"Saving the Major" re colorized WWII diorama built by Mark Hogancamp

1939 Packard Twelve 1707 Four Door Formal Sedan

1935 Pontiac convertible coupe at Tanforan racetrack, San Bruno

Mother and Son in the ruins of Hiroshima, colorized from a 1945 photo

Colorized from a December 1945 photo, 4 months after the dropping of the Atomic Bomb in the City of Hiroshima, Japan, No other information on the photo, but looks like the two returned to their destroyed community after the bombing.

Raising the Soviet flag over the German Reichstag, May 1945

The iconic raising of the Soviet flag over the devastated Reichstag was a re-enactment photo taken the day after the Soviet victory in the Battle of Berlin.  Colorized from two re-enactment original photos taken by Yevgeny Khaldei with a Leica III rangefinder camera with a 35mm f3.5 lens on 2 May 1945.

The photo was published 13 May 1945 in the Ogonyok magazine. While many photographers took pictures of flags on the Reischtag roof, it was Khaldei's image that stuck.

The Soviets wrongly considered the Reichstag as symbolic of  Nazi Germany. It was already abandoned after the 1933 fire that left it in ruins. On 2 May 1945, photographer Khaldei scaled the now pacified Reichstag to take his picture. He was carrying with him a large flag, sewn from three tablecloths for this very purpose, by his uncle. Arriving at the Reichstag, he asked the soldiers who happened to be passing by to help with the staging of the photoshoot. There were only four of them, including Khaldei, on the roof: the one who was attaching the flag was 18-year-old Private Kovalev from Kiev, the two others were Abdulkhakim Ismailov from Dagestan and Leonid Gorychev from Minsk.

After taking the photo, Khaldei returned to Moscow and edited the image at the request of the editor-in-chief of the Ogonyok, who noticed that Senior Sergeant Abdulkhakim Ismailov, who is supporting the flag-bearer, was wearing two watches, which could imply he had looted one of them, an action punishable by execution. Using a needle, Khaldei removed the watch from the right wrist. Later, it was claimed that the extra watch was actually an Adrianov compass and that Khaldei, in order to avoid controversy, doctored the photo to remove the watch from Ismailov's right wrist. He also added to the smoke in the background, copying it from another picture to make the scene more dramatic.[1]

Stumbled on another photo by Khaldei with the flag still to be unfurled, but used another image of the flag in another photo unfurled and slightly distorted.

The Big Three during the Yalta Conference, also known as the Crimea Conference (February 4 - 11 1945) dividing the world among them after WWII.

Colorized a photo of the Yalta Conference, also known as the Crimea Conference (February 4 - 11 1945), the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the US, represented by President FDR, and UK represented by WC and the Soviet Union, represented by Stalin. It was held near Yalta in Crimea, Russia within the Livadia, Yusupov and Vorontsov palaces. The conference aimed to give self-determination to the liberated peoples of post-Nazi Europe and the re-establishment of the nations of war-torn Europe. Yalta was the second of three major wartime conferences among the Big Three, preceded by the Tehran Conference in 1943 and followed by the Potsdam Conference in July 1945 with Truman representing the US and Atlee for the UK.

Field Marshal General Erwin Rommel (1891 - 1944)

Colorized a photo of General Erwin Rommel looking dapper in a Hugo Boss produced military uniform and overcoat some liberties on the background.

Grace Kelly portrait, ca 1956, colorized

Princes Grace Kelly of Monaco (1929 - 1982), Colorized

Colorized an undated  photo of Grace Kelley, ca mid-1950s in two versions, and stylized. 

Grace Kelly (1929 - 1982), colorized from a vintage photo ca 1950s.

Grace Kelly (1929 - 1982)

Colorize photo of Hollywood actress Grace Kelly who made a fairy tale marriage to become Princess Grace of Monaco in 1956

Princes Grace Kelly of Monaco (1929 - 1982)

Colorized and stylized a vintage photo of Grace Kelly, an American actress of the 50s who became Princess Grace of Monaco in 1956. 

Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco (1929 - 1982)

Colorized a portrait of Grace Kelly from a photo taken presumably when she became Princess of Monaco. In April 1956, Kelly married Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, and became Her Serene Highness the Princess of Monaco. The original had been used as a cover for her biography in "Grace Kelly, The American Princess" and as a poster in subsequent TV and movie productions of that book.

Colorized photo of a 35-year old Adolph Hitler upon his release from Landsburg Prison, 1924

Colorized photo of a 35-year old Adolph Hitler upon his release from Landsberg Prison, December 20, 1924. He was convicted for his role in the Beer Hall Putsch on November 8, 1923. The attempted coup in Munich by right-wing members of the army and the Nazi Party was foiled by the government, and Hitler was charged with high treason by the Bavarian State Court and sentenced to 5 years imprisonment. After pressures from his supporters in government, he was released. It was during his 9-month incarceration here where he completed his Mein Kamp and re-strategized his Nazi philosophy. Photo said to be taken by Hitler’s photographer, Heinrich Hoffmann.

After his release, major broadsheets around the world rejoiced that the belligerant German leader has been "tamed" during his brief prison term at Landsburg,  Like this one

Long before his release, on Dec. 20, 1924, due in large part to the efforts of Warden Leybold, Hitler was already thinking about what type of car to buy: a Benz 11/40, which "would meet my current requirements," or a 16/50 with a more powerful engine. His preferred color was gray, and he wanted "wire wheels." Hitler asked the car dealer for preferential treatment. He wrote that he would probably have to obtain a loan for the purchase and that the "court costs and legal fees" he owed were making his "hair stand on end." In the letter, Hitler asked Werlin to inquire at his main office as to "what sort of a discount you can give me."

However, Hitler never got to buy one. The car he used upon his release belonged to Adolf Müller owner of the Münchner Buchgewerbehaus, where the Völkische Beobachter was published. It was a mid-priced Mercedes Benz 11/40, produced between 1923 -1925 and had a six-cylinder in-line engine with 2860 cc capacity that developed 40 hp

Young Lucille Ball in the 1930 before she dyed her hair red

The young actress and comedian Lucille Ball in a photo taken ca 1930. She was naturally blonde and eventually dyed her naturally blonde hair red that made her known as a red-head beauty.

Colorized photo of King George VI (1895 – 1952)

The king of the British Empire during WWII, King George VI (14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) who ascended the throne upon the abdication of King Edward VIII on 11 December 1936.and was succeeded by her daughter who became Queen Elizabeth II upon his death from coronary thrombosis after a struggle from lung cancer.  Colorized from a Photo by Yousuf Karsh with liberties on the background. "Bertie" as he was called by friends, was recently portrayed by Sir Colin Firth as the stuttering king in "The King's Speech."  Not a close resemblance though, but his performance merited an Oscar for best actor.

Colorized a photo of the twisted remains of a double-decker London City bus after a German Blitz on the City, September 10, 1940

Colorized a photo of the twisted remains of a double-decker  London City bus after a day time German Blitz on the City that also left some department stores in ruins,  September 10, 1940, just 3 days after the start of the Blitz. 

The  Battle of Britain between August and September 1940 and saw the defeat of the German Luftwaffe despite a clear 4:1 numerical superiority in aircraft over Britain.  Hitler then turned his sights on conducting bombing Blitzes that almost sent the UK to its knees if not for the fact that Hitler canceled his plans to invade Britain for his invasion of Soviet Russia to the east  The Royal Family was already preparing to evacuate to Canada and had Hitler continued with his invasion of Britain and not embark on a disastrous Russian campaign, he would have won the war at that point.  America was still sitting on the fence until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Dec 1941, but without the UK as its launch point in the European theatre, there would not be any country in Europe to host a US military build-up for a Normandy landing. 

On September 7, 1940  around 4:00 PM, 348 German bombers (mostly Heinkel 111) escorted by 617 fighters blasted London until 6:00 PM. Two hours later, guided by the fires set by the first assault, a second wave commenced another attack that lasted until 4:30 the following morning.  The blitz lasted until May 1951 leaving more than 50,000 civilian casualties including 28,500 dead.