Author Description

The military cameramen of World War II provided us with the enduring and powerful images that have shaped our memory of that conflict as well as our ideas about warfare and its impact. Now, drawing on years of interviews with surviving combat cameramen, including his own father, the distinguished military historian Peter Maslowski tells the story of these men who risked their lives to be front line witnesses to the horrors and heroism of war. World War II's combat cameramen were unsung heroes who served alongside the Marines, Army, Army Air Forces, and Navy, in trenches and jungles, in fighter planes and bombers, aboard destroyers and aircraft carriers - to capture the war's visual essence. Often they were among the first to enter battles, and they were invariably in the front ranks as Allied forces liberated villages and cities from Nazi and Japanese occupation. In the most dangerous places and under the heaviest fire, they dared to record history's most memorable images. Military photographers were responding to a triple imperative. Their commanders needed accurate and detailed pictures in order to design effective military tactics and strategy. Striking photographs and newsreels were also crucial in bolstering homefront morale - they showed what American boys were experiencing and why civilian help in the war effort was essential. Finally, combat cameramen profoundly understood that they were compiling a historical record of this global war, and they used their artistic flair and their technical expertise to take the best possible pictures for posterity. In our own time, as the media and the military hotly debate the role of photography in warfare, Peter Maslowski's book explores the historic importance of cameramen on the battlefield and adds a new chapter to the history of military/media relations. At last, the unparalleled excitement of the military photographers' experience and the richness of their legacy are revealed in this remarkable narrative history.