World War II Pictures

Shown is a book edited by my niece Kelly. It contains some of the 100,000 photos taken by the Associated Press during World War II. On display at the Truman Llibrary & Museum at Independence until Januiary 11 is a special exhibit of enlarged pictures taken from this collection. It is a most intresting exhibit. Very vivid pictures. In studying any one of them I can feel what it must have been like to have been in on the action shown. Interesting information I picked up at the exhibit: 68 jouirnalists were killed during the war. One and one-half million French POWs remained in German concentration camps for the duration of the war. By the war's end some 16 million Americans had served in some branach of the Armed Forces. 120,000 Japanese-Americans were displaced. It brought tears to my eyes in viewing the huge photo of the mass of American soldiers making a t riumphant march down the Champs Elysees after re-capaturing Paris, and in viewing the flag raising on Mt. Suribachi after the marines in a hard-fought battle had taken over Iwo Jima. And I learned that the Associated Press, founded in 1848, is the world's oldest and largest news gathering organizatiion.