Army Nurse Corp recruits in early 1944 at a military training base prior to assignments to Army medical units

Nurses

I photographed this German military cemetary, with temporary wooden markers, near Tegernsee, in mid-1946, a little more than a year after the Nazis surrendered.  In early May, 1945, the small resort town's valley and crowded military hospital were filled with thousands of wounded German troops and another 12,000 civilian war refugees.  An elite SS unit prepared to defend the town against an approaching American infantry unit commanded by a 24-year-old second lieutenant, Dick Dougherty. When the Germans opened fire, a wounded Prussian major, Hannibal von Lüttichau, a decorated Panzer division commander, came out of the hospital and persuaded them to stop and withdraw. He then took a white flag and approached the Americans, unarmed, just as Lt. Dougherty was about to order his gunners to "Fire for effect."  The major explained that the SS were withdrawing and, to prove it, escorted the Americans into the town. The actions of both commanders saved Tegernsee from destruction, and it became a favored  furlough and three-day pass destination for the Occupation Army.  Fifty years later, the two officers met again near Heidelberg for a raucous, wine and brandy-fueled reunion. The little cemetary I photographed would have been enormous if not for their courage. Thanks from RQH

German military graves near Tegernsee - 1946

An American soldier with an M1 (2.36) "Bazooka" grenade launcher in the jungle of Makin Atoll in the South Pacific - November 1943.