The black and white photograph’s lack of color provides a sense of connection to a time long since past. It tells a tale of times best forgotten. Three dead bodies lie cold on the beach and a lone American solider covered with mud, stands with his back to the camera with a gun in hand, possibly contemplating his irreversible deed. The bodies lie cold and motionless in the rising tide, slowly being covered by the vast ocean. Images of death can bring forth feelings from deep within, feelings that take hold of the heart and soul, refusing to let go. They burn themselves into the mind, never to be forgotten.
This photograph was taken during World War II and was one of the first U.S. war photos of the dead to be cleared by censors. The photographer is not known. It was taken during the January 1943 amphibious landing on the island of New Guinea.
At first glance this photo appears like any other wartime photo. Photos that have bombarded you in textbooks and television. Countless movies have been made depicting the same images. But there is something different about this photo. It almost brings you into that terrible moment in history. It captures the mood of what the war was unlike the images that we grow
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He is going to relive that day, along with many others every day until the day he dies. I wonder if I can pull the trigger, knowing that by moving my finger, I will have ended the life of another person. People who will never see them again. The viewer is left to wonder, will it haunt him or can he get over it? Never getting to actually see what he is thinking; only left to wonder. Knowing that death will one day take hold and never let go. Knowing that I have ended the life of someone, who like me, had to say goodbyes, had to leave behind the people that cared about them, had to feel all the pain of knowing that they were going to war. And then on top of that, you have to be ready to kill, an action that is deeply condemned by all parts of society. For a moment in time, you can stand in his shoes and look through his eyes. It’s that idea that has the greatest imprint on me. You spend your whole life knowing that killing is wrong and being taught how terrible it is, and then to just get shipped out and told to kill everything, kill without thought, without feeling, without remorse.
The only living person in the photograph is a young American GI whose back is to the camera. Unlike anything else in this world, death is able to make people stop and think. Would I be able to do that? You think about all the different events that must have gone on prior to leaving for a war. Viewing the photo, it is unclear what is going on in his head; we are just left to wonder. This image must have burned itself into the young man’s mind, trying to squeeze the life out of him.
Approximate Word count =
1092
Approximate Pages =
4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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