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- Dennis Puleo, Tom Hanks, Bob Falk and Bob DeVenezia took the photo in May 1966, just before they went to war
- Afterwards they didn't talk for 45 years, and until last week had never been in the same place together
- Their very different lives and public resentment for the Vietnam war had affected their camaraderie
- But on Saturday the veterans - aged between 69 and 71 - gathered for the first time and recreated the image
- Hanks, who had found the old photograph, said it was 'one of the best days' of his life
PALM COAST — 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 recreate 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.
The picture couldn't be a perfect copy. They had gray hair and wrinkled skin and undefined stomachs now. But it didn't matter.
For the first time in five decades, they were together, trying to get it right.
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/local...376860281.html
