RichardQ Loc: Colorado

These medium-format shots were taken about 18 months after "Der Führer" committed suicide in Berlin. He loved the mountains of the Bavarian Alps around Berchtesgaden so he bought one nextdoor and evicted everybody from it so he could build a Nazi colony. When Hitler committed suicide in April, 1945, we bombed and destroyed that community, but not Berchtesgaden itself. In May, 1945, we moved in and evicted the Nazis. Berchtesgaden became one of the approved furlough sites for us GIs.

Military government office in Berchtesgaden - 1946


A view across Berchtesgaden, Dec, 1946


Some Berchtesgaden boys were still wary of GIs at that time


Berchtesgaden side street


Younger kids were not as scared


These little girls were quite friendly but didn't put their sleds down


This sidewalk above Berchtesgaden hangs on a mountainside


A true son of Berchtesgaden who hit me up for some pipe tobacco


A mountainside Catholic church serving Berchtesgaden


The local snow plow doesn't have a blade in Berchtesgaden

RichardTaylor Loc: Sydney, Australia

Beautiful location,.
Thanks for taking us back in time.

Uuglypher Loc: South Dakota (East River)

This is a lovely set of images of clear historic interest.
Of them, numbers 4, 7, and 9 are legit "street" each with a solitary person making passage through the scene. Each of these three evokes Cartier-Brasson's eye for the distant, solitary person totally unaware of their role in the composition of an image.

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

Shades of Easy Company, aka Band of Brothers.
You truly lived in the Greatest Generation. I am proud to know you, even just via UHH.

RichardQ Loc: Colorado

Thank you very much, Douglass! But please understand that I never saw combat, only carried a weapon when I drew guard duty, never was shot at and never shot at anybody. My main mission was to relieve the guys who were eager to leave Germany. I was in the Army Air Force, Troop Information & Education Section, not the Infantry. I was assigned to this Redeployment Center which handled men arriving in Europe and those departing to the US for discharge. Here are some of the front pages.

January 12, 1946 - GIs finally see rules governing eligibility for discharge


March 2, 1946 - First shipment for discharge leaves

RichardQ Loc: Colorado

Thank you for your comments, Richard! One of the incredible achievements of photography has been its ability to arrest an instant of time and preserve it, with awesome detail, for posterity. A great deal of what I photographed 70 years ago is long gone.

le boecere

Richard, your statement; "One of the incredible achievements of photography has been its ability to arrest an instant of time and preserve it, with awesome detail, for posterity.", is exactly what drew me back into photography, and gives me the "why". I'll save and archive it for myself.

I'm of the generation following yours; who remembers rationing, and shortages, and Victory Gardens, and wartime worries and heartbreak. There are fewer and fewer of "The Greatest Generation", still with us...and, I don't think we can appreciate you enough.
Photographs and documentation such as you're showing us here, is vital to our memory of who you were, what you did, the sacrifices you made, and why you truly are "The Greatest Generation".
Thank you for showing us your memories.

Dave Chinn

Richard, I love all of your images you have posted. All are top notch in my opinion. I have seen others you have posted in the past but these are the first I have seen from you in quite awhile. Keep them coming, I love old photos of that time era.

le boecere

:thumbup: :thumbup:

RichardQ Loc: Colorado

Thank you very much for the kind words, Uuglypher! It's the first time in the 70 years since I took these photos that anybody compared my work to Cartier-Bresson (gasp!). I was only 19 and had no formal training, but I did study LIFE magazine, and I absorbed the work of Hollywood's cinematographers. None of these photos have been published or even exhibited except here in the Hedgehog. In fact, most of them were scanned from the original 70-year-old 2-1/4 X 2-1/4 inch contact prints.

RichardQ Loc: Colorado

Thank you for your interest and comments, Dave -- they are much appreciated. I was hospitalized a couple of times in 2015, which reduced my postings, and some of my stuff was not in the Photo Gallery,but in Miscellaneous Chit-Chat as illustrated vignettes of the 1945-1949 military occupation of Germany. If you click on my avatar, then click on my Topics, you can find all of them with "German Occupation" in the titles. I have to get a negative scanner to post hundreds of old photos for which I don't even have contact prints!

RichardQ Loc: Colorado

Many thanks for your kind words, Le Boecere. My contributions to "The Greatest Generation" are hardly worth mentioning. We certainly never thought of ourselves in that way!

le boecere

We know you (y'all) didn't feel particularly special, Richard. But, we who were too young to go, who counted ration stamps, worked in our parents "Victory Gardens", helped home-can the produce, and awaited word from overseas, DO think of you in that way (at least those of us with an appreciative memory).

I recently lost an Uncle (age 90 ~ two Purple Hearts) who fought through the South Pacific, and was among the first to occupy pacified Japan. I always told him that if it had not been for his "Greatest Generation", I might not be speaking American English, today.

Sadly, many post-moderns don't even know it happened ~ but your illustrations and narratives can help us "show & tell" our grandchildren the truth.