World War II in Art and Photography

This blog will not contain a lot of text, mainly photographs and art of soldiers who served during World War II, and will contain short descriptions. The photograph above was discovered by Levi Bettwieser, a passionate collector of old film rolls who was lucky enough to stumble upon 31 undeveloped rolls of film full of shots taken by a single unknown World War II soldier. What I noticed straight away was the Coca-Cola van. Coca-Cola fought the war on two fronts: Cola for the Allied troops and Fanta for the Wehrmacht.

The following three sketches were drawn by Victor Alfred Lundy, an American architect who was born on February 1, 1923. He drew his experiences from training at Fort Jackson in May 1944 to his journey across the Atlantic and then his time in France. In total, he produced a visual diary with 158 pencil sketches that bring to life the wartime experience. Lundy is still alive; he celebrated his 101st birthday on February 1st.

Four sailors from the U.S. Navy with the letters to spell H.E.L.L. shaved on their heads.

The photo below was taken during the liberation of Mantes on August 19, 1944, at the end of the morning. The German soldier was a motorcyclist who was wounded at 11 am and was recovered by an American patrol that crossed the Seine with the aid of a boat. The US officer who gives the casualty a drink is Lieutenant Stockbridge Bacchus (A company of the 314th Inf., 79th US Inf. Div); behind the wounded is Sergeant Harril (front), who opened fire and Injured the motorcyclist.

The disarming of Belgian soldiers and the collection of weapons were under German observation.

Walter W. Arnett was born in Salyersville, Kentucky, in 1912. He enlisted in October 1942 and was assigned to the 603rd Engineer Camouflage Battalion. After training in camouflage deception at Fort Meade in 1943, he became part of a special secret unit, the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, in January 1944 and embarked for Europe. Served in Belgium, France, Holland, Luxembourg and Germany. Encouraged by his officers, he did numerous cartoons to improve the morale of his fellow soldiers. He died on July 10, 1998, and is buried at Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky.

Richard Wood Baldwin was born in Needham, Massachusetts, in 1921. After training at Pendleton Field, Oregon, in aerial and ground photography, he served with the 20th Air Force as a Public Relations Photographer and Artist. Stationed on Iwo Jima and later covered the surrender of the Japanese forces in Tokyo Bay in August 1945. He died in 2012 in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

German members of the Axis Armistice Commission who were exploiting French possessions in North Africa until captured by the U.S. Army were led off to an internment camp under the guard of American soldiers.

Three blindfolded Japanese soldiers were captured by Chinese troops at the battlefront in Northern Burma. (Now called Myanmar).

Foster Caddell was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, in 1921. Trained in a topographical unit at Mitchell Field, Long Island. Served with the Army Air Corps in New Guinea, the Philippines, and Japan from 1944 until 1946. He passed away on June 2, 2013, at his home/studio, “Northlight.”