The Work of George Strock: WWII and Struggles on the Forefront

Strock's famous photo of American dead at Buna.
George Strock, TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images

Many who have analyzed WWII photography or a history of photography in general may have run across one of the most prominent photos of dead soldiers, "Three dead Americans on the beach at Buna" which came from LIFE Magazine. This photo symbolizes a contrast to previous war photos, a constant in North American war time where photos were typically discouraged of showcasing any U.S. casualties. The structure of the photo is one which still garners praise to this day. In an article from the New York Times by David W. Dunlap titled "Photo That Was Hard to Get Published, but Even Harder to Get" detailed that the process of getting the photo approved to be in publication was a challenge on its own. For example, it is quoted "the issue of printing Mr. Strock's photo went all the way to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who lifted the ban with the canny understanding that such graphic images might actually steel American resolve." The photo didn't have an easy road to publication. In a TIME Magazine article titled "The Photo That Won World War II: 'Dead Americans at Buna Beach,' 1943" it is stated that "For months after Strock made his now-iconic picture, LIFE's editors pushed the American government's military censors to allow the magazine to publish that one photograph." When it was published, it came to be one of the most well known photos in WWII photography.

Soldier falls asleep in Buna.
George Strock, TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images

But many don't actually know much about the photographer's work beyond that famous photo of the American soldiers. For example, Strock also followed and photographed different soldiers during the Buna mission while on the job in Papua New Guinea that appeared in the February 22, 1943 issue of LIFE magazine. In an article, titled "Booty at Buna: In The Jungle Americans Seize Jap Trophies" Strock's work is pictured (some of these images can be found at the bottom of this blog post). These series of images included with them pictures of soldiers shown with different pieces of Japanese military equipment. This included guns, vehicles and planes; Additionally showing them in their everyday routines. Strock even photographed a soldier who had fallen asleep next to a tree in Buna (this photos is listed within this blog post). Strock says in the magazine, "this boy was typical of all, after the battle they just fell asleep wherever they flopped." Being in the center of it all was nothing new to Strock. When he was taking photos for LIFE, he often found himself in the line of fire, even beyond that beach in Buna that was the final resting place for those American soldiers who fell, and eventually were photographed by Strock.

Letter about Strock from the USMC.
LIFE Magazine

Strock was also in the battle Eniwetok (now Enewetak) during his journey to the Pacific in which he was in the center of military action. While in this battle, Strock underwent heavy gunfire and was a part of the initial charge alongside American soldiers. The photos that Strock took during this show particularly gruesome scenes of violence, such as one shown in this post of a dead Japanese soldier whose body has become visibly charred, likely dying from burns during the fighting (shown alongside next paragraph). Strock was even praised in a note written about his efforts, also shown in a TIME article titled "Battle of Eniwetok: Rare and Classic Photos From the Pacific in WWII" by Ben Cosgrove. The note (shown alongside this paragraph), from the USMC coming from the battle describes that Strock "got a decoration today--the hard way." This was because while Strock was taking photos during the fight, he took enemy fire when "the coxswain of his boat put him ashore twenty feet from a Japanese pillbox and all the sudden the Japs inside began to fire away." Strock had to think quickly and dove for cover, and in result of doing so actually found a Japanese medal that he kept as a "decoration" that the USMC letter described. WWII photography clearly isn't for the faint of heart, but for whatever reason Strock seems to get lost in the crowd of others such as Robert Capa, something that is not lost on the TIME article. It is stated "It's difficult to see these pictures-- especially those made in the surf, under fire -- and not immediately think of Robert Capa's handful of far more famous D-Day photos, made a year earlier, and half a world away, under similar circumstances." This, was a surprise to me as a researcher and as someone who is interested in history. To first glance, to the typical outsider, it may seem unfair that Strock has become so lost, especially when you see the photos he took of brutal scenes on the battlefront.

A burned Japanese soldier rests on the ground.
George Strock, TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images

Another story, coming from the battle of Eniwetok (on the island of Engebi) shows the resolve that Strock had to maintain throughout his WWII photography career. In a photo, shown in this post which came from the March 13, 1944 issue of LIFE Magazine where the Eniwetok photos were first shown, Strock seems to barely be keeping his camera straight while still submerged taking a photo of  soldiers right alongside him preparing to attack the beach (shown below this paragraph). Another shows a soldier pulling another soldier's dead body in the midst of the battlefield (shown at the bottom of this post). Strock, from my own research and what little there seems to be on him when a search is performed seemed to never be too far away from the danger. In different situations he was met with a variety of challenges. For example, in the January 4, 1943 issue of LIFE Magazine, it is noted on page 9 alongside a photo of him (shown below this paragraph) expanded on one of his experiences while in New Guinea. The caption reads, "Last week, though sick with malaria, he was taking pictures in the jungles near Buna--narrowly escaped death when a possum-playing Jap 'corpse' was killed just before it shot Strock." As a writer, one can only imagine the amount of professionalism it takes from a photographer who is taking shots, fire and is dealing with sickness to continue to do his job. This is something that Strock was not afraid to face, in the Dunlap NY Times article it is explained that while other photographers left or didn't want to stick around, Strock continued to stick to his duties for LIFE magazine.

Soldiers in the water on the island of Engebi.
George Strock, TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images

Anecdote about Strock in New Guinea from LIFE Magazine.
LIFE Magazine

Strock is quoted in the article, taken from an interview done late in his life:

"When I took pictures I wanted to bring the viewer into the scene," he said.

Based off of the photos he was able to take, and being willing travel to Buna and be on the forefront in the battle of Enwietok, Strock was just as much in the heat of the war as his other counterparts were. If one needed another example of the conditions that Strock faced while taking photos on the battlefield, one can look at the accounts written by Richard Wilcox, a writer who teamed up with Strock to cover Eniwetok for LIFE Magazine, specifically the action that took place on the island of Engebi.

Wilcox wrote in the March 13, 1944 LIFE Magazine issue:

"A yard to the right of us a man swore a round Marine oath as a bullet dropped him completely beneath the waves to be still for eternity. One of his comrades hooked a hand under his collar and laboriously dragged him across a coral head, above the surface where he could at least have the last decency of the air and the sun."

A Japanese soldier burning after being attacked with a flamethrower.
George Strock, TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images

One of Strock's photos that was featured in that March 13, 1944 issue of LIFE gives insight visually into the horrors associated with this experience. In the photo, a Japanese soldier caught on fire from the heat from a flame thrower who almost seemed poised to kill Strock. Once again, it is shown through his work that Strock was seemingly in the middle of everything one could imagine when it came to coverage of battles in WWII. In the NY Times article that is listed earlier in this post by David W. Dunlap, there is a quote from Strock talking about a photo that seems strikingly similar to the one that is pictured
to the left of this paragraph:

"I took a picture of this guy. I put the camera carefully down on a mound of dirt. Gave it a time exposure. Took my time; there was no hurry. Got the camera and cranked the film past. Got up again. Got 10 feet away. There was firing right behind me. I turned around. 'What are you shooting at?' I asked one of the officers. 'The bastard sat up and was blinking his eyes,' he said.

And it was the very guy that I had photographed. He had a hand-grenade in his hand. I didn't notice, but the picture showed that he had it. He sat up and was going to clobber me, and the officer shot him."

In the photo itself (shown above) from the LIFE issue one cannot see the grenade clearly, but you can see the burn damage done to the soldier's body including the left and right sides of his body and some burns might be able to be seen in what seems to be the dark shadow hanging over his face, which may have come from the excessive burning. Even with the quality of cameras then not being as strong as it is today, it is remarkable that Strock was able to get a photo of such a gruesome moment that although grainy, displays accurately the brutal context of the job Strock got himself into.

In the Dunlap article, Strock acknowledges the danger of what he was doing in this quote taken from a letter written by him:

"Nothing was easy at Buna, as Mr. Strock made clear in his Dec. 17 letter to Mr. Hicks. 'Must admit that it's tough work as well as being somewhat dangerous,' he said. "But I have the feeling that nothing will happen to me and so far I'm right.'"

An American soldier helps move the dead body of fellow soldier.
George Strock, TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images

Nothing may have happened to him that caused his death during his experiences in WWII, but if the photos that he took and those stories that followed those experiences can give us as an outside audience just a glimpse of what he saw, when know that Strock came fairly close to death, or took the responsibility of capturing other's moments of brushes of death or the actual moment of death itself. What continues to surprise me is why many haven't learned about Strock. For example, I myself knew nothing of him before hearing a lecture by Western Washington University professor John Harris during my History of U.S. Journalism class, and many know his photo instead of knowing the man himself. Hopefully this post was able to illuminate some of the things he was able to capture and get through during his time photographing WWII battles in the Pacific.

Sample of a few photos from "Booty at Buna" article in LIFE Magazine 2/22/1943 credits (George Strock, TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images):

Post Bibliography:

-http://time.com/3878845/world-war-ii-rare-and-classic-photos-from-eniwetok-atoll/#9

-http://time.com/3524493/the-photo-that-won-world-war-ii-dead-americans-at-buna-beach-1943/

-https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/28/a-photo-that-was-hard-to-get-published-but-even-harder-to-get/

-https://books.google.com/books?id=gU8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA81&dq=george+strock&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjgloLPyN7ZAhVN6WMKHWWlACkQ6AEIKTAA#v=onepage&q=george%20strock&f=false

-https://books.google.com/books?id=n04EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA9&dq=george+strock&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi5soqUyd7ZAhVH1WMKHWU5AvQQ6AEISzAI#v=onepage&q=george%20strock&f=false

-https://books.google.com/books?id=vlQEAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=LIFE+magazine+March+13,+1944&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi3xaSB0-DZAhVY22MKHadpAAcQ6AEIKTAA#v=onepage&q&f=false