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Label TextThis image was taken by a photojournalist working under the employ of the Associated Press, a US news agency founded in 1846 and still in operation. These photographers endeavored to take in-focus, direct, and straightforward illustrations of the war that would clearly communicate important events with the American public. Because the Korean War occurred before the advent of television news, it was the last American war that Americans received almost entirely through photos printed in newspapers and magazines.
DimensionsOverall: 8 x 7 1/4 in. (20.3 x 18.4 cm)
Accession Number 2025.175
Classificationsphotograph
ProvenanceJeff Perry; Des Moines Art Center [gift from the previous, 2025]
Battle Casualty: An unidentified United States Marine is aided down slope by two buddies after he and four others were injured by enemy mortar hit on crest of ridge in Naktong River sector of Korean forest, August 22, 1950
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
South Korea: An American machine gun crew are well prepared for the enemy in the southwest sector of the Korean war zone. Left to right: Pfc. Richard Bowker, Cheyenne, South Dakota; Pfc. Carle Batty, Rock Island, Illinois; and Cpt. George E. Murphy, August, Georgia, August 7, 1950
1950
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Sgt. Ralph Kilpatrick - Soldier Behind North Korea Lines for 77 Days: Taejon, South Korea: An army mess sergeant was the hero of the 24th Division when he returned from 77 death-despairing days behind communist lines. Ralph Kilpatrick, of Phoebus, Virginia, came out of the once-held enemy hills to his buddies in the 19th Infantry Regiment in good health with a harrowing story of grimly hanging to life in enemy-saturated territory. Kilpatrick is pictured as he received a medical checkup from Lieutenant Alfred J. Grose, of Rochester, New York, October 4, 1950
1950
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Marines Move on Seoul: United States Marine tanks move up along railroad tracks past wrecked trains in the outskirts of Seoul. Note wrecked bridge across the Han river in the background, September 22, 1950
1950
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Marine Leaders: South Korea: Brigade General Edward A. Craig (second from left), commanding General, First Provisional Marine Division, confers with other officers aboard ship prior to the landing of the leathernecks at a South Korean port. Left to right are: Col. E. W. Snedeker, Chief of staff; General Craig; Captain L. D. Sharp, R. J. Lamb, Flagship Commanding officer, August 6, 1950
1950
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
A detachment of United States marines dig in on side of hill, relax, during lull in fighting. South Korean forces were reported fighting deep inside the 38th Parallel, October 3, 1950
1950
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
South Korea: Cpl. Francis Dickey, Miami Beach, Florida, shows his injured hand and damaged rifle after treatment in ambulance near the front lines. Cpl. Dickey advancing behind cover of a tank, was hit when sniper fire struck his rifle shattering the trigger housing. Fragments from the trigger lodged in Dickey’s right hand, August 11, 1950
1950
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
South Korea: Marine tank moves up in the Yongsan sector past the body of a dead American soldier (L), lying on the road where he was hit, September 12, 1952
1952
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Training Pays Off: South Korea: In the rugged, treacherous terrain of Korea, the battle of supply is quite often more important and more violent than the actual combat between men. One unit of the 19th Infantry Regiment, their stones and ammunition shrunken by poor transport and worse roads, discovered a small railroad. Near their position and proceed to make use of it. Utilizing some battered equipment and their own ingenuity, they fashioned an adequate supply line on rails. The tiny railroad was named “Spaulding’s Spur,” after an executive officer in the Regiment. A group of GI’s, aided by some South Koreans, assemble a railroad car from some discarded equipment they found, September 23, 1950
1950
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Anti-Tank Task: South Korea: Pfc. Billie Harrell (left) of Griffin, Georgia, and Pvt. Morgan Hannan of Columbus, Mississippi, lie behind their “tank antidote,” the 3.5 and 2.7 bazookas, on the Naktong River front. Late reports had yanks on the offensive on three Korean fronts, August 14, 1950
1950
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Directs Tank Landing: Lieutenant Adlai Stevenson Jr. Liaison Officer of the First Marine Regiment (right), directs tan landing via telephone on the beachhead where the leathernecks’ simulated assault operations were held. Reinforced regiments of leathernecks including the First, splashed ashore at an East Coast fishing village of South Korea May 3, in the first phase of the Marine’s largest amphibious training exercise since the end of the Korean War. Marine at left unidentified, May 6, 1954
1954
Image Not Available for Hilltop Hawks: U.S. marines, some stripped to the waist, go about the business of manning their hawk anti-aircraft missiles ready for action atop Hill 327 overlooking the Da Nang Air Base in South Viet Nam. Three missiles are mounted at left, ready for action, with three others on a carriers, right, ready for loading on the launcher shown April 10, 1965
Hilltop Hawks: U.S. marines, some stripped to the waist, go about the business of manning their hawk anti-aircraft missiles ready for action atop Hill 327 overlooking the Da Nang Air Base in South Viet Nam. Three missiles are mounted at left, ready for action, with three others on a carriers, right, ready for loading on the launcher shown April 10, 1965
1965
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
South Korea: While Lt. General Walton H. Walker, CG 8th Army looks on, General J. Lawton Collins, Army Chief of Staff, inspects some captured North Korean small arms near the Korean battle front. Collins visited the Korean front to analyze the war’s progress, August 24, 1950
1950