brian cassidy bookselle

Hawaiians in traditional dress, a visit from President Roosevelt, as
well as (separately) from Gracie Allen and George Burns. And photographs
of the Panama Canal lock system in action reveal a keen interest
in mechanics and engineering.
Wartime photographs are contained primarily in two albums. The first,
titled “G.I. Memories, Feb. 6, 1942 - Nov. 17, 1945” (above) features
over 200 images. These include stateside images of Camp Croft and
Sand Hill, SC. A second deployment to Hawaii also features heavily,
including many of the same kinds of images as appeared earlier. The
album contains a notable series of 28 photographs taken in New Guinea,
identified by Betz as “Native dance...started Friday thru Sunday
night.” 47 photos from December 1944 to January 1945 in Leyte, Philippines
show US Army barracks and soldiers, native Filipinos (mostly
children), countryside, numerous aircraft and ships, and the aftermath
of one or more unidentified battles (as left).
The second album focuses almost entirely on operations in the Philippines.
These include eighteen photographs, with aerial shots, labeled
“Air Drop,” eleven photographs “taken from” and of Japanese
soldiers, and six showing a Japanese surrender on an unidentified
airfield. Most importantly, however, over 60 photos that trace the
U.S. effort to retake islands from the Japanese, including the January
29, 1945 beach landing at San Narciso, which marked the beginning
of the Battle of Bataan. Also noteworthy: Mariveles and the aftermath
of fighting in Zig Zag Pass, preparing for the detonation of Fort Drum
in Manila Bay on April 12, 1945, followed by images of a beach landing
on and aerial shots of Carabao Island on April 16. Additionally: 100
photos, dated January-October 1946, of Luzon after the liberation
of the island. The photographs show soldiers and native Filipinos,
including Negrito resistance fighters armed with bow and arrow, as
well as villages and buildings, many showing the effects of the war.
A final album documents, in over 200 images, Betz’s experience immediately
after the end of hostilities, where he served out his enlistment
in Nanking and Shanghai, China. Dated Now. 9, 1945 - Feb. 12,
1946, these photographs show various aspects of the city, soldiers,
and people, as well as US and Japanese planes, ships, and like. The
album concludes with photographs taken from the deck of the USS General
Scott during Betz’s return voyage to the United States.
Betz was a serious student of photography, and his images demonstrate
a keen eye for framing and documentary. As comprehensive
an archive of a soldier’s WWII service as we’ve encountered. While
vernacular albums from this era do turn up, we aren’t aware of any
as large, or as comprehensively-captioned, that focuses on a single
person as this one. Indeed, both circumstances of life in the Pacific
theater, as well as formal censorship policies and security restrictions
made assembling such a large collection extraordinarily difficult.
A rare, compelling, and significant collection.
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