This is an amazing old color photo that I came across on the Library of Congress’ website. It was taken by John Collier in May 1943. The unnamed sailor at left appears to be somewhere between 19 to 24 and is visiting Arlington National Cemetery with his girlfriend.
The photo is one of a large collection transferred to the Library of Congress from the Office of War Information in 1944. It’s one of those powerful photos that you can stare at for a long time, and I wonder who these two are. What are their names? What happened to them during and after the way?
The best photos are below.
It looks like the sailor proposed to his girlfriend here, possibly before he went off to war in the Pacific.
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Nice photos. I guess another possibility is that they are hired models.
Good point.
The Office of War Information took a ton of color photos of DC around 1943:
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/fsaall:@filreq%28+@FIELD%28SUBJ+@band%28+United+States++District+of+Columbia++Washington++D+C+++%29%29+@field%28COLLID+fsac%29%29
That’s my mom!!! Her name was Margaret Mary McCloskey and she worked for the War Department in D.C. She would have been 18 or 19 in that photo, if it was in 1943. I’m sorry to say the photos aren’t as romantic as you thought. I have the original black and white photos, as she passed away in 2003. She told me that she had these taken for the War Department, but never mentioned the young man being a boyfriend.
I recently visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with my husband. I pulled the old black and white photos to show him when we returned home to California, and thought to google them. What a wonderful surprise to see them in color! Thank you for sharing these precious photos of my beautiful mother.
Lori Rozanek
Thanks for sharing your story, Lori!