But in 1942, after seeing Leni Riefenstahl's Nazi propaganda movies, Stevens enlisted.
General Dwight Eisenhower assigned him to head up the combat motion-picture coverage, a unit covering the war in black-and-white 35 millimetre film for newsreels and military archives.
The frames/second must have less than normal, causing the silent-movie-like jerkiness. But the color and clarity was great.
Bookmark.
I just mailed the article to a family member who is a WW II vet. Thank you so much for spotting this and posting.
Many GIs who were photo enthusiasts probably had 16mm color film cameras with them in all theaters of the war but never realized the historic significance and allowed it to deteriorate over time.
It must have been an unbelievable hell. My father in law fought at D-Day and never spoke of it.
History channel take on this film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfDidNBXjJ0
Wonderful footage.. If there is more of it, I’d like to see it.
This reminds me of that new miniseries I watched this week, “The World Wars”. There were some very good parts to it but it was completely ruined with the likes of John McCain, Colin Powell, and Leon Panetta as ‘expert’ historian consultants (I even think I saw Hugh Downs in there at one point).
Additionally, there were dozens of instances in the series where the footage used wasn’t even close to that being described (e.g., when the narrative spoke of bombers used by England, B-17s were shown, or cargo planes dropping paratroops C-130s were shown - in all if it was an airplane it was used no matter if it is wrong - that goes for some of the soldiers, tanks and other weapons, too).
over the years, I have noticed much more color film shots of the Pacific island hopping campaign.
I often look for Guadalcanal and Bougainville footage for the chance of seeing my Dad in either color or B&W. Never have.
He said he came here because we were the only country that would resist communism.
Half of his family was killed in the war. His father, a civil engineer, was asked by the Germans to help repair a bridge blown up by the resistance, refused, and was taken away, never to be heard from again. His mother was eventually taken away, leaving him and his teenage sister alone, until he was taken away to work on a farm.
My mother survived the bombing of London, including a dud "blockbuster" that came through her neighbor's window and wedged itself in their fireplace. The slave-labor bomb-makers saved my mother's life. Unfortunately, her sister died of TB contracted after sleeping in the Underground.
My dad rarely spoke of the war years. He was ashamed of his forced tenure in the German army. We didn't learn of it until his later years. I spent a lot of weekends watching "World of War" with him.
Well done.
For later
The History Channel is advertising a new 2 hour program titled “D-Day in HD” that will air on June 6th.
BUMP