Martha Gellhorn on D-Day

[rcocean]

I'm seeing lots of Google hits on Martha Gellhorn and D-Day. Stuff like the "The only woman Journalist at D-Day" and "The first Journalist to land at D-Day - and she was a woman". Etc.

So, being curious, I wondered what Hospital Ship she crossed over to Omaha Beach on. Can anyone point me to a source regarding Hospital ships off Omaha Beach on D-Day?

Thanks.

[Stephan]

Better you ask in the title about hospital ships outside Omaha Beach.

[Stephan]

I'm seeing lots of Google hits on Martha Gellhorn and D-Day. Stuff like the "The only woman Journalist at D-Day" and "The first Journalist to land at D-Day - and she was a woman". Etc.

So, being curious, I wondered what Hospital Ship she crossed over to Omaha Beach on. Can anyone point me to a source regarding Hospital ships off Omaha Beach on D-Day?

Thanks.

From the swedish sisterforum, a quiz-answer by the member sveakh:


"At Omaha there were three Hospital Carriers: Prague, Naushon and New Bedford. Prague was a British ship, with American medics; the other two had been US ferries, but they also seem to have been British flag, again with American medics. The war correspondent Martha Gellhorn managed to stow away on the Prague..." http://ww2talk.com/index.php?threads/om ... 555/page-7


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[Stephan]

Sometimes there is wrongly mentioned another hospital ship, the USS Samaritan. Which is wrong, if not else so was Samaritan in the Pacific. But there is another interesting twist which perhaps explains why the Samaritan is mentioned together with a female war reporter sneaking in. USS Samaritan participated among others, in the Iwo Jima operation. And there was a somewhat similiar happening with a totally another female war photographer and reporter, Dickey Chapelle... Whom too managed to sneak out on the shore, and managed to get into the fighting zone and take photos there... Not that she saw much, but there were a lot of "wasps" flying around above her head... The same forumists Sveakh retells us.

[rcocean]

Sometimes there is wrongly mentioned another hospital ship, the USS Samaritan. Which is wrong, if not else so was Samaritan in the Pacific. But there is another interesting twist which perhaps explains why the Samaritan is mentioned together with a female war reporter sneaking in. USS Samaritan participated among others, in the Iwo Jima operation. And there was a somewhat similiar happening with a totally another female war photographer and reporter, Dickey Chapelle... Whom too managed to sneak out on the shore, and managed to get into the fighting zone and take photos there... Not that she saw much, but there were a lot of "wasps" flying around above her head... The same forumists Sveakh retells us.

A far too late thank you, especially about Dickey Chapelle. Didn't even know who that is, but will Google.

[rcocean]

BTW, Gellhorn's Colliers article has photographs of the wounded being brought aboard the (unidentified) ship. I wonder if the photographer also stowed away.

[Stephan]

BTW, Gellhorn's Colliers article has photographs of the wounded being brought aboard the (unidentified) ship. I wonder if the photographer also stowed away.

I dont know nothing about this. But if Gellhorn isnt on the same picture, my guess would be, she took the photos herself.

IF she is on the photo herself, but the photo is arranged, she could use a self starter. It was quite common. Prepare and aim, Set on the starter and quickly run to the photographed group...

[rcocean]

Yes, that's a good guess. But she wasn't a photographer and never took pictures for her stories. In any case, the photos are of professional magazine quality and given the primitive photographic gear (relative to the 21st Century) would have required a professional photographer.

[Stephan]

But she wasn't a photographer and never took pictures for her stories. In any case, the photos are of professional magazine quality and given the primitive photographic gear (relative to the 21st Century) would have required a professional photographer.

I have tried to google, without any definite results.
But. On her retelling of the sneakingly passage aboard the hospital ship, she doesnt mention any companion, much less a photographer.
Second, I saw somewhere she had cooperated a period with the renown photographer Dorothy Lange. So Martha had probably got some practical knowledge and skills how to take photos, and could do it if she wanted to.

The problem is, she doesnt mention the photographing either in her telling about the passage: she was acting a help for all and a junior nurse, that is how she sneaked through controlls... No time for photographs, but time for having eyes and ears open and seeing and noticing as she was used to.

I havent seen the pics you talk about. Are you sure it was her ship? Is she on these photos? Anyways, such as evacuation of the wounded was surely covered by male photographs, army photographers and or journalist photographerss... So there was probably no lack of photos as such.

But I got an idea: could it be photage from some semi-documentary film? About D-day, perhaps even about Martha? Could even be from Saving private Ryan - or the Band of Brothers...??


I know there was a semi-documentary book about Martha and other female war correspondents, so perhaps a film too??

[rcocean]

But she wasn't a photographer and never took pictures for her stories. In any case, the photos are of professional magazine quality and given the primitive photographic gear (relative to the 21st Century) would have required a professional photographer.

I have tried to google, without any definite results.
But. On her retelling of the sneakingly passage aboard the hospital ship, she doesnt mention any companion, much less a photographer.
Second, I saw somewhere she had cooperated a period with the renown photographer Dorothy Lange. So Martha had probably got some practical knowledge and skills how to take photos, and could do it if she wanted to.

Thanks for the reply. There's no evidence of Gellhorn taking pictures in Spain or in her other Foreign journalist assignments. She turned down a 1960s National Geographic job to write about East Africa because NG insisted a professional photographer accompany her to take photos. If you read her stories, its always just her, with an occasional guest appearance by Hemingway. For example, she went everywhere - and was great friends with - Virginia Cowles in 1938-1944, and yet she's never mentioned.

The photos appear with her Collier's article. My suspicion, after thinking about it, is either (1) Gellhorn didn't mention the photographer because it ruined her story about "Sneaking aboard" or (2) Collier's used other photos taken elsewhere on D-Day.