American novelist Irwin Shaw (1913 – 1984) was quick to reminisce about the bad old days of World War II and Robert Capa (1913 – 1954), who fit it like a round peg fits a round hole:
"Capa is a dangerous influence because he has perfected the trick of making life among the bombed cities and the stinking battlefields of our time seem gay and dashing and glamorous..."
Click here to read an anecdote about Robert Capa during the Spanish Civil War. Here is a W.W. II reminiscence of combat photographer Robert Capa (1913 – 1954) by the legendary airborne infantry commander General James Gavin. The remarks were addressed to the editors of '47 Magazine in response to an article on Capa that had appeared earlier in the magazine.
Unlike the Vanity Fair magazine that we find on our newsstands, the Vanity Fair published under the steady hand of it's first editor, Frank Crowninshield (1872 – 1947), was able to recognize that military heroes are a rare, three-dimensional breed, composed of an uncommon variety of testicular fortitude. Indeed, some years back, Israel went to the effort of giving IQ tests to the heroes of the Six Day War (1967) and they were not surprised to find that all of them tested in the higher ranges of their populations. The W.W. I U.S. Army hero Crowninshield saluted on the attached page was the commanding officer of a brave group of men called "the Lost Battalion".
Click here to read more about the heroism of Major Whittelesey.
When you examine the 14 images in the attached article about California surfing in the Forties you're quite likely to come away believing that the stale surfing comedy Beach Blanket Bingo was actually intended to be an anthropological documentary depicting a long lost Anglo-Saxon culture. Minus the bikinis, Frankie and Annette the pictures seem like production stills from the MGM archive; long boards do indeed rule, silly hats are evident and you might be surprised to see that bongo-drums were indeed pounded at the prerequisite evening bonfire, as well.
Click here to read Dr. Jung's thoughts on the collective guilt of the German people.
The attached article tells the story of American Legion Post 43, which is housed at 2035 North Highland Avenue in Hollywood, California. Designed by the Weston brothers in 1930 (both men were members) the building "represents not only the home of the a Legion post but also [serves as] a memorial to the fighting divisions of the American Army and every American who took part in the World War."
Attached is a profile of Milton Caniff (1907 – 1988), who is remembered as the creator of Terry and the Pirates (1934 - 1946), Mail Call (1942 - 1946) and Steve Canyon (1946 - 1988).
Click here to read an article by G.I. cartoonist Bill Maulden. | 
