War as seen by the camera
Robert Capa’s famed 1936 black-and-white photograph of a Spanish soldier -- taken at the moment he suffered a fatal gunshot -- is an unforgettable image of the Spanish Civil War. The Getty Museum purchased “Cerro Muriano, Spain / The Falling Soldier” in April 2006. (Robert Capa / J. Paul Getty Trust)
U.S. Marines of the 28th Regiment of the 5th Division raise the American flag atop Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima, on Feb. 23, 1945. Joe Rosenthal won a Pulitzer Prize for his immortal image of six World War II servicemen raising an American flag over battle-scarred Iwo Jima. (Joe Rosenthal / Associated Press)
An American infantryman in the Korean War weeps on the shoulder of another soldier while a corpsman, left, goes about the business of filling out casualty tags in Al Chang’s Aug. 28, 1950, photo. Chang was a dockworker during the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor who became a celebrated combat photographer. Chang was twice nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. (Al Chang / Associated Press)
One of the most notorious images of the Vietnam War, Eddie Adams’ photo captures the moment when a South Vietnamese lieutenant colonel executed a Viet Cong prisoner on the streets of Saigon on Feb. 1, 1968. Though Adams won a Pulitzer Prize for the photo, he reportedly was haunted by it for the rest of his life, never comfortable with how the photo affected public opinion of the South Vietnamese and the American war effort. (Eddie Adams / Associated Press)
Luc Delahaye’s 2001 photo “Taliban” shows a dead Taliban soldier lying in a ditch outside Kabul, Afghanistan, his throat slit, boots stolen, eyes half-open and wallet rifled. (Luc Delahaye / J. Paul Getty Museum)
L.A Times’ photographer Luis Sinco captured the “Marlboro Marine,” Lance Cpl. James Blake Miller, taking a break after more than 12 hours of nearly nonstop deadly combat in Fallouja, Iraq, in 2004. In the war-hardened portrait, Miller’s camouflage war paint is smudged. He sports a bloody nick on his nose. His helmet and chin strap frame a weary expression that seems to convey the timeless fatigue of battle. The image, printed in more than 100 newspapers, quickly moved into the realm of the iconic. Sinco was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for the photo, and became involved in Miller’s post-war experiences too. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
