Japan 1945: A U.S. Marine's Photographs from Ground Zero

by Joe O'Donnell

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."

Genres: History, Photography, Nonfiction, War, Art and Photography

104 pages, Hardcover

First published February 28, 2005

Reviews

[Steven Godin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely stunning collection of photographs. So powerful. So sad.

While the total destruction caused to both Nagasaki & Hiroshima - both photographed from ground level and high above - was indeed earth-shattering, it was those of small children left in the aftermath of war that stuck in mind. Three in particular were - a group of young children working as a road cleaning crew, a young child pushing two toddlers in a makeshift cart (O'Donnell gave the older child an apple, and he shared it with the other two), and the harrowing image of a bare-footed small boy heading to a cremation site carrying his younger dead brother on his back.

Unbelievable to think looking at some of these photos, in the year 2022, that I was reminded of Ukraine.

I have never heard of Joe O'Donnell, but just going by this book alone, I'd put his work up there on the same level as the war photographer Robert Capa.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful, harrowing, and important book. There are pictures I wish I had not seen, and sentences I wish I had not read. But it was infinitely worse for the innocent victims to actually experience the things Mr. O'Donnell hints at here.

In the introduction, Mark Selden notes that Mr. O'Donnell censors himself by picking out photographs he could bear to show. This is true. The pictures, and the selection, may tell us as much about Mr. O'Donnell - a humane and devout young man who found himself shattered, and forever changed, by what he witnessed - as it does about the subjects. To me, that is precisely why this book is so truthful, and so valuable. Any witness to such events must have a partial view, especially months after the fact. "Japan 1945" is, at the very least, a good introduction to the horrors of the atomic bombings. It is also a work of art. I believe all adult Americans should read and think about this book. Highly recommended.

[Crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a sobering reminder of the destruction of war.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw one of Joe O’Donnell’s most famous photos (the boy standing at attention with his dead brother strapped to his back) on a Japanese TV documentary, analyzing the photo to try and locate the location and possibly who the boy was. I had never seen the photo before but the story made me watch to see the rest of the photos Joe took as a young Marine photographer. He was on the ground in Sasebo, Nagasaki, and Hiroshima in the months after the end of the war and most of his photos went into the military archives never to be seen again (by the sounds of it). The photos in this book are photos he took for himself that he hid away for decades, traumatized by what he witnessed.

Later in life (and in the “about the author” note in this book) O’Donnell seems to have taken credit for many famous photos that other people took. It seems that it was perhaps unintentional, product of a failing memory, or perhaps believing his own exaggerations. It doesn’t take away from this work.
https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/15/ny...

[Seul · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful set of photographs that will reveal to you a place that you don't think exists in the world. You see some pretty graphic photographs and read short descriptions. At the end you will want to know more as this book doesn't tell you everything.

[Betsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. An incredible visual retelling of the aftermath of the atomic bombs in Japan. Very intense, very sobering. May we never do this ever again.