Alva Alegre took every opportunity to shoot in and around London while on pass. His images capture wartime London as seen in 1944, at a time when the Luftwaffe was still a real threat to the civilian population. Please enjoy the view through Alva’s lens as he travels throughout the city of London!
Alva and Muse
The Royal Arcade
Close Up View of Sign
August 25th, 1944,
Glenn Miller poses with some members of the 388th Bomb Group. Only a few months later Miller went missing during a flight over the English Channel,. spurring 70 years of mystery and intrigue. His death is still an unknown, although many suggest that he was in fact a German spy. The second image shows the crowd during the concert – snapped by Alegre from the front of the stage.
Some of Glenn’s best known hits are Moonlight Serenade, Chattanooga Choo Choo, A String of Pearls, Little Brown Jug and Tuxedo Junction. Many of these songs are likely lost on my generation, but will be familiar to many of the readers of this blog. Please check out the links listed below for some vintage Glenn Miller footage!
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Work Horses Plow a Field
Windswept Nurse
Alva spins a spit!
Seated Pose
A Barracks Fistfight
Color war photos are one of my favorite forms of amateur photography. The history behind each image is intensified when documented in color, allowing the historian to glean historical details not visible in B/W photography. One such image can be found below, from my collection of images taken in Roswell New Mexico right after WWII. The photos were taken by a member of the 509th Composite Group. The unit was responsible for dealing with the atomic weapons of WWII and also dropped a bomb on the Bikini Atoll in 1946.
The QB-17 shown below is possibly one of the first handful of B-17’s outfitted to fly unmanned. This plane was used to fly through an atomic cloud and collect important radiation data. These data were later used to test for radiation fallout numbers. I’ve only personally seen two other color images of a QB-17 painted in this scheme. What an important resource for historians, hobbyists, and vintage photography collectors!
Front Page of Drone Unit History
Back Cover of Drone Unit History
Lee Marvin is hands down one of the greatest action movie stars of the post-WWII generation. Starring in such films as Attack, The Killers, The Professionals, The Dirty Dozen, Hell in the Pacific, The Professionals, The Iceman Cometh, and The Delta Force, Lee Marvin was a true action star.
The attached photograph was purchased directly from the son of a 4th Marine veteran who served with Marvin during WWII. Lee was a combat sniper with I Company, 24th Marines, 4th Marine Division and was wounded in action on Saipan. He received the Purple Heart for his wounds. References say that he was one of only 9 survivors of a Japanese attack on his unit http://www.jodavidsmeyer.com/combat/military/lee_marvin.htm. Outside of personal photographs, this is one of less than a handful (literally 3) wartime photographs of Marvin available for view on the internet.
I hope you enjoy. This is one of my favorite WWII film actors, and now a part of my collection! 
A nice close up of Marvin – check google images for other shots of him…………..Keep in mind he was only 17 or 18 when this photo was taken.
A few formal portraits I found on the web:
Lee Marvin Formal Portrait Photo
Source: http://www.bongoludo.com/war-stories/
Lee Marvin’s War Record Mug Shot
Great shot of a wrecked B-25 with Scottish and American soldiers posing. Note the Land Rover in the background! I wonder what the story is behind this shot………………..
Portraits of War 