Collection of Greatest War Photographs

Greatest War Photographs. Images 00 - 05

2008-07-29T06:02:00.000-07:00

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Joe Rosenthal

Marines of the 28th Regiment of the 5th Division raise the American flag atop Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima, February 23, 1945. The Pacific island was the site of one of the bloodiest battles of World War II.

Alfred Eisenstaedt, Time Life

A Jubilant American sailer celebrates the U.S. victory over Japan by sharing a passionate kiss with a nurse in Ney York's Times Square, August 14, 1945. Thousands of people took to the streets of New York to salute the end of World War II.

Eddie Adams, The Associated Press

World Press Photo of the Year: 1968
Saigon, South Vietnam, 1 February 1968. South Vietnam national police chief Nguyen Ngoc Loan executes a suspected Viet Cong member.
About the image: Drawn by gunfire, Adams watched South Vietnamese soldiers bring a Viet Cong captive to a street corner, where he assumed he would be interrogated. Instead, Loan strode up, wordlessly drew a pistol and executed him. Years later, Adams found himself so defined and haunted by the picture that he wouldn't display it in his studio.

Robert Capa, Magnum Photos

A U.S soldier struggles ashore under heavy German Fire during the first wave of the D-Day invasion on Omaha Beach on the Normandy coast of France, June 6, 1944.

Larry Burrows, Time Life

Wounded Marine Gunnery Sgt. Jeremiah Purdie reaches out to a stricken comrade after a fierce firefight to control Hill 484 south of the demilitarized zone in South Vietnam in 1966.

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Greatest War Photographs. Images 06 - 10

2008-07-28T09:48:00.000-07:00

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W. Eugene Smith, Time Life

A U.S. Marine cradles a near dead infant found wedged, face down in dirt, under a rock during an operation to clear out Japanese troops hiding in caves. Saipan 1944.

Sal Veder, Associated Press

Former prisoner of war Lt. Col. Robert Stirm is greeted by his family at Travis Air Force Base, California, upon his return from Vietnam, March 17, 1979. With arms outstretched is daughter Lori, 15; followed by son Robert, 14; daughter Cynthis, 11; wife Loretta and son Roger, 12.

Nick Ut, Associated Press

World Press Photo of the Year: 1972
Trangbang, South Vietnam, 8 June 1972. Phan Thi Kim Phuc (center) flees from the scene where South Vietnamese planes have mistakenly dropped napalm.
About the image: Nick Ut remembers how this (now famous) little girl pulled off her burning clothes, screaming, "Nong qua!" (Too hot!), and how he poured water to cool her off, after which he put all the kids in his van and took them to Cu Chi Hospital.

David Turnley, Black Star/Detroit Free Press

World Press Photo of the Year: 1991
Iraq, February 1991. US Sergeant Ken Kozakiewicz mourns the death of fellow soldier Andy Alaniz, a victim of friendly fire on the final day of fighting in the Gulf War.
About the image: Sitting knee-to-knee with the soldier who just realized his best friend is dead, Turnley pondered his position as a photographer - the ability to enter people's lives in very intimate ways - and tried to preserve his subject's dignity. He feels his photo reinforces the reality of war, that no matter the politics, human life is at risk.

Alexander Gardner, U.S.

A Confederate sharpshooter lies dead following the Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in July 1863.

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Greatest War Photographs. Images 11 - 15

2008-07-27T10:21:00.000-07:00

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Ed Clark, Time Life

Grief stricken Navy Chief Petty Officer Graham Jackson plays "Goin' Home" on the accordian while President Franklin Roosevelt's body is carried from the Warm Springs, Georgia, plantation where he died, April 12, 1945, of a stroke.

Alexander Gardner, Corbis-Bettman

Bodies of men and animals litter the ground in front of Dunker Church following the Civil War Battle of Antietam in Sharpsburg, Maryland, September 17, 1862. Some 23,000 Union and Confederate troops were killed or wounded in the bloodiest engagement in U.S. Military History.

John Filo, Associated Press

Mary Ann Vecchio gestures in horror near the body of a student shot by National Guardsmen at Kent State University in Ohio, May 04, 1970. The Guardsmen had fired into a crowd of demonstrators, killing four.

Art Greenspon, Associated Press

A paratrooper from A Company, 101st Airborne Division, guides a medical evacuation helicopter through jungle foliage as fellow troopers aid buddies wounded during fighting near Hue, South Vietnam, in April 1968.

Kyoichi Sawada, Japan, United Press International

World Press Photo of the Year: 1965
Loc Thuong, Binh Dinh, South Vietnam, September 1965. Mother and children wade across river to escape US bombing.
About the image: Sawada braved going down to the riverside, which was under attack, to take the picture, and then wiped the youngest child's eyes when they reached his side. His widow tells that his evidence of the tragedies of war reached a wider audience after winning, but it also pressured him, and turned him taciturn.

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Greatest War Photographs. Images 16 - 20

2008-07-26T11:55:00.000-07:00

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Co Rentmeester, The Netherlands, Life

World Press Photo of the Year: 1967
South Vietnam, May 1967.
The commander of an M48 tankgunner of the US 7th Cavalry Regiment in Vietnam's "Iron Triangle".
About the image: Rentmeester took his winning shot, which was salvaged from Life magazine's rejects pile, as he lay on the floor of an incredibly hot tank. Rentmeester is the only Dutch photographer to ever have received this award, which was founded in the Netherlands.

Bill Foley, Associated Press

British soliers lend a hand to their American comrades during rescue operations in the wreckage of the U.S. Marine command center near Beirut airport, October 23, 1983. A bomb-laden truck drove into the center and the explosion collapsed the four story building, killing 241 U.S. sevicemen, 220 of whom were Marines.

Robert Capa, Magnum Photos

Loyalist Militiaman at the Moment of Death, Cerro Muriano, September 5, 1936.

Robert Capa, Magnum Photos

A U.S. soldier lies dead after being hit by sniper fire during house-to-house skirmishing in Liepzig, Germany, on the last day of the World War II fighting in Europe.

Kyoichi Sawada, Japan, United Press International

World Press Photo of the Year: 1966
Tan Binh, South Vietnam, 24 February 1966. American troops drag the body of a Viet Cong soldier to be buried.
About the image: He experienced many atrocities first hand, but found it hard to talk about. His widow confides that he wasn't pleased to win that year, as the tragic photo upset him. Always a daredevil, he was killed in 1970, while on assignment in Cambodia.

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Greatest War Photographs. Images 21 - 25

2008-07-25T12:16:00.000-07:00

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David Douglas Duncan, Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas

A lone Marine rests during the winter retreat from the Yalu River in 1950 when U.S. forces battled the Chinese, North Koreans and well below zero temperatures.

Françoise Demulder, Gamma, France

World Press Photo of the Year: 1976
Beirut, Lebanon, January 1976.
Palestinian refugees in the district La Quarantaine.
About the image: She was the first woman to win the World Press Photo, and did so on the 20th anniversary of the award. Demulder stated at the time that she hated war, but felt compelled to document how it's always the innocent who suffer, while the powerful get richer and richer.

George Strock, Time Life

Three dead Americans lie where they fell in the sand near a half sunken landing craft on Buna Beach in northern New Guinea following a Japanese ambush in 1943.

Hanns-Jörg Anders, Stern, Germany

World Press Photo of the Year: 1969
Londonderry, Northern Ireland, May 1969.
A young Catholic during clash with British troops.
About the image: After a night of street fighting, everyone was fleeing the teargas, when Anders saw a gas masked boy, who had stopped in front of a wall inscribed with "we want peace". He only had time to take two pictures before the teargas enveloped him.

Robin Moyer, USA, Black Star for Time

World Press Photo of the Year: 1982
Beirut, Lebanon, 18 September 1982.
Aftermath of massacre of Palestinians by Christian Phalangists in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps.
About the image: Moyer saw Israeli flares burst above the camps, and went there to discover piles of bodies - brutally shot. He photographed for hours surrounded by the smell of death, while Israeli soldiers joked around. The killers were never brought to justice.

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Greatest War Photographs. Images 26-30

2008-07-24T12:34:00.000-07:00

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Lt. Comdr. Charles Fenno Jacobs

Sailor reading in his bunk aboard USS CAPELIN at submarine base New London, Conn. August 1943.

U.S. Army, National Archives

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin share a laugh before the Conference of the Big Three at Yalta in February 1945. With victory over Germany close at hand, the leaders met to discuss the postwar reorganisation of Europe.

Lt. Comdr. Charles Fenno Jacobs

Crewmen aboard the battleship USS New Jersey watch a Japanese prisoner bathe before he is issued G.I. clothing. 1944.

Ronald Haeberle, Time Life

Victims of the "Mai Lai Massacre" lie strewn on a roadway near the South Veitnam hamlet. More than 300 villagers were killed by U.S. soldiers in the incident in March 1968. News of the massacre did not surface until a year later. a number of soldiers eventually were charged for their roles in the incident, but only five were court martialed.

Jean-Marc Bouju, France, The Associated Press.

World Press Photo of the Year: 2003
An Najaf, Iraq, 31 March 2003. Iraqi man comforts his son at a holding center for prisoners of war.
About the image: Working quickly and discreetly, Bouju couldn't help thinking about his own child, and how it would be if the roles were reversed.

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Greatest War Photographs. Images 31 - 35

2008-07-23T21:15:00.000-07:00

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Henri Huet, Associated Press

U.S helicopteres providing support for U.S ground troops fly into a staging area 50 miles of Saigon. The fuel for a mobile gas station is stored in large rubber tanks. North of Saigon, 1966.

Robert Ellison, Black Star

The sea of artillery casings testifies to the volume of artillery fired back at the enemy. Khe Sanh, Vietnam. 1968.

Philip Jones Griffiths, Magnum Photos

An American sniper takes aim from an apartment window during urban fighting in Saigon, South Vietnam.

Bernie Boston

A protestor places flowers in the rifle barrels of military police during a 1967 demonstration against the Vietnam War at the Pentagon.

Carol Guzy, The Washington Post

A U.S. soldier steps in to protect a man suspected of throwing a grenade during a demonstration in Haiti, 1944. Soldiers arrested the man saving him from the angry mob.

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Greatest War Photographs. Images 36 - 40

2008-07-22T22:11:00.000-07:00

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W. Eugene Smith, Black Star

Marine Pvt. 1st Class T.E Underwood takes a drink while under fire by Japanese forces during the battle for Saipan, 1944.

Henri Huet, Associated Press

Despite also being wounded, 1st Cavalry Division medic Thomas Cole, right, aids Staff Sgt. Harrison Pell during a January 1966 firefight between U.S. troops and a combined North Vietnamese and Viet Cong force in South Vietnam's Central Highlands.

Malcolm Browne, Associated Press

Thich Quang Duc, a Buddhist monk from Vietnam, burned himself to death at a busy intersection in downtown Saigon on June 11, 1963 to bring attention to the repressive policies of the Catholic Diem regime that controlled the South Vietnamese government at the time. Buddhist monks asked the regime to lift its ban on flying the traditional Buddhist flag, to grant Buddhism the same rights as Catholicism, to stop detaining Buddhists and to give Buddhist monks and nuns the right to practice and spread their religion.

Don McCullin, Contact Press Images

A shell shocked U.S. Marine awaits transportation from the front line in Hue, South Vietnam, during the 1968 Tet Offensive.

Robert Ellison, Black Star

U.S. Marines duck shell gragments as a Viet COng projectile explodes amid ammunitions depot at Khe Sanh, South Vietnam. Khe Sanh Combat Base, which sat on a barren plateau surrounded by hills by besieged by communist forces for 75 days in early 1968.

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Greatest War Photographs. Images 41 - 45

2008-07-21T23:15:00.000-07:00

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Wayne Miller, U.S. Navy/National Archives

Crewman aboard the USS Saratoga lift wounded gunner Kenneth Bratton out of the turret of a torpedo bomber after a raid on Rabaul in the South Pacific in 1943. After wounded by antiaircraft fire, Bratton applied a tourniquet to his leg. He remained conscious and was able to help fight off attacking Japanese aircraft as his plane completed its mission.

Jerry Rutberg, Black Star

U.S. troops pass a German woman surveying the damage done by the Allied bombing along the Rhine River in March 1945.

Larry Burrows, Time Life

After recovering the body of a comrade, Marines scramble for a helicopter while under fire after fighting erupted near the demilitarized zone in South Vietnam in 1966. French photographer Catherine LeRoy is see also seen at extreme right.

Larry Burrows, Time Life

Air Cavalry Delivering Supplies to U.S. Marines in Khe Sahn (Vietnam), February 1, 1968.

Paul Watson, Associated Press/The Toronto Star

The body of a U.S. soldier is dragged through the streets of Mogadishu, Somalia, October 4, 1993. The soldier was one of the 18 Americans killed during a United Nations assault on Somali warlord Mohammed Farah Aideed's military command.

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Greatest War Photographs. Images 46 - 50

2008-07-20T03:34:00.000-07:00

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U.S. Army Signal Corps, Associated Press

Smoke mushrooms thousands of feet into the air above Nagasaki, August 9, 1945, after U.S. dropped its second atomic bomb on Japan. A B-29 airplane delivered the bomb, which killed approximately 70,000 people. The attack came three days after the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

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