US Marines raising the U.S. flag on Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima

Colorized an iconic photo taken by Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945, depicting US Marines raising the U.S. flag on Mount Suribachi after its capture during the Battle of Iwo Jima,. The mount is a dormant volcano top, the dominant geographical feature of the island that enabled the Americans to have a strategic view over the island, Despite capturing Suribachi, the battle continued for many days until 31 days later, on March 26. when US victory was complete. The photo was first published on February 25, 1945, reprinted in thousands of publications. and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Photography, the only photo to win in the same year as its publication. It became one of the most significant and recognizable images of the war. Colorized with liberties on the bland empty background.

Colorized a photo of a 16-year old German Hans-Georg Henke, in tearsa after being taken prisoner in Hessen, Germany, 1944.

Colorized a famous photo of a 16-year old German anti-aircraft soldier of the Hitler Youth, Hans-Georg Henke, taken prisoner in the state of Hessen, Germany. He was a member of the Luftwaffe anti-air squad who burst into tears as his world crumbled around him. His father died in 1938 but when his mother died in 1944 leaving the family destitute, Hans-Georg had to find work in order to support the family and at 15 joined the Luftwaffe.  Here is his story

Colorized a photo of General Douglas MacArthur, Sep 2, 1945 featured in a LIFE magazine.

5 Star General Douglas MacArthur aboard the USS Missouri for the signing of the unconditional surrender of Japan, Sep 2, 1945.

A U.S. Marine flamethrower, one of the many who had the weapon proven to be quite effective in winning the month long Battle of Iwo Jima, 1945

Here is my colorized take on a photo showing a typical U.S. Marine flamethrower. The M2 flamethrower served as the single most effective weapon in major Iwo Jima engagements against Japanese troops who hid in pillboxes, caves, buildings, and bunkers that have proven to be invulnerable to earlier bombing runs, artillery and naval bombardment.

Manila Post Office in ruins after the Battle of Manila in 1945

Restored and colorized a photo taken by John Tewell for Life/Time after WWII, depicting the Manila Post Office as it was entirely gutted and the Jones bridge in the foreground destroyed as desperate Japanese forces went on a killing spree and destroying everything in its path including landmark buildings like the Legislative Buldg, the Manila Cathedral, and the Post Office bldg colorize here.  They eventually surrendered to the liberating forces of Gen. MacArthur during the Battle of Manila 3Feb -6Mar 1945.

 

Colorized photo of a U.S. Marine aiming his rifle during the Battle of Iwo Jima

Colorized photo of a U.S. Marine aiming his rifle in practice during a lull in the Battle of Iwo Jima from 19Feb to 26Mar 1945. Under Operation Detachment meant to capture Iwo Jima as a staging point to attack Japan, US Marines faced the fiercest and bloodiest battles against a well-prepared and well-entrenched Japanese Imperial Army who considered the defense of Iwo Jima their last hope of prolonging the war and preventing it from reaching Japan. Virtually nothing from the naval bombardment or bombings conducted by the U.S. allied forces made any impact and securing the beachhead made the Invasion of Normandy look like a walk in the park by comparison. It took America 36 days to defeat the enemy and capture the island. It was the only battle in the Pacific where the American wounded exceeded the Japanese, although Japanese combat deaths numbered three times as many as American deaths.

U.S. Allied forces in the German town of Linnich during the Battle of Berlin, Feb 1945

Here's my colorized take on a photo depicting an M4A3 Sherman of the 771st Tank Battalion of the 84th rail Splitter Division after fighting in the German town of Linnich from a photo taken on Feb 24th, 1945. Allied forces advanced its way from the west in the invasion of Germany, leaving a swath of ruins as Hitler's army, reduced to a disorganized defensive position, presented stiff resistance that caused over 100,000 casualties in the armies of Generals Omar Bradley and George Paton.  Berlin eventually fell to the Soviets advancing from the East leading to the surrender of Germany on May 7, 1945.

The majesty of Hindenburg, colorized in a 1936 photo

The Hindenburg was dubbed the ‘world’s first flying hotel. with passenger accommodation within the hull of the humongous structure that is 5 times the size of the largest modern commercial aircraft, the Airbus A380 show below for comparison.  For a more detailed description of what it offered at the time, you can have an idea here 

Colorized photos of the Hindenberg in the throes of its destruction, May 6 1937

Here's my colorized take on 4 photos depicting a sequence of events depicting the destruction of the LZ-129 Hindenburg over less than a minute when it attempted to land at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey.  The photos have been taken presumably by different news photographers covering the event as it was supposed to be the Hindenburg's first scheduled round trip between Europe and the U.S.  Note that the mooring tower is still a distance away from the Hindenberg but as the photographer team were waiting to welcome the airship from the tower, several photos where taken from behind it.  Admittedly, they were well positioned to take a better photo composition.

There have been eyewitness accounts of the horrific tragedy. But easily the most dramatic, expressing the horror of the event, was the broadcast of radio reporter Herbert Morrison, lasting throughout the disaster from start to finish.  Here were his words in the broadcast:
 It's starting to rain again;
it's – the rain has slacked up a little bit.
The back motors of the ship are just holding it just, just enough to keep it from –
It burst into flames!
Get this, Charlie!
It's fire – and it's crashing! It's crashing terrible!
Oh, my, get out of the way, please!
It's burning and bursting into flames,
and the – and it's falling on the mooring-mast and all the folks agree that this is terrible, this is the worst of the worst catastrophes in the world.
[Indecipherable word(s)]
It's – it's – it's the flames,
[indecipherable, possible the word "climbing"]
oh, four- or five-hundred feet into the sky and it...
it's a terrific crash, ladies and gentlemen.
It's smoke, and it's flames now...
and the frame is crashing to the ground, not quite to the mooring-mast.
Oh, the humanity and all the passengers screaming around here. I told you, I can't even talk to people whose friends are on there.
Ah!
It's – it's – it's....
o – ohhh!
I – I can't talk, ladies and gentlemen.
Honest, it's just laying there, a mass of smoking wreckage.
Ah! And everybody can hardly breathe and talk, and the screaming.
Lady, I – I'm sorry.
Honest: I – I can hardly breathe.
I – I'm going to step inside where I cannot see it.
Charlie, that's terrible.
Ah, ah – I can't.
I, listen, folks I – I'm gonna have to stop for a minute because I've lost my voice.
This is the worst thing I've ever witnessed

Colorized solider with gas mask in a smokescreen practice, 1942

Sergeant George Camblair learning how to use a gas mask in a practice smokescreen at Fort Belvoir, CA., colorized by Alex Lim from a  September 1942 photo by Jack Delan

Colorized LZ-129 Hindenburg at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in 1936.

Colorized a photo of the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin LZ-129 Hindenburg at Lakehurst Naval Air Station, NJ taken on May 10, 1936. (The older and smaller Graf Zepellin is in the distant background.) This was the largest commercial airship ever constructed, and unless helium dirigibles are revived, it remains the largest for all time. It was supposed to be the pride of Nazi Germany just 3 years before the invasion of Poland that started WWII. After making its first South American flight late March 1937, the Hindenburg left Frankfurt for Lakehurst on the night of 3 May on its fateful first scheduled round trip between Europe and North America, With the most luxurious appointments for its passengers matching those of the Titanic, it arrived in Lakehurst, NJ 3 days later when, as it attempted to be moored, erupted in a ball of flame that would rival a small nuclear mushroom cloud. Hitler didn't take the hint of this ominous event. The fire that destroyed the Hindenburg started at the tail section where the Nazi swastika logo was located. A comparative photo on the Hindenburg airship and the largest modern commercial and military aircraft is presented to show the relative sizes. 

Colorized photo of English childred in a dugout or trench bomb shelter during the German bombing blitz of London 1940-41

England, 1940-41 Battle of Britain. Children in an English trench bomb shelter, colorized from a photo by the British Information Service.

Manuel Luis Quezon y Molina (1878 - 1944), first President of the Philippine Commonwealth (1935 - 1944), colorized from an 1942 photo during his exile in Washington, DC during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines.

The first President of the Philippine Commonwealth Manuel L. Queen (1878 - 1944, term: 1935 - 1944) and the 2nd President of the country after Emilio Aguinaldo, was evacuated to Corregidor when the Japanese invaded Manila on Dec 8th, 1941, 10 hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor.  He inaugurated his 2nd term as President in Corregidor, and before Bataan and Corregidor fell, MLQ was evacuated to Mindanao before proceeding to Australia and then the U.S. under the invitation of President Roosevelt. He established the Philippine Commonwealth in exile, with the government occupying the house of the Philippine Resident Commissioner, Joaquin Elizalde, in Washington, DC. MLQ suffered from tuberculosis and spent his last year at a Miami Beach Army hospital and then moved to Saranac Lake, New York, where he died on August 1, 1944, more than 8 months before Roosevelt's death. Initially buried at the Arlington National Cemetery, his body was flown to Manila and interred at the North Cemetery in 1946 and then transferred to his final resting place at the Quezon Memorial Circle. in 1979.

Colorized photo of an abandoned boy admist the ruins of his home during the German Blitz, ca 1940

An abandoned boy holding a stuffed toy animal amidst the ruins of his home following German aerial bombing of London. Colorized by Alex Lim from a photo by Toni Frissell taken sometime in 1945.  The dreary colors of war with near monochromatic colors of soldiers, tanks, greeneries, destroyed structures, muddied grounds, and smokes that obscure the sky can be broken with children and their colorful garb and toys.  Unfortunately, these children are often captured in camera in the saddest and most tragic of circumstances.  Good to hear, the boy survived the war and was last known to have worked as a truck driver. His mother, father and brother died under the rubble from a V-2 rocket attack in 1945. If he was 8/9 years old when the pic was taken by Toni Frissell in  January 1945, he would be in his 80s by now. This photo was used by IBM to publicize a show, the annual Photo London event in the early 60s and it was recognized by the boy now grown up, when he was walking past the IBM offices. Learned it here.

US Marines taking time off fromt he Pacific War, colorized from a July 1944 photo in Agat village, Guam

U.S. Marines play a piano rescued from the ruins of the village of Agat following the Allied success retaking the island of Guam from the Japanese. On 21 July 1944, Agat was one of the two landing sites for U.S. Marine.

Colorized photo of a U.S. solider being kissed by a little French girl, ca 1944

The photo was taken somewhere in Paris after the U.S. forces under General Patton entered Paris during the liberation of the city in 25 August 1944

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Audie Murphy (1925 - 1971), most decorated U.S. solider in WWII, coloriized from an early 1950 photo

The photo colorized only shows less than half of his medals. Audie received every military award for valor available from the U.S. Army, as well as French and Belgian awards for heroism. He received the Congressional Medal of Honor (highest personal recognition conferred by the U.S.)  at age 19 for single-handedly holding off an entire company of German soldiers for an hour at the Colmar Pocket in France in Jan 1945, then leading a successful counterattack while wounded and out of ammunition. He became a Hollywood star after the war. and perished in a plane crash in 1971. 

General Douglas MacArthur (1880 - 1964), colorized by Alex Lim from a 1930 photo

Here's my colorized take of Major General (2-star) Douglas MacArthur in a 1930 photo. He was the U.S. Chief of Staff in the U.S. Army in the 1930s and at age 50 was its youngest major general. He was appointed Field Marshal of the Philippine Army in 1936 as requested by President Manual L Quezon during the Commonwealth period. In July 1941, 4 months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Habor, Roosevelt federalized the Philippine Army, recalled MacArthur to active duty in the U.S. Army, named him commander of U.S. Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE).and was promoted to lieutenant general. He had direct command over 30,000 Philippine soldiers and was evacuated to Australia in the morning of Dec 8 1941 immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Roosevelt could not afford to lose him to an impending capitulation of U.S. possessions in the Pacific that were attacked on that day.

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 - 1945). 32nd U.S. President

On the other side of the Atlantic, one of the major players in WWII just woke under the leadership of its 32nd President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 - 1945). Long hesitant to formally take part in the European Theater though logistically supporting Britain, the U.S. had no choice. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor made their involvement inevitable, as declaring war on Japan on Dec 8, 1941 led Germany and Italy to declare war on the U.S. on Dec 11. The U.S. responded with a declaration of war on both immediately. Canada and Australia declared war on Japan a few hours before the U.S. did. (as the attack on Hong Kong and the Malaya on the same day was also an attack on the British Empire.)

Here's my colorized take of a photo of FDR ca, 1933, his first year as President that would extend to 4 terms of office with the last two engaged in the war effort on two fronts - Europe and Asia. The involvement of the US and Japan gave the war that started in Europe its global reach between 1941 and 1945.