73 Years Later: The Battle of Tarawa in 35mm Color

Many followers of PortraitofWar.com know that I have a strange passion for WWII amateur color photography. In this case, I luckily remembered that anniversary of the Battle of Tarawa is upon us and decided to post some of of the material I’ve acquired over the years that directly relate to the Battle of Tarawa. When the Marines landed on the Tarawa (Gilbert Islands, Micronesia) on November 20th, 1943, a pilot who launched from the USS CHENANGO (CVE-28) snapped a series of 35mm color photos while flying overhead providing fighter support.

Tarawa Flyover 1

And an actual aerial color snapshot taken during the opening hours of the November 20th, 1943 invasion. The pilot had his 35mm camera with him and snapped dozens of shots during the initial invasion; the following shots are the only known aerial color photos of the Battle of Tarawa!

Tarawa Flyover

chenangoslide019

Tarawa Flyover 2

One thought on “73 Years Later: The Battle of Tarawa in 35mm Color”

Sir,

Would be interested to contact you about the color slides of the Tarawa invasion. I am specifically interested in locating the position of the beached ship just off the reef. Very likely this can be easily identified from your slides.

Thanks,
Jon