Photos WW2 US Forces

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Hearts and minds.
Official USCG Correspondent Victor Hayden, lights a cigarette for an Okinawan peasant woman, May 1945.
His M1 carbine has the then new fully adjustable rear sight which began to appear late in the war...but not yet the Type III barrel band with integral bayonet lug.
He also appears to have acquired a K-Bar knife.
The definition in this 75 year old image is so crisp that the rough texture on his M1 helmet is clearly visible...as are the Yale keys hanging from his belt!
(LIFE Collections)

 

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Looking just like a big-game hunter standing astride his kill, a GI surveys the wrecks of German vehicles bull-dozed off the road following the fighting in Italy's Liri Valley, during "Operation Diadem", May 1944.
The half-track is an SdKfz 251.
In the foreground is the barrel of a 75mm gun.
(LIFE / Mydans)

 

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"Hey! Who are you callin' "Dogface", buddy?!"
Rifleman Jesse Goin heads toward the front on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, February 1944.
He carries a full field-pack...plus his dog!
(LIFE / Strock)

 

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US troops barter with a group of indigenous native tribesmen on the island of Guadalcanal, circa 1943.
The GI on the left is wearing a pristine Hawley helmet liner.
Note the edged weapon tucked in behind his leather M1916 holster. Possibly a Bolo, or else a privately procured knife?
(LIFE / Scherschel)

 

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US Army Medical Department field hospital on the Anzio front in February 1944.
Conditions underfoot are evidently very bad.
A pair of medical orderlies transfer a casualty on a litter, possibly to the surgical tent?
Another orderly carries two X-Ray plates for the surgeon to study.
Meanwhile, in the background, the walking-wounded make their way around the site in their US MD bathrobes.
(LIFE / Bourke-White)

 

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Even 5-star Generals needed a little help from their friends, from time to time!
Here, General of the Army, Douglas MacArthur's Jeep gets a tow through some glutinous mud by a Caterpillar dozer on the road to Manila, circa 1945.
Note the 5-star plate mounted on the Jeep's bumper.
The other Jeeps in the column following behind might not have been fortunate enough to receive such "royal" treatment!
(LIFE / Mydans)

 

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A beautifully timed, original colour transparency of a USN PBY flying by the dramatic backdrop of Segula Island in the Aluetians, circa 1944.
(LIFE / Kessel)

 

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Humorous military signage # 4.
Tarawa Atoll was place of terrible carnage but nevertheless there were still vestiges of humour!
"Golden gate in '48...Bread-line in '49".
(LIFE / Stackpole c. '44 )

 

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These US troops in North Africa abandoned their Jeeps and hit the proverbial dirt when they came under enemy fire.
The photographer must have been at risk too...but still managed to take the photograph!
(LIFE / Elisofon)

 

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On February 19th 1945, troops of the United States Marine Corps begin the landing on the island of Iwo Jima.
The 36-day battle resulted in more than 26,000 American casualties, including 6,800 dead. Japanese combat deaths numbered 3 times the number of American deaths. #WW2
From WWII Pictures (Twitter)

 

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Vought OS2U Kingfisher operations on USS Texas BB-35 in early 1942
Both B/W and original color pictures
LIFE Magazine Archives - Frank Scherschel Photographer

 

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Humorous military signage # 3.
This one was photographed in the American sector around Anzio, March 1944.
(LIFE / George Silk)

 

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Lubricating 40mm rounds aboard USS DORAN, 1943. Do they still grease each round? LIFE Archive photo by Thomas D. McAvoy.

 

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Lena-Mae Riggi-Basilone, widow of John Basilone, during the launching ceremony of USS Basilone on 21st December 1945.

 

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Corporal Desmond Doss, Medal of Honor recipient, US Army Medical Corps, Company B, 1st Battalion, 307th Infantry, US 77th Infantry Division.
Doss's life and military career was dramatised in the movie "Hacksaw Ridge", so there's no point in re-telling it here as most of us will be familiar with it anyway.
Suffice it to say he was a man of faith, principle, honor...and extreme bravery.

 

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To the victors, the spoils!
US War Correspondents Frank Robertson of the INS ( left) and Frank Smith of the Chicago Times ( right) avail themselves of some liquid refreshment acquired from the Japanese, October 1944.
Cheers!
(TIME / LIFE)

 

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The stresses of combat soon changed what were once boys' faces into mens' faces.
These GIs of the 45th Infantry Division ("Thunderbirds") in Italy have been withdrawn from the line for 48hrs respite.
Anzio, April 1944.
No doubt they needed it.
(LIFE / Silk)

 

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King George VI on board USS Washington (the American flagship in Scapa) on a visit to the home fleet, June 7, 1942