The National Infantry Museum Foundation is honored to welcome the limited exhibition Korean War- A Soldier’s View, photography by Harold Feinstein in collaboration with the Lumiere Gallery out of Atlanta. Harold was drafted into the Korean War and applied to be an official Army photographer. When he was turned down, he took his camera along with him as he entered basic training at Camp Kilmer and later Fort Dix and his deployment to Korea. His photography offers a behind the scenes look at the life of a Soldier- a pioneer of his time. The images show the draftees as comrades- the deep bond that developed through training and deployment, capturing an inside perspective of their brotherhood. After the war, Harold returned to the states and went on to become a renowned photographer, comparable to Dorothea Lang and Paul Strand.
“Here are a few of their faces.
I only wish I had their names.
I’m grateful for their camaraderie in a difficult time.”
Harold Feinstein, 2013
It seems fitting that Feinstein brought back humanizing pictures from Korea, since that conflict is sometimes referred to as America’s forgotten war. Feinstein never forgot the war, nor the price paid by Americans and Koreans alike. Standing Guard, Korea, 1953 is a stark image of an American soldier protecting a desolate stretch of road on a rainy day. Like the solider, the viewer’s ability to see down this foggy road is obscured, perhaps reflecting Feinstein’s feelings about this war that claimed the lives of well over 36,000 American soldiers.
Learn more about Harold Feinstein and Lumiere Gallery here.
The installation of this photography exhibition ahead of the Korean War Memorial Dedication on the campus of the museum later this month allows visitors to the museum a humanizing look at the day to day life of Soldiers during that period. The National Infantry Museum also has a permanent exhibit for the Korean War in the gallery “The Cold War-1947-1989.” The photography exhibition is located to left of the “Fort Moore and Columbus Connections Gallery“, at the end of the “Last 100 Yards“. The exhibition will be available for viewing through the winter.