Korean Demilitarized Zone, South Korea, December 1958: Pvt. Joseph J. Smith poses for the Stars and Stripes photographer. He and other men in the so-called “Stakeout Platoon” stand through the inky tense Korean nights, their ears and senses alert, waiting and listening for the enemy.

The article accompanying the photo states: “Staked out at strategic points along the now silent western Korean front they are poised for the slightest rustling which might mean a communist soldier is creeping nearby. ... Pvt. Joseph J. Smith, 19, of Bozeman, Montana, who alternates as stakeout watch and as a tank driver, said time was a problem on stakeout duty. “You can’t do anything out there, You can’t write. You can’t light a light or smoke. I think about home or what’s going on the next day - and listen. The best thing to do out there is sleep when it’s your turn.”

The article does not detail which unit he and the other men of the platoon served with.

Pictured here is a scan of the original 1958 print created by Stars and Stripes Pacific’s photo department to run in the print newspaper. The red marks indicate the crop lines. Only the middle part of the image would appear in the newspaper. As the vast majority of pre-1964 Stars and Stripes Pacific negatives and slides were unwittingly destroyed by poor temporary storage in 1963, the prints developed from the late 1940s through 1963 are the only images left of Stripes’ news photography from those decades – with the exception the negatives of some 190 pre-1964 photo assignment found recently. Stars and Stripes’ archives team is scanning these prints and negatives to ensure their preservation.