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| Tony Vaccaro, Soldier & Photographer |
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| "Tony Vaccaro is widely regarded as having generated the greatest single collection of WWII photographs by any one person. He achieved this not by being a member of the Signal Corps, but by being a young private in the 83rd Infantry Division, carrying a gun in one hand and a camera in the other. Through the lens of his Argus C-3, Tony captured the experience of the war from Normandy to Berlin, and during the German occupation after the war, like no other photographer. In the aftermath of the war, Tony stayed on in Germany as a photographer for "Stars and Stripes" until 1949, covering the crucial, historic period in which the country emerged from chaos to reconstruction.
Upon returning home from the war, Tony became a highly influential photographer for Look, Life, and Flair magazines, capturing candid and revealing portraits of numerous cultural icons that shaped the second half of the twentieth century Tony has received numerous distinctions, including the French Legion d'honneur. His monumental work continues to be exhibited around the world. He was also recently featured in BBC’s six-part series, "Genius of Photography" |
| Photographer, infantryman, philosopher, author, and friend - it's impossible to describe this eloquent man in a few words. He was assigned to the Intel Platoon of the 2nd Battalion, 331st Reg, 83rd Inf Division and shot photos from Normandy to Berlin. Not snapshots, but thoughtful often-melancholy scenes. The producers of the WWII documentary film "Saving Fela" (which is using his work) say it better than I can: |
| (left) Tony on the wing of a crashed B17 "Swing Shift", 25 Sep 1945 in Luxembourg. Note the cameras dangling from his shoulder. |
| (left) My charming dinner partner in June 2002 at a ceremony in Luxembourg. We met again for lunch in NYC that September. |
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| Tony Vaccaro, 2nd from R, in June 2002 with other WWII vets and "Friends of US Veterans" officer Mariette Atten. Tony returns to his childhood home in Bonefro Italy every summer and is widely known in Germany. |
| Tony's three excellent books, "Entering Germany", "Shots of War" and "Luxembourg 1944-1945" take some searching but are worth the work. My favorite is "Entering Germany", which includes photos of the country post-war. |
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