![]() ![]() Pope, more than likely, would have returned to continue his commercial career had he not been cut down by a German machine gun in August 1944. Rosenblum would go on after the war to a very successful career in photography and teaching. Both men sought to serve their country in the way that they knew best, through the lens of a camera. Rosenblum began as a young photographer in the influential New York City-based Photo League, a cooperative of amateur and professional photographers that used the camera to document working-class society. Pope was known in Los Angeles, California, for his work filming sporting events. Rosenblum and Pope had both worked with cameras before the war, but on opposite coasts. Pope was drawn to the commotion developing in the waves. ![]() Louis Weintraub, and motion-picture man T/Sgt. The cameramen that filmed stills and motion pictures of the Walter Sidlowski rescue on June 7 were a combat camera team from the 162nd Signal Photographic Company. Needless to say it was a very dangerous job, but it attracted certain types of men, many of them photographers before the war. Organized into Signal Photographic Companies it was their job to constantly seek out the front lines and photograph men fighting. Within the large machine that was the APS was a group of men called combat photographers. By 1942 the US Army had established the Army Pictorial Service (APS) in a bid to use still and motion pictures for training material, propaganda, and to tell the story of how the US Army was fighting the war. American military photography goes back to the Civil War, but it only operated on a large scale when there was a war. The camera was no different during World War II, and the US Army recognized its importance as a tool of information. A cell phone can be used to record a moment or event which can be shared, or not shared, instantly. Today, we are used to the high speed flow of information. and detachments of US Army and Navy combat photographers whose job it was to record the moment for history. Shore Fire Control Parties, medical detachments, prisoner of war Interrogation teams, engineers, Military Police. In addition to the troops, tanks, and supply companies are a myriad of small units that were essential. These tables detail all of the units, men, and equipment, what ships they will travel on, and when they will arrive on the beach. Beaches need to be organized, exits marked, roads built, mines cleared…the list of tasks is mind-boggling in complexity and is reflected in the landing tables. Heavy weapons, tanks, more troops, and supplies need to keep flowing, the army has to push inland as soon as possible. An amphibious invasion is more than showing up on the beach and taking out the defenses. From the moment of H-Hour the planners build the beachhead with timed arrivals. Most, like engineer companies, land after. Some elements, such as DD tanks, are supposed to land before H-Hour. Landing times are recorded in minutes based off of H-Hour, the moment of the “first” landing. Official US Coast Guard Photo, Gift of Jeffrey and Mary Cole, 2002.119.036Ĭombing through the landing tables for a major amphibious invasion like Operation Overlord really demonstrates the complexity and planning required for such a massive undertaking. An officer peers over the ramp to look into occupied France. It also helps that this too was Sidlowsky’s second day on the beach.Ī Landing Craft Vehicle Personell (LCVP) heads towards Omaha Beach with assault troops. This, coupled with the loss of all of Rosenblum’s exposures from the previous day (June 6), made the photo that much more important for telling a story. It's almost as though Rosenblum felt some of the raw emotion from the previous day when he saw Sidlowski kneeling in the stones of Fox Green Beach, forever capturing it on a photographic negative. Walter Rosenblum had landed the day before with a small detachment from the 162nd Signal Photographic Company he knew what had happened on Omaha beach, he was there. In this regard it does not matter that the photo was taken on June 7. The censors incorrectly marked it for D-Day, but this does not change that it is an amazing photograph, taken by a talented and passionate photographer with an eye for capturing the human condition. The fact that this photo is often associated with Jis entirely understandable. The only complication to this representation is this photo was taken on June 7, D+1. This image quickly became one of the most iconic of D-Day, used and reproduced by the thousands to represent the titanic struggle that started on the beaches of Northern France on June 6. ![]()
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