Eisenhower Chats with Paratroopers Before D-Day

Image size: 1600 x 1284 pixel. 368 KB
Date: Monday, 5 June 1944
Place: RAF Greenham Common, Berkshire, England
Photographer: Unknown

One of the most iconic photographs of World War II, and of General Eisenhower, this image is forever linked with June 6th D-Day Landing. The photograph was actually taken the evening before the June 6th operations for the allied assault on Normandy, also known as "D-Day." In an English airfield in Greenham Common, members of the 101st Airborne were being briefed for their operation to jump from their gliders in the early hours of June 6th behind Utah beach. General Eisenhower left his command post and drove down to Greenham to spend time with the men of the 101st and 82nd before their jump. Eisenhower had been advised by his tactical air commander that 50 percent of the paratroopers would be dead before they hit the ground, and that 70 percent of the gliders would be lost in the initial air assault. British Air Marshall Trafford-Leigh Mallory warned Eisenhower to cancel the drop on Utah Beach, that in his opinion it would result in the “futile slaughter” of two airborne divisions. Though Eisenhower agonized over the projected heavy casualties, he decided to go ahead with the air drop that would spearhead the invasion. In the snapshot, the general has an intense look on his face and appears as if he could be giving a rousing speech, speaking to a young paratrooper with 23 around neck. That young man was LT. Wallace "Wally" Strobel. But actually, they were talking about fishing. Eisenhower asked where Strobel was from and he replied "Michigan, Sir." "How is the fishing in Michigan?" Eisenhower asked. Strobel replied, "It's great, sir." Eisenhower then said he had visited the state several times himself and that it was a beautiful state. Before moving on, Eisenhower ended with "Go, Michigan." According to Strobel's wife, when the planes took off early the next morning, Eisenhower was standing on the tarmac watching. Wally Strobel survived D-Day, the invasion of Europe and the rest of the war. He returned to Michigan and eventually died of respiratory failure at the age of 77. Servicemen from every unit in the U.S. military have claimed to be in this photo - one of the most famous of World War Il. The paratroopers in this series taken at Greenham Common on June 5, 1944, are all members of the 'E' and 'D' Company of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment / 101st Airborne Division. Anyone saying they are in it who was not a member of that organization is making a fraudulent claim. Left to right: Hans Sannes D/502, Bill Bowser E/502, General Eisenhower, Ralph Pombano E/502, Schuyler Jackson HQ/502, Bill Hayes E/502, Carl Vickers D/502, Lieutenant Wallace Strobel (“23” sign around neck) E/502, Henry Fuller E/502, Bill Boyle E/502, and William Noll E/502. U.S. Army.

Source :

"101st Airborne: The Screaming Eagles in World War II" by Mark Bando

https://www.amazon.com/World-War-Airborne-Eisenhower-WW2V15/dp/B00ONJR4L2

https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/general-dwight-d-eisenhower-talking-with-american-news-photo/500471937
https://imgur.com/gallery/fnNFMNS

US Army General Douglas MacArthur at Manila Philippines

Image size: 1234 x 1600 pixel. 561 KB
Date: Friday, 24 August 1945
Place: Manila, Luzon, Philippines
Photographer: Unknown

US Army General Douglas MacArthur photographed just after sixteen Japanese envoys were flown from Ie Shima to Manila to discuss surrender terms. After a number of false starts as no Japanese officer would willingly serve on the delegation, they flew in two G4M-1 (Allied code name "Betty") bombers with the call sign "Bataan" to Ie Shima, and then a C-54 flew them to Manila. MacArthur, seeking to enhance his status in the eyes of the Japanese, refused to meet with them. US Army Major General Charles Willoughby, born in Germany and MacArthur's Chief of Intelligence, was detailed to meet with them. He conversed in German with Imperial Japanese Army General Toroshiro Kawabe. At the Rosario Apartments, Willoughby set the date for the first American landings at Atsugi Airfield, and worked out the first draft for the Instrument of Surrender. The Japanese worried that right-wing elements of the military would try to attack the first Americans to land, and admitted that the government may not have control of the situation. However, both the first landing by Colonel Charles Tench on August 28 and MacArthur's landing on August 30 were unmolested. Willoughby went on to support extreme right-wing organizations in the United States. MacArthur referred to him as "my little fascist." 

Source:

Library of Congress

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/cph.3a22208/

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1119

US Army General Douglas MacArthur Inspects Damage to Stotsenburg Station Hospital

Image size: 1600 x 1238 pixel. 443 KB
Date: Friday, 9 February 1945
Place: Clark Field, Luzon, Philippines
Photographer: Unknown

US Army General Douglas MacArthur inspects damage to Stotsenburg Station Hospital at Clark Field. The original 217-bed Post Hospital dated back to September 1903, and MacArthur's men had brought hundreds of casualties there in 1941-1942. Clark Field was in operation throughout the war, and many Japanese kamikazes were launched there. Occupied by the 30,000 Japanese soldiers of the Kembu Group, under the command Imperial Japanese Army Major General Rikichi Tsukada, fortified the area around Clark Field. The US Army's 37th and 40th Infantry Divisions attacked Clark Field on January 24, 1945. Within a week, Kembu Group lost all their heavy weapons and tanks, and the survivors took up harassing positions in the Zambales Mountains, where they would infiltrate into Clark Field and destroy aircraft and equipment in night raids. Exhausted, the 40th Division garrisoned Clark Field while the unit refit. XIV Corps had secured the Clark Field air center for the Allied Air Forces - construction work had already begun and the Fifth Air Force planes would soon be flying from repaired strips. Next, the corps, pushing the Kembu Group westward, had assured for itself the uninterrupted flow of supplies down Route 3 and the Manila Railroad, securing a line of communications along which future advances toward Manila could be supported. At the time of the photo, MacArthur was preoccupied by the emerging destruction of Manila and the massacre of Filipino civilians by surrounded Japanese Forces. 

Source:

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1118

Emperor Hirohito Paid a Visit to US Army General Douglas MacArthur

Image size: 1600 x 1246 pixel. 397 KB
Date: Thursday, 27 September 1945
Place: Tokyo, Tokyo Prefecture, Japan
Photographer: Lieutenant Gaetano Faillance

On September 27, 1945, Emperor Hirohito paid a visit to US Army General Douglas MacArthur at the United States Embassy in Tokyo. Except for the Emperor's personal translator (he spoke the Imperial Dialect of Japanese, which was difficult for native Japanese to understand) his entourage was politely, but effectively, shut out of the meeting. The two met for minutes and one photo was taken. Hirohito accepted responsibility for the conduct of the war, unaware that MacArthur, over the objections of Stalin and the British, has removed his name from the list of war criminals, fearing guerrilla actions if he were to stand trial. The next day, the photo was run in newspapers in Japan and the United States. General Douglas MacArthur had landed at Atsugi airbase two days before; since the VJ day, he had been asked by President Truman to oversee the occupation of Japan. It was a daunting task. On his drive to Yokohama from Atsugi, tens of thousands of Japanese soldiers greeted him with their bayonets out in one final act of symbolic defiance. Seventy percent of Americans thought Emperor Hirohito should be persecuted; there were protests outside MacArthur’s headquarters by American servicemen and calls in Australian and Russian press to that effect. However, MacArthur understood that for the transition to be smooth, the imperial rule must persist. Yet, he didn’t make the customary call to the palace; instead, he waited for the emperor to make the first contact. On 27th September, Hirohito finally crossed the palace moat to reach MacArthur’s headquarters at the Dai-Ichi Life Insurance Company – requisitioned for its relative intactness and its proximity to both the palace and the American embassy. In The Man Who Saved Kabuki, Shin Okamoto wrote: MacArthur greeted the emperor at the entrance to the reception room, shaking his hand and saying, ‘You are very, very welcome sir.’ The emperor kept bowing lower and lower until MacArthur found himself shaking hands with him over the emperor’s head. Only the emperor, MacArthur and Okamura, the interpreter went into the reception room. Then the door to the reception room was opened and Lt. Gaetano Faillace, of the military camera corps, took a now famous photograph of the emperor and MacArthur from outside the room.” Faillace was given one shot, but he spoke up and asked for three. Faillace also adviced MacArthur against a seated picture on a soft couch. First two photos were less than ideal — their eyes were closed in one, and the Emperor’s mouth was gaping open in the other. But even the perfect, final shot posed its own problems: at this juncture, Hirohito was still  akitsumikami or manifest deity (he would not renounce his divinity before the coming New Year’s Day), and everyone was supposed to avert eyes from the veiled imperial portraits in government buildings.Thus, printing the photo was deemed sacrilegious, not least because of the general’s extremely casual attire and his even more pointed body language. MacArthur’s office itself had to intervene to Japanese censors to have it printed. It ran on 29th September. He had to intervene again when the photo appeared in the New York Times alongside an unprecedented interview with the Emperor — where he criticized his government on failing to declare war on US before Pearl Harbour — and police tried to confiscate the papers. Outside Japan, too, the general’s informal appearance shocked many. Even Life clutched its pearls and wrote, “MacArthur did not trouble to put on a tie for the occasion”. As for the contents of their 40-minute tete-a-tete, nothing was made public; the two men would meet 10 more times during MacArthur’s sojourn as the American Proconsul. The general never paid a return call to the palace.A faction of the Japanese people believed Hirohito was forced into the meeting, but the Tenno Emperor asked MacArthur for the meeting. Hirohito was key to the smooth transition from militaristic autocratic government into a Western-style democracy. MacArthur said after the meeting that Hirohito was "a sincere man and a genuine liberal," high praise from the General. Hirohito's evaluation of MacArthur remain unclear, but he published poems in newspapers subtly encouraging the Japanese public to cooperate with the occupation. Hirohito visited MacArthur twice per year until MacArthur's retirement. His endorsement of Supreme Command Allied Powers (SCAP) directives afforded the Americans the stamp of legitimacy in a country conditioned to Imperial deference. 

Source:
http://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/2012/09/28/when-macarthur-met-the-emperor/

http://pacificwarphotos.com/574/

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1116

US Army General MacArthur Speaks to American and Japanese Reporters

Image size: 1600 x 1076 pixel. 804 KB
Date: Thursday, 30 August 1945
Place: Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
Photographer: Unknown

US Army General MacArthur Arrives at Atsugi Airfield, August 30, 1945, and speaks to American and Japanese reporters. Standing behind General MacArthur, at right, is General Robert L. Eichelberger. When President Truman announced Japan's capitulation, he placed General of the Army Douglas MacArthur in charge of the surrender and occupation of Japan, under the title Supreme Commander Allied Powers (SCAP). Though the first two weeks of this mission were directed from Manila, on August 30 MacArthur flew to Japan. Without escort and only armed with sidearms, his small party wondered if they would be killed or captured upon landing, but MacArthur was confident the Japanese were genuine in their surrender and the mission would be welcomed. Arriving at Atsugi airfield, he established temporary headquarters some twenty miles away, at the Tokyo Bay city of Yokohama. Arrangements for the formal surrender ceremonies were made there. SCAP headquarters moved to Tokyo on September 8, beginning six years of occupation government from the Japanese capital city. 

Source:

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1117

US Army General Douglas MacArthur's Second Landing on Leyte

Image size: 1600 x 1232 pixel. 438 KB
Date: Saturday, 21 October 1944
Place: Dulag, Leyte, Philippines
Photographer: Carl Mydans

US Army General Douglas MacArthur restages his landing from an LVCP on Leyte, Philippine Islands, for the press on White Beach in the 1st Calvary Division sector. At left is Lieutenant General Richard K. Sutherland, MacArthur's chief of staff, and directly behind MacArthur, in glasses, is Colonel Lloyd Lehrbas, the general's aide. LST-740 and LST-814 are behind him. He originally landed on October 20, 1944, under marginal enemy fire on Red Beach in the 24th Infantry Division sector. Both the Japanese and the Americans were shocked to see him wade ashore on A-Day, the first day of the invasion. The Japanese taunted him verbally and opened fire with a Nambu machine gun, but he was not hurt and reportedly did not duck. Philippine President in exile, Sergio Osmena, accompanied the first landing. The Higgins Boat (LCVP) ran aground, and the party had to walk to shore. MacArthur was upset that his carefully prepared uniform was wet, but the shot was iconic. This view, taken the next day for newsreel cameras, was made on a shallower beach, with less tide. 1st Calvary Division soldiers who saw the photo of the first landing questioned its authenticity, and the controversy over the staged landings began. The picture was not posed but it was actually taken three months later, at a different beach than that of the original landing side at Leyte. LIFE photographer Carl Mydans was on the landing craft with MacArthur, and he rushed ashore on the pontoons army engineers put out so that MacArthur would not get his feet wet. But then he saw MacArthur’s landing craft turn away parallel to the shore. Mydans ran along the sand until the craft headed inwards, and as he had expected: “I was standing in my dry shoes waiting.” His photograph showed MacArthur sloshing towards the camera in his open-necked uniform and signature dark glasses, accompanied by staff officers and helmeted troops.

Source:

http://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/tag/douglas-macarthur/

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1113

General Douglas MacArthur and General Jonathan Wainwright Greet Each Other at the New Grand Hotel

Image size: 1102 x 1600 pixel. 475 KB
Date: Friday, 31 August 1945
Place: Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
Photographer: Unknown

General of the Army Douglas MacArthur and Lieutenant General Jonathan Wainwright greet each other at the New Grand Hotel, Yokohama, Japan, in their first meeting since they parted on Corregidor more that three years before. TIME Magazine, September 10, 1945: "The thin, tired man who had seen the Stars & Stripes pulled down in the Pacific went on to see it raised over the home islands of Japan. At Yokohama's New Grand Hotel he was embraced by his old commander, sat down to dinner served by bowing Japanese. There was a pistol at his hip. To U.S. correspondents on Japanese soil "Skinny" Wainwright said: "It's good to be back a free man and an American soldier wearing a gun again." On May 6, 1942, in the interest of minimising casualties, Wainwright surrendered Corregidor and Luzon. By June 9, Allied forces had completely surrendered. Wainwright was then held in prison camps in northern Luzon, Formosa, and Manchuria until his liberation by a team of O.S.S. operatives led by Major Robert H. Helm in August 1945. He was the highest-ranking American POW, and despite his rank, his treatment at the hands of the Japanese was not pleasant. After witnessing the Japanese surrender aboard the USS Missouri (BB-63) on September 2, together with Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival he returned to the Philippines to receive the surrender of the local Japanese commander, Lieutenant-General Tomoyuki Yamashita. Dubbed by his men a "fighting" general who was willing to get down in the foxholes, Wainwright won the respect of all who were imprisoned with him. He agonized over his decision to surrender Bataan all during his captivity, feeling that he had let his country down. Upon release, the first question he asked was "How am I thought of back in the states?" He was amazed when told he was considered a hero. He was later awarded the Medal of Honor. During Wainwright's imprisonment, General Douglas MacArthur wrote a memorandum that derided Wainwright's leadership abilities, implied that he was both a coward and an alcoholic, and concluded that Wainwright should be denied the Medal of Honor. He forwarded this to Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall. Ironically, MacArthur was widely scorned for leaving the Philippines and many felt his Medal of Honor was more of a publicity ploy by President Roosevelt because, unlike General Wainwright, MacArthur as army commander did not have the opportunity visit the front lines as often as he wished. Yet, despite the attitudes present at the time and later, Wainwright and MacArthur were two commanders who held off the Japanese onslaught for months, while other countries and allies were falling often with token resistance or by disastrous mistakes. After General Wainwright was released MacArthur embraced and extended every courtesy to Wainwright, even providing him a place of honor at the surrender ceremony. It was because of MacArthur that Wainwright assumed command of an army corps. Even after learning of MacArthur's criticisms, Wainwright still remained friends with the man and even supported him in his Presidential bid in 1952. His Medal of Honor citation reads: "Distinguished himself by intrepid and determined leadership against greatly superior enemy forces. At the repeated risk of life above and beyond the call of duty in his position, he frequented the firing line of his troops where his presence provided the example and incentive that helped make the gallant efforts of these men possible. The final stand on beleaguered Corregidor, for which he was in an important measure personally responsible, commanded the admiration of the Nation's allies. It reflected the high morale of American arms in the face of overwhelming odds. His courage and resolution were a vitally needed inspiration to the then sorely pressed freedom-loving peoples of the world." On September 5, 1945, shortly after the Japanese surrender, he received his 4th star. In January 1946, Wainwright became the commander of the 4th Army, Fort Sam Houston, Texas. He retired in August 1947. He died in 1953 and is buried in Arlington Cemetery. 

Source:

NARA (National Archives) Identifier 531310. Record group: Record Group 111: Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer, 1860 - 1985 (ARC identifier: 440). Series: Signal Corps Photographs of American Military Activity, compiled 1754 - 1954 (ARC identifier: 530707). NAIL Control Number: NWDNS-111-SC-210621

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:General_of_the_Army_Douglas_MacArthur_and_Lieutenant_General_Jonathan_Wainwright_greet_each_other_at_the_New_Grand..._-_NARA_-_531310.tif

http://www.worldwar2database.com/gallery3/index.php/wwii1028

Generals Dwight Eisenhower, Omar Bradley and Lawton Collins

Image size: 1258 x 1600 pixel. 659 KB
Date: Wednesday, 5 July 1944
Place: VII Corps HQ at Le château de Francquetot à Carquebut, Manche, Normandie, France
Photographer: Unknown

General Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (left), Supreme Allied Commander, confers with two of his Generals in France at the VII Corps Headquarter. With him are: Lieutenant-General Omar Nelson Bradley (center, Commanding General US First Army) and Major-General Joseph "Lightning Joe" Lawton Collins (Commanding-General VII Corps). U.S. VII Corps organized at the end of World War I on 19 August 1918, at Remiremont, France and was deactivated in 1919. It then reactivated at Fort McClellan, Alabama 25 November 1940 and participated in the Louisiana Maneuvers staged as the US Army prepared for World War II. In late December 1941, VII Corps HQ was moved to San Jose, California as part of the Western Defense Command and as it continued to train and prepare for deployment. Its first return to continental Europe took place on D-Day in 1944, as one of the two assault corps for US First Army during Operation Overlord, targeting Utah Beach with its amphibious assault. For Overlord, the 101st Airborne and 82nd Airborne Divisions were attached to VII Corps. After the Normandy Campaign the Airborne units were assigned to the newly crated XVIII Airborne Corps. Subsequently, the unit participated in many battles during the advance across France and Germany until the surrender of the Third Reich. The corps was deactivated in 1946. In this day (5 July 1944) on the Normandy Front, Operation Windsor, planned by general Dempsey, which began on July 4, continues. The 8th Brigade of the 3rd Canadian Infantry division, Royal Winnipeg Riffles Regiment, North Shore Regiment, Queen's Own Riffles Regiment and the Canadien French Regiment la Chaudiere control the Southern part of the airport which was still, the day before, controlled by the 12nd German SS Panzer Division. The 3rd Canadian Infantry division meets many difficulties to dislodge the Hilterjugend fanaticized soldiers who defend each farm, each crossroads and who fight until death. Their keen defense prevents the Canadians from progressing. On the American front, the US troops of the 7th Corps fight painfully in direction of Periers and La-Haie-du-Puits. The losses are terrifying: between July 4 and July 5, nearly 1,500 American soldiers were put out of fight whereas the 7th Corps progressed only by 200 meters. Saint-Jores is liberated by the soldiers of the 90th American Infantry division.

Source:

 National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/photosnormandie/8200725428/in/photostream