May
26
Remembering WW2
May 26, 2008 | Subscribe to this post
Posted by Elizabeth Hull in Biography, Celebrities, Events, Landmarks & Attractions, WWII
Memorial Day seems a most appropriate occasion to highlight some of the images documenting Hugh Morton’s World War II experiences. The broad strokes of the story are well known: aware that he would end up in the military and hoping to receive an assignment in photography, Morton enlisted in October 1942 and was first posted at the U.S. Army Anti-Aircraft School at Camp Davis, taking pictures for training manuals.
When he was sent to New Caledonia to report to the 161st Army Signal Corps Photo Company, he was surprised when his captain looked at him and said, “Morton, you look like a movie man.” (This was the first time he picked up a movie camera, but it certainly wouldn’t be the last—future blog posts will explore some of Morton’s later adventures in filmmaking). Since his wartime film footage went directly to the Army, we don’t have any of it in the collection here at UNC—but we do have a small number of still images taken by and of Morton during these eventful years.
Here’s Morton, in a photo by an unknown photographer, with his movie camera atop a B-24, the “Go Gettin’ Gal“:
In 1944 Morton obtained an enjoyable assignment covering Bob Hope, Frances Langford, and Jerry Colonna as they entertained the troops at New Caledonia. In the booklet Sixty Years with a Camera, Morton described these as “three of the happiest days of my life…I rode in the same car with Bob and Jerry…during which they were cracking jokes and practicing their lines. It was a fun time.”
![Frances Langford and Bob Hope entertaining military personnel in New Caledonia, 1944 [cropped]](http://www.lib.unc.edu/blogs/morton/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/p081_ntbf4_000136_04.jpg)
From there, he was sent briefly to Guadalcanal and Bougainville, which may be when the following images were snapped (the first is by Morton; the second shows Morton with his camera and a group of Pacific island children, taken by an unknown photographer):
Morton then got his most intense assignment when he was sent to photograph the 25th Infantry Division as they invaded Luzon, in the Philippines, in early 1945. He obtained a few still shots of combat, and covered General Douglas MacArthur when he came to Luzon to inspect the 25th Division:
Shortly after MacArthur’s visit, Morton was wounded in an explosion—an incident for which he received a Purple Heart and Bronze Star, with citation, for exposing himself to danger in order to obtain high-quality, closeup images of the front lines. Morton recounts the incident in UNC-TV’s “Biographical Conversations” (video available online), claiming that the Speed Graphic camera he held in front of his face helped save him from further injury.
A note of interest: the Library of Congress holds the papers and photos of another member of the 161st Photographic Company, Charles Rosario Restifo. Be sure to check out Restifo’s detailed autobiography, wherein he discusses his training, camp life, and experiences in the Pacific, many of which would have been similar to or the same as Morton’s. I don’t believe Restifo is in the picture above, and he doesn’t mention Morton by name in the memoir, but it sounds like they were on many of the same assignments—in fact, if you look on page 98 of Restifo’s book, the image of MacArthur appears to be the exact same image as Morton’s (above)! Not just similar, but identical. Not sure how this happened.
One last Memorial Day musing: Morton didn’t leave his WW2 experiences behind him when he left the Pacific. As I discussed in a previous blog post, he deserves a lot of credit for the establishment of the USS North Carolina as a memorial to North Carolinians who died in WW2 service.
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Links
- ArchivesNext - Blog examining archives and technology
- Biographical Conversations with . . . Hugh Morton - An episode from the UNC TV program featuring a one-on-one conversation with Hugh Morton
- Grandfather Mountain - Scenic attraction and nature preserve in Linville, NC owned by Morton from 1952 until his death in 2006
- Morton Biography from Grandfather Mountain website
- NC Collection Photographic Archives
- NC Miscellany Blog - Blog of the North Carolina Collection, Wilson Library, UNC-CH
- Southern Short Course in News Photography - America’s longest running photojournalism seminar, of which Morton was a founder
- UNC Libraries
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Elizabeth: FYI:
There is also a fascinating account of Hugh Morton’s wartime experience in the December 2, 1950 issue of “The State” Magazine starting on page 4. The title of Bill Sharpe’s article is “Photo By Morton,” and it’s a mini-biography and tells how he was injured during WWII.
I also recall Hugh adding a footnote to the story one time when he was doing a slide presentation. He said following his time in an army hospital, he was given some leave time and returned to Wilmington. One day, as he was walking down the main street of the port city, he noticed on the theater marquee something like “see the latest World War II newsreels.” So he went inside, and when the newsreel film came up on the screen, it was the film he had shot the morning of his injury.
Also, in that same article. there is some information about Joe Hartley and “Singing On The Mountain’s” early days. That would relate to your blog of March 11th about “Happy John.”
Yes, I referred to that article when writing the post, but thanks for letting others know about it, Jack. Now that I’ve realized what a treasure trove “The State” is (thanks to you), I’m using it a lot…
Elizabeth: One more comment about Hugh Morton’s wartime photographs. In the October 1, 1968 issue of the “State” magazine, Hugh lists his favorite 10 photographs. One of the favorites is a photo taken in the mountains of Luzon. Ironically, the photograph was taken on the day he was wounded. The photograph is on page 11.
Isn’t that an amazing story of his captain telling him he looked like a movie man. That’s why I believe that some people are just destined to do certain things. It’s a God thing, has to be. That’s just such an odd thing to say to someone to just be casually innocent.
What a great piece on Hugh Morton and his time serving during WWII. I just recently videotaped my Dad for the Library of Congress Veteran’s History Project. This was full of his remembrances of the time:what it was like to travel around the States; how embarrassed he was (before the enlisted in the Navy) to be working in a Hane’s Knitting plant and not be serving; etc. My Dad has photos too-but they are mostly of aircraft since he served in an aerial intelligence unit teaching Navy fliers how to recognize OUR aircraft and not shoot them down accidentally. The Morton photographs are excellent and amazing. thanks for sharing this.
My father served in WWII but wouldn’t talk about it. Because of his experience he was very against me going into any type of military. I think war is necessary sometimes, but I dread what it does to people.