WW2 photos of Iwo that I've never seen before...

A friend shared this link with me. I've been a WW2 history follower for many years, and I've never seen these photos before. IMO they are just phenomenal, both as history and as photographs. I can't find out anything about them. Most of them appear to me to have been shot by the same photographer, whom I suspect might be Murray Befeler, one of the AP photographers on Iwo Jima at the time; I found a couple shots, that appear to have the same look, that were credited to him.

Any one else know anything about these? And, do you feel the same way about them as I do, that they are not just great history, but also oustanding photographs?

http://picasaweb.googl​e.com …eshow/529916315​0448181842

The two photos I found credited to Befeler, that IMO share the same look:

Same attention to composition, same tilted horizon that he uses--

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'text/html' | Byte size: ZERO

Wow - awesome stuff here! If you're into WWII planes (like me) then this is as good as it gets!

Great pictures! The utter devastation of the island after the battle was incredible...blast holes and almost no trees.

Good stuff.

My dad was still in the hospital from the previous landing when they landed on Iwo...

Jon.

The shots are from the National Archives. A blog follower at TOP says that the surface of the archives has barely been scratched.

What does this mean?

Mosca wrote in post #9597139
The shots are from the National Archives. A blog follower at TOP says that the surface of the archives has barely been scratched.

Wow, those are excellent. My History-minor girlfriend is going to love these.

My uncle's big on WW2 history. This is really interesting, would love to see more.

Such a turbulent era

Chairman7w wrote in post #9598454
What does this mean?

TOP=The Online Photographer. Does that help explain?

http://theonlinephotog​rapher.typepad.com …tographer/blog_​index.html

matthewlyle wrote in post #9598874
Wow, those are excellent. My History-minor girlfriend is going to love these.

Karl Johnston wrote in post #9599019
My uncle's big on WW2 history. This is really interesting, would love to see more.

Such a turbulent era

I tracked down "Mark", the person who posted them at Picasa. Mark Stevens is the historian for the 7th Fighter Command, http://www.7thfighter.​com. Here is his reply:


"Are you speaking of the photos on my Iwo Jima Picasa site? I actually have thousands of photos up on the web, but most are private folders, so I am not sure which ones you are speaking of. If you are talking about the Iwo photos, I have posted photos I have scanned from the National Archives taken by Air Force Photographers. They are just a fraction of my photos. Most of what I have came from private albums and were taken by just average guys with their own camera’s and have never been seen by the public."


Many more National Archive photos are at the 7th Fighter Command, including some that are just stunning:

Awesome pictures. War is Hell. In 1967 at age 11 I toured Corregedor, my dad was stationed at Clark AFB in the PI. Sacrifice........

Quad wrote in post #9599242
TOP=The Online Photographer. Does that help explain?

http://theonlinephotog​rapher.typepad.com …tographer/blog_​index.html

Yes! Thanks Quad!

Very cool. Thanks for posting

Wonder how accurate the captions are. The one with the guy painting the nose art is not painting a Superfortress... unless they made one with a propeller right up front.


I work with a guy who was stationed with the Coast Guard on Iwo in the late 70s-80s. Said the place stunk of sulfur and they were told under no circumstances were they to go into any of the caves on the island. I believe they were more concerned with it being a burial ground than unexploded ordinance.

Great link.