Thursday, December 14, 2006

Jungle War: Bougainville and New Caledonia I



"H" Hour off Bougainville--Marines of the First Wave Swarm into Landing Boats

Down cargo nets they clamber from the deck of the motionless transport. Coxswains and engineer, bowmen and sternmen, take their stations. Soon the craft will shove off, to circle astern and await the moment of invasion. These official U.S. Navy paintings are the work of Lieut. William F. Draper, USNR, whose series on the Aleutian Islands appeared in the August, 1943, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE. The canvases depict the American occupation of Bougainville, in the Solomons, on November 1, 1943, and scenes at the United States military base on New Caledonia. They will become a part of the Navy's historical records of the war.

Copyright National Geographical Society. Published April 1944.

Oil Painting by Lieut. William F. Draper, USNR

And much thanks to my sister, Lisa, for giving me these magazines!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

These were my father's paintings. I wish he had talked about them more, but I suppose he didn't really want to remember those times in too much detail. He usually told us the funny stories about being a combat artist.

He did describe having to paint from icy holes in Alaska

De'on Miller said...

How fantastic! Well what a great father you have. He's still your father.

Thank you so much for stopping by and leaving this comment. It means a lot to me.