mY father during the war

[António Fragoeiro]

I thought of sharing with you a few photos of my father during the war in angola.
He was an electronics engineer and was stationed in angola. However he was never in the front lines mainly for being an expert in electronics.
To compensate the lack of man power, comunications were essentional, and given priority
He was in charge of maintenance of comunications gear in all the bases where he was stationed. He was very lucky to be in this situation, because the front was brutal, on several accounts the troops were ambushed from the top of the trees. The rebels would jump down and start butchring with swords and katanas.
Pure massacres

1st photo, on boot camp before departing, hes the one ducking.
Last photo he`s standing up.

If you have any problems viewing, il post individual photos.
Cheers.
Nuno

[Rudolf Karl]

Thanks for sharing a family members pictures. makes it much more real.
All the men under the roof, were they villagers or prisoners or what?

Rudy

[António Fragoeiro]

You are welcome, those were armed militia, a faction that still supported our troops, if you look carefully, you can see they have weapons on the ground.
On the last photo they building a guard house.
Cheers.
Nuno

[Woolgar]

It must have been one hell of an experience because as you say the war in Angola was brutal!

Great pics

Nick

[António Fragoeiro]

These were taken in transit to the Capital luanda.
These areas were great for ambush, in many ways this war was very similar to vietnam.
The brutality and savagery of the locals was shocking, they would kill and decapitate portuguese farmers and their familys. They hated us.
Just before the retreat, my father had been sent to luanda, he told me that was an absolute chaos, everyone stealing and killing, riots everywhere.
It was a nighmare.
Military family members were given priority, so my father manage to put my mother and my sister on board of an hercules c-130, to lisbon.

[António Fragoeiro]

A couple more photos of my father during the service, these were taken prior to departure, Top photo is the 4th on the left and the 2nd photo is on the right.
Cheers.
Nuno