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Images From the Battlefield: World War II Through a Soldier’s Eyes

Nearly 900 photographs recently donated to Veterans History Project at Library of Congress

by Aaron Kassraie, AARP, November 5, 2021

world war two photographer d carl chamberlain sitting in front of a selfie from nineteen forty five

Courtesy the estate of D. Carl Chamberlain © 2021

En español

Carl Chamberlain’s tour of duty during World War II took him across Europe and included the allied invasion of Italy, an operation known as Avalanche, the invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky), the amphibious assault at Anzio (Operation Shingle) and the invasion of southern France (Operation Dragoon). His unit also supported the 7th Army in pursuit of the Germans up the Rhone River valley to the Battle of the Bulge.

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Throughout his deployment, Chamberlain, a Staff Sgt. in the Army, carried his camera with him. By the time he was discharged in 1945, he had developed and printed nearly 900 photographs in the field. Recently, his son, Mike Chamberlain, donated the images to the Veterans History Project run by the Library of Congress.

AARP is the founding corporate sponsor of the Veterans History Project, which is dedicated to collecting and preserving the personal accounts of Americans who served in every U.S. war since 1914. The Chamberlain photos make up one of the largest collections donated to the project since it was created in 2000.

Carl Chamberlain died in 1993, but the images he captured will live on so future generations can experience a firsthand perspective of war through a soldier’s eyes. Here are a few of the images recently donated to the Veterans History Project.

Anyone with information on the movements of the 334th Quartermaster Depot Supply Company (aerial resupply) unit from April 1944 through September 1945, including families of servicemen who may have appeared in the photo collection, may contact Mike Chamberlain at Carl.Chamberlain.WW2@gmail.com. Chamberlain is not affiliated with AARP.

Aaron Kassraie writes about issues important to military veterans and their families for AARP. He also serves as a general assignment reporter. Kassraie previously covered U.S. foreign policy as a correspondent for the Kuwait News Agency’s Washington bureau and worked in news gathering for USA Today and Al Jazeera English.