11 November 2013

Veterans Day

"An American Parachutist preparing to board the plane for the jump across the Rhine River." Robert Capa (1945)

Today is Veterans Day, a national holiday on which we honour those who served in the armed forces. I’m at work (television must go on) but am thinking about the many brave men and women (including my parents) who have donned the uniform for their country.

And because I’ve been thinking about Robert Capa lately forever, I give you this image he took for Life Magazine on March 24, 1945 of paratrooper James “Jim” P. Conboy Jr. of HQ Company, 513th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 17th Airborne Division. Capa jumped into Germany with him and the rest of the Regiment that day in an assault called Operation Varsity. The 19-year old Conboy was wounded afterwards and lost his right leg. He received the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star and lived to be 78. 

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