If this issue has a theme, it is combat photography. We begin with an article about one of the most-analyzed photographs of World War II, an aerial shot captured from the Japanese later in the war, taken during the 7 December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Four ship construction forensic analysts and photogrammetric experts have been examining every millimeter of this image since at least 1993, and their conclusion, which has been assaulted from several fronts, remains starkly consistent: The photo shows a Japanese midget submarine soon after firing torpedoes on Battleship Row. After two articles published five years ago in this magazine and the U.S. Naval Institute’s Proceedings, the authors take on several subsequent detractors here, most notably an intensive study by the University of Michigan. These men have a special kinship with us. We joined them on 11 September 2001 for the filming of a Discovery Channel documentary, which focused on unforgettable motion-picture film footage of the battleship Arizona (BB-39) being bombed at Pearl Harbor, just as terrorist attacks were being unleashed on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that morning.
The photography theme continues with an exclusive special presentation, years in the making. One of the great things about this job is having the opportunity to work with high-quality people. Former combat pilot and retired Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Dick Seamon is a case in point. Dick has been coming by the offices here for years, reviewing books, offering sage editorial advice, and telling amazing and amusing stories about his long service as assistant managing editor in the legendary New York offices of Time magazine. One of his most colorful acquaintances, he has told us several times, is internationally known and acclaimed photographer David Douglas Duncan. Because of Duncan’s dramatic combat photography work with Marines from World War II through Vietnam, Dick thought he would be a good subject for an interview in Naval History. After trying to hook us up for years, he finally succeeded in arranging a meeting with Duncan at his home in France.
Speaking of high-quality people, the person we assigned this task is a former senior editor of this magazine, Mac Greeley, a retired Marine combat pilot and a former writer for Aviation Week magazine. Mac’s credits with Naval History include profiles of Life magazine combat artist Tom Lea and combat correspondent and historian Alvin Josephy, so we knew he was the perfect choice to write a profile of Duncan. By the time Mac left France, he had secured the photographer’s permission to use any images we wanted from his 2003 book, Photo Nomad (published by W. W. Norton and now available through the Naval Institute Press).
So we had the engaging story, and we had the unmistakable Duncan pictures. All we needed were extra pages of heavier paper stock to do the feature justice. In this issue, with the generous support of Dr. Robert W. Selle and Lloyd G. LeCain, both retired U.S. Naval Reserve commanders and long-time supporters of Naval History and its parent organization, the U.S. Naval Institute, we present “Up Front with the Troops.” We hope you enjoy it.
—Fred L. Schultz, Editor-in-Chief