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Posted on Aug 30, 2006 in Armchair Reading, Front Page Features

ACG WebOps: August 2006

Jim H. Moreno

Welcome to WebOps, Armchair General’s first website column! Every issue of Armchair General holds a wealth of military historical knowledge, all neatly packaged in an easily accessible format. The Internet and World Wide Web also hold vast amounts of like information, but not always so convenient or user-friendly. That’s where I come in, with links that hopefully make finding the military history you’re looking for online as simple as reading our magazine. And I don’t charge you for a subscription!

This week we extend a tribute to the history and art of combat photography. Any military historian can very quickly tell you just how indespensible photos are to our field of study. The Internet and photos go so well together that a photo posted on some news website is usually the first glimpse of a combat zone people see in today’s worldwide instant-access Information Age. Though that, like many things, has drawbacks, as recent so-called news photos were found to be manipulated to gross distortion. Nevertheless, the inventors of photography and the camera may not have been aware of the immense role their products would have in military history. The following websites on combat photography and combat photographers are among many websites that point out this fact in detail.

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Joe Rosenthal

It’s been quoted that the greatest accomplishments of men come only sometime after their fiftieth birthday. That wasn’t so for Joe Rosenthal, and may not apply at all to anyone who’s set foot on a battlefield. No, his greatest accomplishment could be said to have come during his 33rd year, 1945, while working as an Associated Press photographer, when he captured the most famous World War II photo of photos: the raising of the American Flag on Iwo Jima. Alas, Joe Rosenthal died on the 20th of this month at age 94. Click these sites to see and hear his story:

Iwo Jima – The Picture

Newseum War Stories: Joe Rosenthal

Obituary: Joe Rosenthal

Joe Galloway

Another very famous Joe, Galloway also achieved some of his most famous photography at a young age, while working as a photographer for United Press International, covering the Vietnam War. He was with the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry in the Ia Drang Valley late 1965, witnessing, photographing, and participating in the very first military engagement between American soldiers and North Vietnam regular forces. Joe Galloway does more journalism than photography these days, but his focus remains on American forces in combat. Click onwards!

We Were Soldiers

Newseum War Stories: Joe Galloway

Joe Galloway: The War Reporter

Combat Photography

The following links are a broad look at the art of combat photography, from what it takes to be one, to what it means to be one. This is by no means an extensive list of the best websites, but just a few I picked out from the vast numbers that display a very good image in cyberspace. Enjoy!

The International Combat Camera Association, Inc.

War Photography at About.com

Images of War

Selected Civil War Photographs

Soviet War Photography

Korean War Images

Vietnam Photography

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Stay Alert, Stay Alive!

Jim H. Moreno

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