Il passaggio della storia - Into the Po Valley
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New DVD:
The Men Behind the Cameras - Into the Po Valley - 1945Interest in the unique role of the 196th Signal Photo Company and in our project has come from unexpected places.
We were contacted by the Associazione Parco della Commicazione Visiva del Po which produced a 60-minute DVD documentary describing the still and newsreel camera equipment used Army Pictorial Service during the Italian Campaign. The DVD front cover features a sepia tinted photo of a young American combat infantryman shouldering his rifle.
The Associazone had acquired original Signal Corps newsreel film shot by members of the 196th Signal Photo Company to show the Allied breakout into the Po Valley during the final offensive of the Italian Campaign.
The authors granted permission to the Associatione to use two still photos, a black and white Signal Corps photo taken by Donald Wiedenmayer who accompanied his photo team partner, Army T/4 Edmund Burke O'Connell on a visit to liberated Venice, and a second color photo, also taken by Wiedenmayer where he and fellow photographers enjoyed a sunny gondola ride in Venice in the spring of 1945.
The inside DVD sleeve also includes a photo of 196th Signal Photo Company still photographer David Kurland, boxed right, who looks back at the newsreel cameraman.
“I am conducting research on behalf of a small World War II museum in Italy about the visual records of the Allies in the Po Valley, Italy, circa 1945. After obtaining several photos and footage from the National Archives in Washington, D.C.., we became curious about the men behind the cameras.
In this respect, I found your website, www.thelastfarewell.net most interesting and I was wondering if you had any information about surviving members of the 196th Signal Photo Company. We would be interested, for instance in recollections of the crossing of the Po River in April of 1945. Also, one of the camera operators that is mentioned in some of the National Archives’ Combat Films, David D. Kurland, may have been later involved in some Marshall Plan films shot in Italy and it would be nice to know more about it. - Paolo Barlera, Italian Cultural Institute, 686 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10021.
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U.S. Fifth Army photographers, Martin G. Brooks, left and Sam Spirito, right, of the 196th Signal Photo Co. tour Venice, Italy in a gondola in an official U.S. Army photo dated May 1, 1945. The two photographs were taken by Donald Wiedenmayer on May 1, 1945. In the black and white photo, Brooks holds his Speed Graphic still camera. Don describes the scene. “Upon arrival in Venice we were stopped by the British Red Caps (military police). When they saw our passes said “By Command of Field Marshal Alexander” they couldn’t get us on our way any faster. We lunched at the Ristorante Cavaletto just off the Piazzo San Marco in the company of British officers.” The close-up color photograph taken that same day also taken by Wiedenmayer captures Burke, center, with Martin Brooks at left, Burke O’Connell and Sam Spirito, right. Photos by Donald Wiedenmayer, 196th Signal Photo Company, May 1, 1945. |
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L'importanza della documentazione storica
La riceria sui materiali visivi d'epocha e part integrante del progretto di acquisizione, archiviazione e divulgazione peculiari dello statu dell' Associazione Parco della Comunicazione Visiva del Po. Questa prospecttiva general si e incrociata, quattro anni fa, con il National Archives and Records Administration di Washington, archivio consultato in modo organico per poter documentare un momento della storia, lungo i corso del fiume, di cui si e sempre sentito parlare, quello della Second Guerra Mondiale |
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Much of the newsreel film featured in this 60-minute Italian DVD documentary were taken by members of the 196th Signal Photo Company. It isn't clear which Army or Allied combat units are being specifically depicted in the footage. |
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 Three-part
Army Signal Corps documentary of the US efforts to take Italy by acclaimed
director John Huston. The U.S. Army which commissioned the film refused to
show it because it was too honest in its portrayal of the high cost of
battle and the difficulties faced.Part One - Battle of San Pietro, 1943 (1/3) |
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| 85th Infantry Division Breaks into the Po Valley | |
Jewish Infantry Brigade of the British Eighth Army |
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| Po Valley Campaign - Field Artillery units. Includes Selected photos of the 196th Signal Photo Company set to music | |
| Brazilian Army in Italy - Clip honors Brazilian veterans of the Italian Campaign. | |
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1944 Fifth Army Mobile Radio Newsreel - Bring a touch of home to wartime Italy |
The Liberation of Rome, 1944 - Army Pictorial Service |
| Color Film - American GIs Enjoy a C-Ration Dinner in Italy | |
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Honoring the Fallen |
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| American Battle Monument Cemetery in Florence Italy - This video presents a brief narrated tour of Florence American Cemetery's landscaped grounds, architecture, and works of art. | |
| American Battle Monument Cemetery Rome-Sicily and Memorial - Nettuno | |
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preserved within the physical memorial and through the World War II Registry of
Remembrances, an individual listing of Americans who contributed to the war
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We invite you to read a sample chapter: A Beautiful Stranger FLORENCE - 1944 - "John and I rolled out our sleeping bags and slept under the stars in a city park near the Porto Romano. We decided the next morning it was absolutely essential to find a way to drive our Army jeep safely across the Arno River to the other side.
All of our film supplies and bulky camera equipment were much too heavy for us to carry across on foot given the distance to the other side of the Arno. We could not gauge for ourselves given what few maps we had how large the city of Florence was. Our Army jeep and trailer would make us mobile and then, too, we decided, why not give the Florentines a special treat and drive one of the first Allied jeeps across the Arno.
During the summer the Arno River contains very little water and its shoulder embankments are mostly bare, dry earth. Many Florentines had cultivated small "victory"- type gardens along the sides when the war began.
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196th Signal Photo Company Photographers - Selected Photos
These special tribute pages features some of the significant still photography of five Army Signal Corps photographers who served in the 196th Signal Photo Company. They include:
/ Cecil "Max"Campbell / John Mason / Donald Wiedenmayer / Jerry KosseffIndex to 196th Signal Photo Company - Still Photo Gallery
Known Army Signal Corps photographs attributed by Signal Corps serial number to individual members of the 3131st Signal Service Company and the 196th Signal Photo Company, Italian Campaign, 1944-1945. These photos were obtained from the National Archives and the public domain.
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Historical Resources
O'Connell's Equipment: Bell & Howell 35mm Eyemo Camera
Captain Melvin Gillette / Architect of the Army Pictorial Service
Selected Reference Materials (Orders and Official Documents) / Army Pictorial Service - North Africa
196th SPC - Awards and Decorations
/ 196th SPC Roll of Honor / 196th SPC - Unit History/ 196th SPC - Campaign for Sicily / 196th SPC - Motion Picture Coverage / 196th - Still Photo Coverage
Bibliography / Veteran's History Project / Nauders Crossroads - 1945
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© The Last Farewell - A journey of the heart
By Edmund Burke O'Connell and co-authors Julie Whitman Jones and Thomas J. Sullivan, Jr.
email the authors: info@thelastfarewell.net
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