Posted on Nov 27, 2013
What is your favorite historical military photo?
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Please post your favorite (historical) military photo in this thread and vote for your favorite. I'll start off with what is one of the greatest moments captured on film, the flag raising on Iwo Jima, plus a few more angles that are rarely seen.<div><br></div><div>Please add your favorite historical photos... they can be as old as the Civil War or as recent as Afghanistan (they don't need to be black and white!).</div>
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Posted 12 y ago
Responses: 79
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I am surprised no one mentioned the photographs of General Douglas MacArthur landing at Palo Beach, Leyte, Philippines, October 20, 1944.
MacArthur's Radio Message from the Leyte Beachhead
TO THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES:
I have returned. By the grace of Almighty God our forces stand again on Philippine soil -- soil consecrated in the blood of our two peoples. We have come, dedicated and committed, to the task of destroying every vestige of enemy control over your daily lives, and of restoring, upon a foundation of indestructible, strength, the liberties of your people.
At my side is your President, Sergio Osmena, worthy successor of that great patriot, Manuel Quezon, with members of his cabinet. The seat of your government is now therefore firmly re- established on Philippine soil.
The hour of your redemption is here. Your patriots have demonstrated an unswerving and resolute devotion to the principles of freedom that challenges the best that is written on the pages of human history. I now call upon your supreme effort that the enemy may know from the temper of an aroused and outraged people within that he has a force there to contend with no less violent than is the force committed from without.
Rally to me. Let the indomitable spirit of Bataan and Corregidor lead on. As the lines of battle roll forward to bring you within the zone of operations, rise and strike. Strike at every favorable opportunity. For your homes and hearths, strike! For future generations of your sons and daughters, strike! In the name of your sacred dead, strike! Let no heart be faint. Let every arm be steeled. The guidance of divine God points the way. Follow in His Name to the Holy Grail of righteous victory!
LTC Stephen C.
1LT Sandy Annala, I've read some about this photograph (and film). There's some thought that MacArthur was so vain, that the finished product required many takes and MacArthur had to change pants each time. Have you read about this?
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LTC Stephen C.. Yes . . . I had heard about this . . . thought perhaps due to the symbolic and motivational importance of this photo . . . perhaps reshoots were worthwhile. Warmest Regards, Sandy
SFC (Join to see)
The memorial is on what used to be my grandfathers land in the Philippines. Awesome to have a connection to this part of history.
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Here's a couple of more great ones. The Rhodesian SAS on patrol and MACV-SOG. I think that these serve as a reminder that mission accomplishment can and should take priority over personal appearance.
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SSG Tom Kamrowski
Back in the REAL Old Corps! Chesty was known to the Sandinistas as "El Tigre del Norte"
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SSgt (Join to see)
How awesome would it be to engage your enemies to the point that they gave you a sick nickname!
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First Lieutenant Lewis "Chesty" Puller (center left) and Sergeant William "Ironman" Lee (center right) and two Nicaraguan soldiers in 1931.
SSgt (Join to see)
Very impressive L.T! I didn't think that anyone would know their true identities so didn't bother annotating them.
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I like photos like this that people took the black and white ones and colorized/restored them
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Jedburgh was an operation in World War II in which men from the British Special Operations Executive, the U.S. Office of Strategic Services joined with men from the Free French Bureau Central de Renseignements et d'Action ("Intelligence and operations central bureau"), and the Dutch or Belgian Army to parachute into Nazi occupied France, Holland, or Belgium to conduct sabotage and guerilla warfare, and to lead the local resistance forces against the Germans.
The operation took its name, probably assigned at random from a list of pre-approved code names, from the town Jedburgh in the Scottish Borders. After about two weeks of paramilitary training at commando training bases in the Scottish Highlands, the Jeds moved to Milton Hall, which was much closer to London and Special Forces Headquarters.
The Jedburgh teams comprised three men: a leader, an executive officer, and a non-commissioned radio operator. One of the officers would be British or American while the other would hail from the country to which the team deployed. The Type B Mark II radio, more commonly referred to as the B2 or "Jed Set" was critical for communicating with Special Force Headquarters in London.
The first team in, codenamed HUGH, parachuted into central France near Chateroux the night before the Allied landings in Normandy and the invasion of Europe, codenamed Operation Overlord. 91 Jedburgh teams operated in 54 French metropolitan départements between June and December 1944.
The Jedburgh teams normally parachuted in by night to meet a reception committee from a local Resistance or Maquis group. Their main function was to provide a link between the guerillas and the Allied command. They could provide liaison, advice, expertise, leadership, and -- their most powerful ability -- they could arrange airdrops of arms and ammunition.
Like all Allied forces who operated behind Nazi lines, the Jedburghs or Jeds as they called themselves, were subject to torture and execution in the event of capture, under Hitler's notorious Commando Order. Because the Jeds normally operated in uniform, to apply this order to them was a war crime. However, of the French Jedburghs, only British Captain Victor A. Gough met that fate. He was shot while a prisoner on 25 November, 1944.
Operation Jedburgh represented the first real cooperation in Europe between SOE and the Special Operations branch of OSS. By this period in the war, SOE had insufficient resources to mount the huge operation on its own; OSS jumped at the chance to be involved since in a single swoop it got more Special Operations agents into northwestern Europe than it had during the entire period of the United States' involvement in the war. General Eisenhower saw to it that the French would led the operation and gave them command on 9 June, 1944 of the Jedburgh teams in France.
Jedburgh teams also operated in the Pacific circa 1945, including Japanese occupied French Indochina.
Many of the surviving American Jeds went on to great responsibility in the US Army or the CIA. Examples include CIA director William Egan Colby, Lucien Conein, later a key CIA officer in Vietnam, General John Singlaub and Colonel Aaron Bank (founder of United States Army Special Forces).
Among French commandos, Paul Aussaresses, later founder of the SDECE's 11e régiment parachutiste de choc, and counter-insurgency expert in French Algeria. Another BCRA Jedburgh and former 11e RPC, Jean Sassi, pioneered in conventional guerrilla commandos GCMA with Roger Trinquier during the First Indochina War. Guy Le Borgne, commander of the 8e Choc Parachute Battalion in Indochina, 3rd Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment in Algeria and 11th Parachute Division.
France and the United States would both use similar operations a few years later in Vietnam.
Website dedicated to Clandestine Operations conducted during WW2 by American and British Forces.
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In October 1983, I was driving a truck at Cherry Point, Marine Corps Air Station. I lived in a tiny little community of military couples, in a little trailer park, half way between Lejeune and 'the Point.'
A few months before that, I had plans for a 72, heading out to do some fishing and sunbathing with the husband and a few friends, so I was waiting, car packed, at the hanger, while the husband finished up a C130. Then, half the drivers at Motor T pulled in with buses and cattle cars, loaded down with troops heading to Beiruit. Just another 6 month pump they said.... their passengers all climbed down, settled down to wait, with their backs against their sea-bags, shooting the breeze. Several of the Marines were ones who lived in our neighborhood, and I made mental notes as to whose wives and girlfriends to call and offer help where I could while they were gone. It was just an hour or two before the aircraft arrived, and they were gone. Besides extra babysitting for a few of the women, our lives were normal.... until that October day. Somehow, nearly everyone in the area ended up in our living room, crying kids, stunned adults, with dazed faces and rising fear in our hearts.
A week... then two... and then a month. The bodies returned, without being identified, because their medical records were put into the same building as they were, so nothing was left. It was going to be one of the first cases of DNA when all else failed... and that took time. For a month, families kept getting letters from their Marines, and then, one day, I'd arrive in their doorway, with the Chaplin and another officer, and they knew their Marine wasn't coming home.
Knowing this, you might understand why the Beiruit Memorial means so much to me.
A few months before that, I had plans for a 72, heading out to do some fishing and sunbathing with the husband and a few friends, so I was waiting, car packed, at the hanger, while the husband finished up a C130. Then, half the drivers at Motor T pulled in with buses and cattle cars, loaded down with troops heading to Beiruit. Just another 6 month pump they said.... their passengers all climbed down, settled down to wait, with their backs against their sea-bags, shooting the breeze. Several of the Marines were ones who lived in our neighborhood, and I made mental notes as to whose wives and girlfriends to call and offer help where I could while they were gone. It was just an hour or two before the aircraft arrived, and they were gone. Besides extra babysitting for a few of the women, our lives were normal.... until that October day. Somehow, nearly everyone in the area ended up in our living room, crying kids, stunned adults, with dazed faces and rising fear in our hearts.
A week... then two... and then a month. The bodies returned, without being identified, because their medical records were put into the same building as they were, so nothing was left. It was going to be one of the first cases of DNA when all else failed... and that took time. For a month, families kept getting letters from their Marines, and then, one day, I'd arrive in their doorway, with the Chaplin and another officer, and they knew their Marine wasn't coming home.
Knowing this, you might understand why the Beiruit Memorial means so much to me.
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I always was a fan of this poster. Made in 1917 therefore I hope it can be considered vintage.
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LTC Stephen C.
MSG (Join to see), the poster was originally published as the cover for the July 6, 1916, issue of Leslie's Weekly with the title "What Are You Doing for Preparedness?" This portrait of "Uncle Sam" went on to become, according to its creator James Montgomery Flagg, "the most famous poster in the world." Over four million copies were printed between 1917 and 1918, as the United States entered World War I and began sending troops and materiel into war zones. Because of its overwhelming popularity, the image was later adapted for use in World War II. Upon presenting President Franklin Delano Roosevelt a copy of the poster, Flagg remarked that he had been his own model for Uncle Sam to save the modeling fee.
It's rather extraordinary that the most iconic, widely recognized and accepted depiction of Uncle Sam was the face of the artist!
It's always been my favorite wartime poster, and I had a huge framed copy of it on my wall long before I ever enlisted.
It's rather extraordinary that the most iconic, widely recognized and accepted depiction of Uncle Sam was the face of the artist!
It's always been my favorite wartime poster, and I had a huge framed copy of it on my wall long before I ever enlisted.
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Every time I am sucking and it's cold, shitty and I just want to quit I think about how bad these guys were sucking. It makes me realize that I haven't even reached the level of suck that these guys not only endured but prevailed.
I tell myself to get up and keep going. I live in a great country because of hard men who believed in freedom!
I tell myself to get up and keep going. I live in a great country because of hard men who believed in freedom!
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SFC (Join to see)
I have this hanging in my hallway at home. It's huge!! I got it at one of those Amish shops in southern Ohio. This thing screams FREEDOM.
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Here's mine. I served here for a short time (two weeks at the Tomb) and a little over a year in the Old Guard. The Tomb is a very special place ... I guess you could say it's iconic.
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