wwii color slide

WWII Photo Identification: John Szlyk of Worcester, MA Interviews Downed Airman in Luxembourg

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From time to time, I like to go through my collection of historic, identified photography in hopes of making a connection between ID’ed WWII/WWI veterans and their families.  In this case, I zeroed in upon a photo taken on January 29th, 1945 in the Luxembourg town of Boevange.

John Szlyk, 6th AD in Luxembourg

John Szlyk, 6th AD in Luxembourg

The photograph was luckily identified by the 167th Signal Corps photographer, PFC Joseph Lapine.  The typed transcription of his notes can be seen below:

Joseph Lapine Caption

Joseph Lapine Caption

Where does the research start?  First, I carefully inspected the image for identifying marks related to the plane in the background; every US plane during WWII would be profusely marked with serial numbers (S/N) related to it’s production.  In this case, the photo includes two visible locations with reference numbers to aide in the ID of the plane.

S/N Locations

S/N Locations

S/N Location 1

S/N Location 1

Partial S/N Visible

Partial S/N Visible

The information included in Location 1 indicates that the crashed plane is a U.S. Army Model P-47 D-20 RE with an Army Air Forces (AAF) Serial of 42-29176.  Location 2 confirms the last five digits of the S/N.    Strangely, the serial isn’t searchable on the internet, and I’ve come up with nothing………. this is atypical when researching WWII aircraft…….

Plan B

Where do I go from here?

head_scratch

Typically, if I can’t extrapolate research worthy clues from the visual details of the image, I turn to the metadata, or associated information related to the photo.  In this case, I know the photo was taken by a US Signal Corps photographer named Joseph (Joe) Lapine of the 167th (or 166th?) Signal Photographic Company.  More on this later……

Photographers during WWII would typically travel with specific units during times of combat movement and frame shots, take notes, and capture the feel of the war for posterity and the general public back at the homefront.  In this image, Lapine noted the names of the two men in the photo; Lt. John Szlyk of Boston, MA is identified as the pilot, and the helmeted soldiers is ID’ed as Charles A. Klein of Cambed, NJ.

My specialty is identifying specific details of WWII images, researching them, and coming to conclusions based on my  best-guess interpretations.  My background is in anthropology, material culture, history, literature and historic research…..here’s my gut feeling about the photo:

The men in the photo were misidentified by the photographer; the pilot and the 6th armored division names were crossed during the post-photo interview, and Lapine published the image without another thought. My justification is that I cannot, for the life of me, find a Lt. John D. Szlyk of Boston, MA, or a Cpl. Charles A. Klein of Camden, NJ.  They never existed as defined…..

I was, however, able to find a John Szlyk of Worcester, MA (my hometown area!) who was a combat-hardened veteran who served with the 6th Armored Division, having received the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and the Purple Heart with two oak leaf clusters (wounded three times) as well as multiple foreign awards.  Quite the veteran!  His touching obituary can be found here.

Could the photographer have possibly mixed up the names?  I can’t find a Lt. Charles Klein who was a P-47 pilot during the war, but I’m also unable to track down P-47 # 42-29176……

The details from the obituary match up well with the misidentified image…. the 6th AD tanker at right is wearing the exact dust goggles commonly worn by tank commanders during the war.

WWII US Tanker Goggles

WWII US Tanker Goggles

John Szlyk Jr. in WWII?

John Szlyk Jr. in WWII?

One side note from this research piece: I’ve recently discovered that many internet trolls are unhappy with the goggles worn by Brad Pitt in Fury.  They’re clearly of Soviet make and WWII vintage, but cares?  Maybe his character picked them off a dead German soldier?  The opening scene of the film shows Pitt’s character looting a dead German officer.  The interior of the Sherman is littered with German war loot.  My own grandfather (a tank gunner/assistant driver) used a German holster for his M1911 during the war.  Enjoy the film and chill out!

Russian Goggles?

Russian Goggles?

My ultimate goal for this post is to contact living sons of Szlyk….. I know you’re out there!  Check your facebook messages…….

WWII Color Slide – Berlin Street Scene Reshot 68 Years Later!

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One of my favorite WWII color slide groupings was shot by a US Engineer who was stationed in Berlin at the end of the war.  Quite the shutter bug, he was able to track down German Agfa color film and shoot some of the scenery around Berlin.  In one image, Captain Smith captures a brisk October, 1945 morning on Curtiusstraße in Berlin.  An intrepid researcher was able to track down the original location using information from the store signs.  Special thanks to Berliner Niko Rollmann for reshooting the image for me.

Here’s a link to a google map image: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=52.442804,13.296139&num=1&t=h&gl=us&z=18

Berlin, 1945

Berlin, 1945

Berlin, 2013

Berlin, 2013

WWII in Color – 1944 SBD Dauntless Marine Dive Bombers VMSB-332 w/ WWII Marine Pilot Commentary

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The color of WWII is something lost on our generation; WWII has been a war fought in black and white for everyone but actual WWII veterans who witnessed it firsthand.  One of my goals here at PortraitsofWar is to collect color slides from WWII and make them accessible to those who don’t know it exists.  Yes, color film was shot in 35mm(and sometimes larger format) and was used on a somewhat regular basis by shutterbug soldiers during WWII. My collection is roughly 500:1, black and white : color.    To find a complete collection of color slides is like hitting the WWII photography jackpot.  In this case, I was able to pick up a small selection of color slides from a Marine dive bomber.  Although I was only able to snag 7 from a grouping of nearly 200, I am still happy to pass along the images to interested parties.

From the collection of Walter Huff.

Recent Update: Captions Added – WWII Marine Corps Veteran Pilot Adds Commentary – Thanks Paul! 

Please enjoy the colors of WWII as they were meant to be seen! 

047: Standard permanent issue leather jacket with fur collar. Name plate design same as mine: Wings, name, and service (in this case USMCR).

049: I’ll bet the farm this photo was taken at Bogue Field, N.C. Dec 10 +/-, 1943. Not much snow in Eastern N.C. I was on a trip to Buffalo, NY to ferry a R5C (C-46) from the factory to Cherry Point. Got back to find the engine block in the auto had frozen and cracked.

051: Nice shot. I do believe the engine is running. Hmmmm. I wonder why? Should have been a no-no with no one in cockpit!

053: I do not remember pilots wearing side arm stateside. With the pistol (issued to all Marine officers) I’m guessing 1943-44. Later pilots were issued revolvers but priority was to unit in combat area (Pac). I had a .45 pistol until 1948 (China and Eva, Hawaii). Got my first .38 revolver in Korea 1950.

054: This ain’t NC!!! Must be CA hills. Not combat area. Check out those pristine parachutes! The gauntlets (flight gloves) were of softest lamb skin and covered lower half (more or less) of forearm.

044: Not Marine Corps shirts, but Navy. Marine officer shirts were hard to come by. I know because I wore Navy shirts, too. Pocket flap designs are different. Marines never wear field scarfs (i.e. ties) tucked into shirt. After WWII a clasp was designed.

Francis D. Tyler Jr. – WWII Navy PBM Pilot 35mm Color Slide Collection

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Mr. Francis Tyler in 1944

Sometimes a small bit of information can open up lead to a bonanza of research potential.  In this case, I was able to find a name associated with a recently acquired set of WWII 35mm color slides I won on eBay.  I was able to deduce from the collection that the original owner was a pilot with the VP-209, a patrol squadron that went on search and rescue and sub-finding missions in the Panama Zone.  Google led me to a website where old members of the unit have been posting reunion information with little snippits of their service history included.  With this in hand, I contacted the seller and discovered that a name on some of the other personal material from the estate is F. Tyler.  Low and behold, Mr. Tyler posted to the site back in 2003.
Here’s what Mr. Tyler had to say:

TYLER, Francis D. Jr. http://world.std.com/~shermie/vets/vets009.html “…Francis D. Tyler, Jr. PE, PBM, Patrol Bomber Mariner (PBM) US Navy Pilot. First, I think I should tell you how I got in the Navy. Some of you also registered for that first draft, back in October of 1940. I have a brother, two years younger; his number was in the first 100, while mine was 8809. He was called up in February of 1941. Then by the time I was classified 1A, I had seen a friend home on leave in a sparkling white uniform with beautiful Gold Wings on his chest. I decided that was the part of the service that I wanted to serve in, so I enlisted. I finally got sworn in, on December 30, 1941, twenty-three days after Pearl Harbor. In March of 1942, I received orders to report to the Naval Air Station at Lake Pontchartrain, north of New Orleans, Louisiana. I had become a Naval Aviation Cadet. In June I was transferred to the NAS Pensacola, Florida. Six months later I was designated an Ensign and Naval Aviator. I was then assigned to the Transitional Training Facility at NAS Banana River, Florida. Here we were introduced to the plane we would fly, the PBM, Patrol Bomber Mariner, as designated by the Navy. The Squadron in which I flew was VPB-209 was commissioned on January 1, 1943 and a full compliment of 15 planes was reached in June of the same year….

With this in hand, I was able to track down an obituary for Mr. Tyler:

FRANCIS D. TYLER JR.
Monday, December 31, 2007

FRANCIS D. TYLER JR., 90, of Lancaster, Mass., formerly of the RED BANK area, a professional engineer and World War II veteran, died Monday, Dec. 31, at the Jewish Healthcare Center in Worcester, Mass. Francis was born in Bellevue, Pa., to the late Dr. Francis D. Tyler and Marie Trimble Tyler.

He was raised in Jamestown, N.Y., and Jesuit-educated. Mr. Tyler graduated from Campion in Praire du Chein, Wis., and Marquette University. He served in the U.S. Navy as a PBM pilot during World War II, after which he returned to graduate school at Carolina State University, earning a degree in civil engineering.

He retired from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in 1984. He was a member of the National, New Jersey and Monmouth Societies of Professional Engineers. Francis believed in public service and served each community in which he lived. Some of his community activities were as a board member of Monmouth Day Care Center, Brookdale Community College Foundation, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra League, member of the English Speaking Union, member of the Newcomon Society, district governor of Division Six of Kiwanis International, president of the Lions Club of Clinton, Mass., board member of Fruitlands Museums, and adjunct member of the Conservation Commission of Lancaster, Mass. Francis was an avid gardener, photographer, stamp and coin collector, and a world traveler. His outgoing interest in other people will be missed by many.

He was predeceased by his wife Johanna Beker Tyler. He is survived by his wife Ara Nugent Tyler of Lancaster, Mass.; three daughters, Joan Stewart Wood and her husband Gorton of Little Silver, Paula Paiewonsky of Los Angeles, and Martha Tyler Hoagland and her husband Jim of Kenmore, Wash.; and their mother, Barbara Wright Tyler of Stamford, Conn. He leaves a brother, Samuel Tyler and his wife Janice; and a sister, Marianne Panebianco, all of Jamestown, N.Y.; two step-daughters, Pamela Czekanski and her husband Robert of Bolton, Mass., and Elizabeth Plattenburg and her husband George of Atlanta; several nieces; nephews; grandchildren; and great-grandchildren.

A Memorial Mass will be offered at 10 a.m. Saturday at Immaculate Conception Church, Main Street, Lancaster, Mass. A celebration of life reception is to follow services immediately at the First Church of Christ Unitarian Fellowship Hall, 725 Main St., Lancaster. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Philbin-Comeau Funeral Home, 176 Water St., Clinton, Mass. Contributions may be made in Francis’s memory to either the Xavier Jesuit Community, P.O. Box 7300 Kanpala, Uganda, or to the First Church of Christ Unitarian, c/o Heritage Fund, P.O. Box 66 Lancaster, MA 01523.

All of this info jives with what I found in the slide collection!  Now for some of the slide collection……….

Francis in the Galapagos

The Future Mrs.Tyler

1990s 209th Reunion

WWII Artist Profile of B.R. “Woody” Woodill WPA Artist – Rare WPA Color Kodachrome Slides Surface on eBay!

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Blanchard Robert “Woody” Woodill was born in 1916 in Glendale, California to Arthur and Maude Woodill.  His father was a successful car dealer in Los Angeles at the time, and likely planted the seeds that would eventually help design one of the most popular post-war American sports cars.  During WWII, Woody became a professor of Aeronautical Engineering at the the University of Southern California.  In 1948 he bought his father’s Dodge dealership in Downey, California and started down the path that would take him from car salesman to car designer.  Using his engineering and artistic skills (more on this later) he was able begin design on the car that would make him famous.  He purchased two Glasspar fiberglass body kits from Bill Tritt in Santa Ana, CA and eventually found a chassis designer to sign on board.  The Woody Wildfire was born.  The original sale price on the factory built Woodill Wildfire was roughly $3,000.  They now sell at classic auto auctions for over $100,000.  Very cool!

Interested in American Fiberglass Cars?

Check out this site: http://www.forgottenfiberglass.com/?p=12232

What does a car designer have to do with PortraitsofWar?  I was recently able to pick up an interesting set of 35mm color Kodachrome slides on eBay for a decent price.  I knew the photos were taken with an artist’s eye given the subject matter, poses, and setting of the shots.  After researching the address listed on the Kodachrome box, I realized that the photographer was actually working for the Southern California WPA as a photographer of Southern California life.  This fits in nicely with his profession as a professor of aeronautics at USC and makes sense given the quality of the images he took in the Southern California Desert.   His capturing of the emerging role of women on the homefront highlights the social realism that plays an important role in the WPA art of the period.

Kodachrome Box and Address

Original eBay Listing

Model Climbs into Biplane

Flight over the Desert

More Airplane Fun

Clearing Rocks

Scanning WWII 35mm Color Slides: A Beginners Guide

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I constantly have readers asking me about scanning WWII negatives and slides.  Many people unknowingly think that the process is tedious and time consuming.  In actuality, the process of scanning and processing a single image only takes a few minutes with some great results.  Here’s a quick step-by-step guide to scanning a WWII 35mm color slide.  In this instance, the 35mm Kodachrome film is housed in a Leica metal mount.
To preface this tutorial, I need to point out that not every scanner will scan negatives or slides.  I am currently running an Epson V700 “Perfection”.  Many other collectors and dealers use this scanner, and some even use the V750.  The V700 will run roughly 500 bucks, and the V750 a hundred or so more.  There are a handful of other quality scanners out there, so search around!

Epson V700

Step 1:  Find a Slide

This may actually be the hardest part of the process.  Find a single image, or group of images, on an online auction or location flea market that you want to scan.  This works well with any type/age of slides, but I prefer WWII and Korean War slides.  In this case, I found a nice shot of a Marine pilot posing near the beach.  Good subject matter, color, and condition.

Step 1: Find a Slide

Step 2: Prepare the Slide

Although most late-war slides tend to be mounted in paper housings, I’m showing the process with a glass and metal mounted slide from 1944.  The process works the same with the paper mounts, but tends to lose some quality around the outside borders.  In this case, the film is sandwiched between two small pieces of glass and inserted into the metal housing as seen below.

WWII Slide

Take care when extracting both sections of the slide housing.  Using slight pressure and TLC will ensure the slide goes back together after scanning.  If the housing breaks for any reason, plastic 35mm slide mounts can be found on eBay.

Carefully Deconstructed WWII Slide

Step 3: Scanning

Place the color film on the scanner glass.  I don’t worry about mounting the film in the Epson provided slide tray.  I don’t usually have a problem with gaussian blur, and I always wipe my glass down with a microfiber cloth to get rid of dust and random particles that tend to float around in the air.

The most important part of the physical scanning process is the adjustment of settings.  I tend to scan in TIFF 48-bit color in 4800 or 6400 DPI.  I don’t set ICE or dust removal.

Place on Scanner Bed

 

Step 4:  Post-Scanning

When the scanned image is ready for manipulation it typically needs a little bit of Photoshop cropping and editing to correct the color balance, remove dust and scratches, and reduce blurring.  A few minutes fiddling with Photoshop or another editing program should produce a nice digital image ready for posting to your favorite blog.  I typically use watermarks to help bring visitors to the website and to stop unscrupulous visitors from stealing images.

Unedited Slide Scan

 

After Ten Minutes of “Cleaning”

 

 

 

WWII PTO Color Kodachrome Slide – Tire Transport Truck on Guam in Vivid Color

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I was able to pick up an additional 40+ color slides taken on Guam, Tinian, and Siapan during WWII.  Pacific Theater color shots are hard to come by due to the high temperatures and scarcity of color film in the far reaching islands of the Pacific.  By my estimation, PTO color slides are outnumbered 2:1 by ETO shots.

Here’s a stunning example of a heavy truck carrying wheels and tires.  Enjoy!