Pictures of Courage: Vietnam veteran brings photos of the past to the present with bursts of color

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Ralph Bakle, a Vietnam vet who served two tours of duty from 1969 through 1972, says his love of cameras and photography started long before his deployment.

"Bake," as his squadron called him, was 26 years old when he enlisted in the United States Navy as a radioman and gunner.

A born historian and enthusiast, Bakle would later move to South Bend and enroll in classes at Ivy Tech, in photography, specializing in coloring and restoring old photos.

For nearly a decade, fellow veterans and their families would come to him and ask him to do just that.

He's now done over 5,000 photos, with some printed and some gifted.

He shares his full story with ABC57 Kickoff's Vahid Sadrzadeh.