Color slides from the first years of the Korean War are some of my favorites. 35mm Color photography was in full swing and lots of soldiers/servicemen were snapping shots to send back home. In this case, we see a member of the 18th Maintenance Squadron posing in his leather jacket complete with squadron patch. The patch appears to show a white P-51 being sloppily repaired by a mechanic. Maybe someone has a squadron patch scan to add to this post?
The man in the photo is named Robert Duffy, a WWII P-47 pilot who crashed near the town of Le Mesnilbus in 1944. Click here to read his story!
Portraits of War 
You’ve done it again – Robert Duffy was my grandfather! After being shot down over Le Minibus, he was held as a POW in Stalag Luft 3 for nine months before returning home when the war ended.
I found out a few years ago he never received a Purple Heart for his injuries and did quite a bit of research to get it for him. You can see the news story at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WkcikQN72c&feature=youtu.be. I was an active duty Air Force officer at the time, and conveniently worked right next door to the Air Force Historical Research Agency. They offered a wealth of information on the different units my grandfather served in.
My family may be able to help in your quest for WWII and Korean War color pictures – I’ll go through what we have. In the meantime, none of us had ever seen this picture – thanks very much for posting!
I’m excited to help reunite a family member with a “long lost” color shot of a relative. In my opinion, this is a top-tier Korean War portrait shot – one worthy of framing. I’m more than happy to send you the original slide or a high res edited version of the photo. Glad to reconnect and make history a little more tangible.
Thanks for stopping by!
Brennan
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We just unearthed a box of slides from 1951 of the very little known, 8th Army’s 10th Special Service Co putting on a revue in Korea for the soldiers. Have started offering them on eBay. The veteran who these came from was in the 2nd Inf Div Band unit and trained at Camp Stoneman before being shipped to Korea. http://www.ebay.com/itm/172241349436?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649
Great pic, btw!