Old Times

I was reading a blog of a photographer the other day, and he had posted a picture, black and white, of an older couple. Now, there was nothing special about it. They weren't well dressed, as a matter of fact it looked like they were doing some gardening, maybe. They weren't smiling. They weren't touching. They were just....there. Yet, that picture said so much and so little at the same time. It really got your imagination gears turning. Who are they? Where are they? Why aren't they smiling? Are they married, or are they siblings? Who took the picture?

Nameless pictures always have a story behind them. Its learning that story that is always fascinating. At the same time, you may not always know the stories behind the pictures. They leave your mind open to draw your own conclusions.

Seeing his picture made me think of all the World War II pictures that my grandpa took when he was over seas. A lot of them don't have any kind of markings on them. Where they were taken. When they were taken. Who is in the pictures.

Sadly, my grandpa passed away when I was only 2 1/2, so I will never really know the stories behind most the pictures. Some of them he did have some notes written on them, captions under the pictures in the album they were placed in. But its ones like these that make you wonder.....
Who were these children? What city/country did they live in? Are they still alive today? Why was the lady pulling them in a wagon? (there were several photos like this)
Who are these guys? Were they in the regiment with my grandpa, or just stationed in the same area, and what area are they in? Were they married? Did they have families at home in the states waiting on their safe return? Did they even safely return?

Where in the world, literally, is my grandpa in this shot, and what is he looking at? What kind of camera was this taken with? The detail is amazing!

This one tells us a little bit about where and when, but what is a good question here. My grandpa, left forefront, seems to be talking to the kids. What are they talking about? What did they think of the war and the American soldiers? Are they still alive today, and would they remember this day if shown the picture?
Again, last names of the three soldiers (my grandpa on the left) and where and when. But what? What were they doing? Were they on patrol? Were they on a leave in the city?

In real size, this one has such great detail. Yet, again, we do not know where. Why are there so many wooden crosses? What is their significance? What do they say? Do they still exist today?

I would love to have a historian look at the 300 some-odd pictures that my grandpa and his friends took of the War, in many various places all over the world; France, Germany, Tunisa, North Africa, and I am sure many more I am unaware of. As an ambulance driver and a cook, I am sure he saw a lot. Maybe not as much as the ones in combat, but he saw the after-effects. Lots of pictures show the devastation of the war, from hollowed out buildings to cars blown up on the sides of the roads to collapsed bridges to trailers full of bodies. Oh to have known about those pictures, to have talked to him and learned the where, when, why, who. But we are left to wonder, nameless faces of old times.

I leave you with this picture. Now, I do know the story behind this one. The question is, do YOU want to know, or do you want to create your own story?