Forget the source and the dubious captioning in some cases, the images speak for themselves and there are a lot more in the Life archive.

I find it interesting how diverse all our interests are and what we take, as individuals, from some of the fabulous images we see. I too very much enjoyed the Lightning and the Thunderbolt but it was two other images which particularly struck me. The first was of the four Americans with the German prisoners. For the Germans their war was over and their chances of surviving to see their families had increased a hundredfold. For the Americans, their war was just beginning.

The same thoughts occurred about the group of G.I.’s with the French civilians. In both cases their anonymity makes them every American soldier. I found myself wondering how many of them survived to return home to their families.

Regards,

kev35