. So, I've been trying to educate myself more and more about the history of photography. The style and type of photos can certainly help narrow down a time period. Some photos, like this first one I'm featuring, have a photography studio or art gallery name on them. A city. An address. What tremendous information to have!

As I'm flipping through my stack of lost photos, it seems that class and clothing will be clues, as well. Especially for turn-of-the-century or earlier photos. Some of these people are what appear to be very well dressed. Some appear to be in wrinkled, torn clothing. But I would expect people to dress up in their nicest clothes if they were getting a formal portrait taken. So if their nicest clothes are tattered, I have to assume they were not well off. This could be a clue as to the area they may have come from or their livelihoods. I am about as far away from a clothing historian as you can get, so if anyone is skilled in this area, I'd love any assistance you could provide.

But more than everything, I'm trying to decode the stories behind these pictures. The people who look tired and weathered, or like they haven't worked a day in their lives, interest me to no end. Who were they? What was their life like? Why was this picture taken, and most importantly, what led to it being found or sold by strangers?

All that being said, it leads me to this gem of a photo that caught my eye instantly.

I purchased a bundle of old photos by someone selling them online and when I saw this one, I knew it had to be my first post here. What, exactly, are we looking at? To me and my (admittedly) ignorant and untrained eye, this woman appears to a saloon girl... or what they make saloon girls look like in Hollywood movies, anyway. And this gentleman looks very wealthy, and very, very much older than her. Oh, how intrigued I am!

So apparently I see this photo as being potentially scandalous. My husband, bless his innocence, sees it as a father and daughter. He very well may be right but it couldn't be farther from what I see!

From the light research I've managed so far, it is from the turn of the century, and they call these style of photos cabinet cards. The person I acquired these from was located in Sacramento, CA and she can't remember how exactly she came across this photo, but possibly at a flea market or in a trade with another collector, but the photo itself says Hodges Art Gallery, 529 Main St., Bristol, Tenn, Va.

Of course, I Googled the address. Bristol is a twin city on either side of the Tennessee and Virginia border, and neither state has 529 Main Street anymore. The Tennessee side has a Main Street but it is itsy bitsy and Google street view doesn't even go there. So these are the best shots I could get of the area.




I have also scanned the backs of all the photos I find since people often write on the back, but this one is blank, unfortunately. And for each photo I feature, I'll also do a quick enhancement just to bring the facial features to life and make them a little more clear. When I did that with this photo, the man resembles an actor who I just can't put my finger on. It's the mustache and the eyes so if anyone else sees what I'm seeing please help me out. Not that it has anything to do with finding the family of the people in this photo, but just because it's driving me crazy that I can't place who he looks like!

That's as far as my investigative skills go. So if you live in the area that this photo originated, or know anything about the art gallery, this time period, the clothing, the idea that this is a saloon girl, etc., please comment and let's start the conversation about this incredibly awesome found lost photo.

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