Colorized photos of war in the Pacific

[2jakes]

Stunning colorized pictures show the brutal Pacific War | Daily Mail Online

 

[Stearmen]

It always seemed like there were more color photos of the Pacific war then any other front. Not sure why?

 

[Tommy-VF51]

Maybe the simplicity of the hues?

 

[Doctor Strange]

It probably had more to do with availability of color film and the vagaries of military supply channels more than anything else. Remember, photography was still 90%-95% b/w at that time. Color film, both for color negatives (and ultimately prints) and transparencies (slides), was a rare, expensive beast in those days.

 

[2jakes]

It always seemed like there were more color photos of the Pacific war then any other front. Not sure why?

The title for the images submitted here states that they are
“colorized” to show the brutality of war. Something that
was not as profound in black and white according to the
person who made them.



Why America preferred to forget about the Pacific war – until now ...

 

[Bushman]

One of my personal favorites from the OP link:

A once beautiful paradise ravaged and destroyed by war.

 

[2jakes]

One of my personal favorites from the OP link:

A once beautiful paradise ravaged and destroyed by war.

I was in Guam during the Vietnam conflict.
There was hardly much of wildlife in the jungle back then except for
iguanas, mosquitos and tarantulas.
During the rare quiet moments, it was spooky in that there was
no sound of birds or monkeys in the jungle.
Was told that it was because of WW2 that killed most of them.
I really don’t know how much truth there is in that.
But I do know that my father was here during WW2.

 

[EngProf]

There is more color footage and photos from the Pacific for two main reasons. The color film of the time was VERY slow and needed a lot of sunlight, of which there tends to be more in the Pacific than in northern Europe. Also, the Marines were more liberal in the use of 16mm cameras (Kodak Filmos) using color film than was the Army (almost all 35mm Eyemos using B&W).
The Army did have a dedicated color film unit in Europe, but there were few people involved, since it was usually necessary to set up on a tripod and that's not very convenient for most military photographic applications.

(One of my WWII military cameras (Marine 16mm Filmo) has "Peleliu - Sept 1944" written in pencil in the inside of the camera.)

 

[2jakes]

Ernie Pyle and Joe Rosenthal are two names that come to mind with respect
to the Pacific campaign.

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

The title for the images submitted here states that they are
“colorized” to show the brutality of war. Something that
was not as profound in black and white according to the
person who made them.

This photo is from the TV Series, ”The Pacific”,

Why America preferred to forget about the Pacific war – until now ...

Great picture. Note the asbestos glove hanging from the belt of the machinegunner n the foreground. This was conspicuously absent during the action on Guadalcanal where John Basilone won his CMOH. In the chaotic scene you hear him yelling "Where the hell's my glove?" meaning the asbestos glove used when handling the machinegun when it was hot or when switching barrels. This resulted in the 3rd-degree burns on his arms as he carried the red-hot weapon from one position to another to repel the Japanese Banzai assault. Few medals were ever harder-won.

 

[Kev Agent of The Shadow]

I was in Guam during the Vietnam conflict.
There was hardly much of wildlife in the jungle back then except for
iguanas, mosquitos and tarantulas.
During the rare quiet moments, it was spooky in that there was
no sound of birds or monkeys in the jungle.
Was told that it was because of WW2 that killed most of them.
I really don’t know how much truth there is in that.
But I do know that my father was here during WW2.

Well it was the 1940's that lead to the destruction of Wake's bird population but I believe it had more to do with the introduction of the brown tree snake from Australia than the War itself.