Dawn patrols and downtime in America's ugliest war: One veteran's forgotten photos of Vietnam unveiled after 47 years, showing troops unaware of protests at home - and the many who never made it back 

Batter up: Vietnam veteran Christopher Gaynor recently uncovered a trove of photographs he took during the war. In the above image, members of an infantry division play baseball at Dau Tieng base camp in 1967, not far from a Huey transport helicopter

Shelter: Soldiers are pictured above in cramped conditions near a battery of Howitzer artillery units in Loc Ninh. Thomas Corbin, bottom left with a bandaged finger, was one of Gaynor's war buddies. He died in action a year after this photograph was taken in 1967

Down time: Dick Jackson, another of Gaynor's friends, is pictured shaving in the open air. He too was killed in action in 1968, aged 20

Getting ready: Pictured are a members of a mechanized infantry battalion riding on top of an armored personnel carrier ahead of a combat mission. Gaynor said the men rode on top because they feared being cooked if Viet Cong rocket pierced the armor and exploded inside

Landing zone: Pictured above is a Huey transport helicopter making a 'quick drop' in the field - where the chopper would unload men and supplies without landing so it could escape quickly. Gaynor described rides on the Hueys as 'white-knuckle scary'

Gamblers: Gaynor also included this photograph from a basic training camp in Fort Riley, Kansas, taken before the men were deployed

Dawn patrol: Soldiers are pictured here on an early morning mission outside a support base in the field

Portrait: Gaynor himself is pictured in this image, taken as he drives a vehicle in a military convoy through the countryside

Smoking gun: Gaynor took this shot from a helicopter carrying him and other soldiers to a Howitzer battery

Men at arms: Gaynor's collection also included these images of two of his fellow soldiers posing with their rifles in Fort Riley

Local allies: Gaynor photographed this Vietnamese men, members of a local militia 'defense group' from he called 'far and away the most effective fighters of the South Vietnamese army'

Moment of peace: This photograph shows Sergeant Mel German, a friend of Gaynor's, sleeping before joining a road convoy

Loading up: Infantry troops wait around in the Vietnamese wetlands before boarding a Caribou transport plane to Dau Tieng base camp

Dry times: This photograph captures the dusty scene before an artillery regiment crossed the Saigon river to join a battle in Loc Ninh

Planning: Officers huddle together around a jeep to prepare a convoy headed to the field

Mama San is a term used by GIs in Vietnam for any older Vietnamese woman. In this case she was supervising sandbag dollies - her teeth are stained dark red by the Betel nut and leaves she chewed)

Convoy: Gaynpor said his buddy Sgt. Dick Jackson (with glasses and camera) is pictured checking out the crush of villagers as their convoy slows to a crawl

Gaynor's comrade of the 84th Artillery Regiment happily shares the Radio Teletype rig with the Playboy Magazine Playmate of the Month in April, 1967

Hamlet. Our convoy passes through a hamlet This scene would have been much the same in 1867. III Corps, Republic of Vietnam, 1967.

These civilian workers came onto out base camp on the Michelin Rubber Plantation at Dau Tieng during the day and worked repairing the old French Colonial plantation homes

Another snap of civilian workers at the Michelin Rubber Plantation at Dau Tieng. Gaynor said that not only did these buildings at the plant remain cooler during the hottest time of the day, but they offered far more protection from the frequent rocket and mortar attacks on the base

Apocalypse Then. Gaynor said 'Huey slicks extract us from the mayhem of FSB Grant where we blew ourselves up when 3,600 rounds for our 105mm Howitzers were ignited in a grass fire'

The hold of the troop ship USS Geiger showing how soldiers were 'stored' during the three week sailing from Oakland, California to the port of Vung Tau, Republic of Vietnam

Gaynor captured military from other countries on camera too. Here soldiers from Australia and New Zealand are pictured with locals in 1967 

Close shave: A barber at the base camp at the Michelin Rubber Plantation at Dau Tieng. Gaynor said there was a story that his body was found one morning with that of another VC after a nighttime perimeter battle. He is not sure whether the story is true

Gaynor's comrade Hammond at Camp Martin Cox (Camp Bearcat) Base of the 9th Infantry Division in March 1967

Chinook CH-47 chopper drops long boxes of 105mm Howitzer rounds at a fire support base

Troops of the 3rd Battalion, 22nd Infantry, 25th Infantry Division deploy from Huey's and assemble for patrol

A soldier burns the remaining twigs after Gaynor's base camp was sprayed heavily with Agent Orange to kill the jungle vegetation and then bulldozed into a desert wasteland. He said that in a letter to his family dated March 15, 1967 he wrote: 'The 9th Division headquarters is a medium sized encampment occupying a couple of square miles carved out of the jungle. They went about this in the most direct manner; that is by spraying to kill the vegetation, leveling everything and leaving a flat constantly dust choked wilderness surrounded by a low perimeter wall which divides jungle from desert. The name of our desert is Bearcat.'

Stop in Japan: A picture taken in Ginza, Tokyo, by Gaynor during an R & R (Rest and Recreation) break in April 1967

Photographer: Gaynor is pictured in a more recent photograph, honoring his fellow soldiers at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.