Americans now hold the former Japanese base of Tarawa Island in the Gilberts. But we paid a heavy price wrestling the Central Pacific outpost from the enemy. After the carnage, U.S. Marine PFC R. F. West (left) of Tucson, Arizona inspects an armored Japanese pillbox. A pair of dead Japanese lie in a bomb crater outside the pillbox in the foreground, November 1943.

Sheet: 8 7/8 x 7

Wire photographs were originally transmitted over phonelines, then later, by satellite. They were first used in the early 1920s. Associated Press became a leader with this. After pigment touch-ups, etc., the print is put into a drum (like a drum scanner). The image gets converted into audio tones that are transmitted. The tones are received and beamed onto photo-sensitive paper. Wire photographs are copies without originals---they are hybrid, transmitted objects. (Britt Salvesen, Curator and Department Head, Photography Department, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, March 30-31, 2022)

This object has the following keywords:

• Corpses
• Death
• Japan
• Killed in action
• Marines
• Pacific Theater
• Pillboxes
• Pvt. R. F. West
• R. F. West
• Rubble
• Tarawa Island
• Tucson
• United States Marine Corps
• United States Marine Corps
• World War II

• Image Dimensions: 8 3/8 x 6 5/8 in. (21.27 x 16.83 cm)

This object is a member of the following portfolios: