Japan 1945: A U.S. Marine's Photographs From Ground Zero [Hardcover]

Joe O'Donnell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 28, 2005

In September 1945 Joe O'Donnell was a twenty-three-year-old Marine Corps photographer wading ashore in Japan, then under American occupation. His orders were to document the aftermath of U.S. bombing raids in Japanese cities, including not only Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but also cities such as Sasebo, one of the more than sixty Japanese cities firebombed before the atomic blasts. "The people I met," he now recalls, "the suffering I witnessed, and the scenes of incredible devastation taken by my camera caused me to question every belief I had previously held about my so-called enemies."

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

O'Donnell, a 23-year-old Marine Corps photographer, was sent to Japan in September 1945 to document the impact of the war, especially the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He took thousands of official photographs that disappeared into military archives, and shot several hundred with his own camera, but he was so appalled by all that he had seen, he locked his photographs in a trunk for 45 years. O'Donnell worked as a White House photographer, suffered illness and disability from his exposure to radiation, and remained haunted by the devastation and suffering he witnessed. Finally, in the 1990s, he exhibited his photographs in Europe and Japan, and now, at long last, 74 of his powerful black-and-white photographs are being made available in the U.S. for the first time, during a time of war, increased nuclear threats, and heightened awareness of photography's role in warfare. Not only do O'Donnell's tragically beautiful photographs capture a hell on earth, they also embody his profound compassion and respect, making his haunting images precious not only as documentation but also as works of art. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

Not only do O'Donnell's tragically beautiful photographs capture a hell on earth, they also embody his profound compassion and respect, making his haunting images precious not only as documentation but also as works of art.
--Booklist (starred review)

This stunning work . . . is essential for all World War II collections.
--Library Journal (starred review)

O'Donnell could never forget what he saw, and we should never forget what he here shows us.
--The Japan Times

These photographs document with memorable visual images the impact of World War II on Japan's civilian populations. O'Donnell's status as a soldier with the American occupation forces gives the collection extra credibility. The passage of time has made these images more rather than less compelling.
--George H. Roeder, Jr., School of the Art Institute of Chicago and author of The Censored War: American Visual Experience during World War II

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 104 pages
• Publisher: Vanderbilt University Press (February 28, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826514677
• ISBN-13: 978-0826514677
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 9.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,636,630 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Striking Photos of the Aftermath of War, March 11, 2005

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Japan 1945: A U.S. Marine's Photographs From Ground Zero (Hardcover)

We've all seen the pictures of Hiroshima where everything but the shells of a few building is flattened. Here are seventy-four pictures from several cities, fire-bombed with conventional munitions, not atomic bombs, that look just as devastated, just as destroyed.

But more than that are pictures of the people. There's a picture of the crowd at an Athletic Day - women, children, and old men - the young men are gone, probably never to return. There's a picture of a young boy, perhaps eight years old. To his back is strapped his little brother, perhaps one year old. The little brother is dead and the boy is delivering him to the cremation site.

Yes the pictures from other wars, the child at the railway station after the rape of Nanking, those from the camps in Germany are equally tragic. Even the pictures showing Charleston after Sherman's army went through show this kind of destruction.

But there is a special feeling I get from these pictures. Perhaps it comes as a residual of the racial hatred this country felt towards Japan. I hope not, but the fact is that these striking photographs make me feel terrible.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Striking, Yet Poignant View of the Atomic Bombings, August 17, 2005

By 

Jeffrey T. Munson (Dixon, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Japan 1945: A U.S. Marine's Photographs From Ground Zero (Hardcover)

Photographer Joe O'Donnell, a 23-year-old Marine assigned to the occupation of Japan, has released many of his photographs that he took while on station. Locked away for some 45 years, these vivid, graphic, and moving photos show what life was like immediately after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

O'Donnell's photo archive begins with images from his arrival in Japan. A prayer service offered aboard a landing ship, and the unloading of equipment are shown in this section. The harbor at Sasebo is photographed with many American ships filling its waters, but it is in this section where the reader gets their first glimpse of the level of destruction wrought by American planes; most of the surrounding city is literally flattened. Many displaced Japanese citizens are shown wandering the streets of what has become a barren wasteland.

O'Donnell has also included images of American soldiers giving candy to Japanese children, and Japanese geishas performing dances. Images of children with babies strapped to their backs cleaning rubble and elderly displaced civilians with few or no possessions really touch the reader.

The most eye-catching part of the book for me was the images of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Both cities were literally wiped off the face of the earth; only massive piles of rubble remained. O'Donnell had to travel by horse to navigate through the massive piles of debris. Images of people wandering about aimlessly, smashed factories, and burn victims dominate this part of the book.

The most piognant pictures I saw in the book are the one of the three brothers in Nagasaki; the eldest pushing his brothers in a make-shift cart, and the most heartbreaking one, the photo of the child who has come to the cremation site in Nagasaki with his dead baby brother strapped to his back, all the while struggling to keep from crying. I can't remember seeing a more moving photograph.

This is a tremendous book. Each photograph tells its own story, and O'Donnell has provided excellent narrative above each photo. I highly recommend this fine book. Open it up and take a photographic journey through a defeated Japan. Some photos will inspire awe; others pity, and you'll get a true sense of what it was like in Japan immediately after the war ended.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Revealing Photographic History, September 14, 2006

By 

R. DelParto "Rose2" (Virginia Beach, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Japan 1945: A U.S. Marine's Photographs From Ground Zero (Hardcover)

Joe O'Donnell captured the aftermath of World War II with his photographic record of the Japanese rubble. As a 23 year-old US Marine, O'Donnell served as a photographer, and a sample of the photographs he took are included in his book, JAPAN 1945: A US MARINE'S PHOTOGRAPHS FROM GROUND ZERO. The collection is a visual snapshot of the Japanese landscape of the cities and towns, Sasebo, Fukuoka, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki, almost a month after the atomic bombings and air raids.

Indeed, JAPAN 1945 includes poignant and moving exposures of remnants of the worn torn landscape. The book is a composition of photographs of O'Donnell's seventh month long tour of the Japanese cities in which he documented what was left of the cities -- pure destruction without a living thing in sight. There are numerous shots worth mentioning, such as the boy and his young brother on the cover of the book, the boy served as O'Donnell's guide through the streets of Hiroshima, as well a man severely burned, "Victim with Rope" who is covered with an immense amount of clothing in order to protect his skin. However, there are also photographs depicting reconstruction, such as the shot where a teacher leads a class with the classroom still intact despite the outside view of the devastating rubble that lurks in the background.

JAPAN 1945 is an excellent photographic record of the aftermath of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. O'Donnell's account of what he had seen has been best described not with words, but with the photographs he presents. The book may further provide a better understanding of World War II history as well as how photographs provide a template to how history is interpreted.