GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — In 1953, West Michigan native Jay Kool spent about a year stationed near Seoul, South Korea, working as an Air Force mechanic during the Korean War.
When he wasn't fixing up airplanes, he found an interest in photography.
"When the war was over, the Sundays were pretty free at that time," Kool recalled. "I'd walk around the countryside taking pictures of whatever I was interested in."
When he got home, he kept the images he'd captured overseas, eventually stashing away a box of 35-millimeter slides in storage.
They were stashed away for decades, until recently rediscovered in his basement in Jenison.
"My daughter was recently converting her personal pictures to CDs, and she says, 'Why don't we take your military slides and do the same thing?'" he said.