Army History
Queens Tribune
Military Films

The Army Pictorial Service (APS) administered all photographic matters for the Signal Corps which, as during World War I, was put in charge of all U.S. Army photography. The primary offices in the United States were the Signal Corps Photographic Center (SCPC) in Astoria, NY, and the Signal Corps Photographic Laboratory in Washington, DC. The SCPC was responsible for training combat photographers at its Photographic School, and for photographic research and development at its Pictorial Engineering and Research Laboratory. The SCPC trained a great variety of specialists besides photographers, among them camera repairmen, lab technicians, editors, and photo librarians.

During the first two years of the war, the Army's photographic activities suffered from administrative confusion, a lack of cooperation from Washington, a lack of prewar planning, and the fact that few people understood the photographic responsibilities of the Signal Corps. Furthermore, all parts of the War Department wanted different things: the Bureau of Public Relations wanted dramatic pictures for public release; training officers wanted visual aids; and field staff needed tactical photos for immediate strategic uses. The situation improved, and by the latter half of the war, better organization of Signal Corps photo units permitted easier coverage of the war on all fronts. Combat experience and better training also helped to improve the quality of U.S. Army photography.

By 1943, however, shortages of photographic supplies and APS Still Picture Library personnel necessitated culling the hundreds of thousands of pictures received. Pictures selected for retention had to meet a high standard for strategic, tactical, intelligence, instructional, informational, or historical value. By 1944, these standards were even more necessary, since over 10,000 combat photographs arrived at the library each month. By the end of the war, the library's holdings amounted to more than 500,000 images.

The prestige of Signal Corps photography increased steadily throughout the war. Better organization of Signal Corps photo units permitted easier coverage of the war on all fronts, and combat experience and improved training also helped to upgrade the quality of Army photography. Thus, by 1945, the true value of U.S. Army photography was recognized both within the military and by the general public. "Combat photographers served as the eyes of the public as well as the Army; millions of Americans at home would have had a very hazy idea of how and where the war was being waged if they had not had the benefit of the newsreels and still pictures that the combat cameramen furnished."

In its history of Vietnam, the National Archives and Records Administration reports: The operations and direction of the military photography was organized by the Army Pictorial Center (APC), which dispatched a series of teams for brief visits. These teams were organized into DASPO (Department of the Army Special Photo Office). DASPO rotated photographers into Vietnam for three-month tours of duty from a base in Hawaii. It wasn't long before the Marines sent their own photographers into the field, quickly followed by the Army and its 221st Signal Company. The DASPO and the 221st were considered the Army's elite photographic units. Smaller numbers of photographers worked for the Public Information Office (PIO), the Air Force and the Navy. The Air Force photographers assisted in aerial reconnaissance and documentation of bombing missions. The Navy photographers worked from the Combat Camera Group-Pacific (CCGPAC) photographing river patrols, counterguerrilla missions, and SEAL teams. The mission of DASPO was to provide a historical record of the war for the Pentagon archives. These photographers were not there as journalists, but rather to create a visual record of operations, equipment, and personnel. After the photographs were processed by the Pentagon, they were made available to military publications, the press, and the public at a photographic library at the Pentagon.

The site also lists several titles, including:

 "Combat America," a 1945 film that follows the Flying Fortress crews of the 351st Bombardment Group from the end of their training at a Colorado training field to actual combat over Germany.

"The Crime of Korea," a 1950 film about Korea in the tumultuous period between the end of World War II and the start of the Korean War.

"D-Day Minus One," a 1945 film record of the operations of the U.S. 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions in the 1944 invasion of France.


"Divide and Conquer," a 1943 film from Frank Capra's "Why We Fight" series that shows the German invasion of Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium and France, including the evacuation of the British forces at Dunkirk.