Among the many heroes of World War II were the journalists who risked their lives to cover the war and allow the “folks back home” to understand what was happening from an overall view as well as from the up close and personal view of the boys on the front line. Ernie Pyle was a war correspondent who was embedded (as we now say) with Marines. He lost his life during the Battle of Okinawa on 18 April 1945. In the blog post “Spotlight: Remembering Ernie Pyle” the staff of the National Archives highlight some of the photographic and video recordings that include this wonderful writer.
Everyone knows the famous photo, shown here. But have you seen the video, or know the story behind it?
When the National Archives investigated the true identity of the flag raisers in Bill Genaust’s footage of the first and second Flag Raisings on Iwo Jima and the iconic photograph by Joe Rosenthal, staffers discovered that the agency never received the original film shot on February 23, 1945. Supervisory Motion Picture Preservation Specialist Chriss Kovac provides information about Bill Genaust and how the film was shot, developed, assembled, and used during the World War II and throughout history in this YouTube Video, “The Winding Journey of Bill Genaust’s Flag Raising Footage”
Two staff members of NARA’s motion picture preservation lab share some of their favorite films that they digitzed this year. Click on Favorite Film Finds of 2016 to learn more.