This is a photo taken by Robert Capa who landed with the first wave of Americans to land at Omaha Beach on Dday.
Does anyone know the name of this american soldier?
Regards
VonWeyer
Quoting Saving Private Ryan…“Like looking for a needle in a stack of needles!”
I guess he lost a whole roll of film taken during the first wave…
Sad but true.
Apparently an over entusiastic aid in the darkroom nuked most of them.
For me other Capa’s work aspect is interesting however. Why his WWII-era photographs are not public good as the US Army Signal Corps ones are? This is strange and unfriendly towards general public.
He was uniformed by the US Army. He was transported to the battlefields by the US armed forces transport means. He was trained by the US Army, as a parachutist among others. He used US Army equipment, food, infrastructure etc. He was guarded by the state-owned weapon and troops but his photographs are not state-owned today. All those factors were payed during WWII by the US taxpayers and… what for? Today his WWII-era pics are commercial good of the Magnum Photos Inc. for money, whereas millions of the US Army Signal Corps photographers’ images taken in the same circumstances are free.
Do not you think something is abnormal in this case? :roll:
Best regards
Greg 
Thanx for the information Gregory.
Very interesting i agree.
It would be good to have the answer to this question.
Regards
VonWeyer
I’ll look into this for you, as I think it is in the public domain depending on what source you get it from.
Thank you.
I don’t remember where, but I saw an article in some military magazine some time back and they did a story on this. Originally, it was said to be one particular person, but the article had a later photo of someone else who had the same facial outline, and this guy said he was on that particular beach at that particular time. I’ll try to find the article for you.
No I do not know the name of the American Soldier.
The June 2004 special 60th Anniversary issue of World War II magazine featured this debate as its cover article.
EXCLUSIVE
THE SOLDIER
IN THE SURF
IDENTIFIED
Um…The long and short of it… “Hu Riley”…At least he says it’s him. While positive identification just can’t be established, Pfc Huston “Hu” S. Riley, Company F, 16th Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, has always believed it was him the famous photograph. The article states, “Although the GI in Robert Capa’s picture was never officially identified, the author’s review of after-battle reports of troop and ship movements --plus Hu Riley’s striking resemblance and his being at the right place at the right time on Omaha Beach-- makes him a compelling candidate.