George Silk (17 November 1916 – 23 October 2004) was a New Zealand-born Australian photojournalist. He served as a photojournalist for Life for 30 years.
His career as a war photographer began in 1939, when he was a combat cameraman for the Australian government. Silk photographed many important events during World War II. He covered the war on the Italian front, the Allied invasions of France and the Pacific. In New Guinea, Silk walked 300 miles with the Allied forces, an ordeal later described in the book War in New Guinea. He was with U.S. forces in the Battle of the Bulge in 1944 and was wounded by a grenade during a river crossing in Germany. His co-worker Will Lang Jr. reported on the Battle of the Bulge and the river crossing. Silk took the first aerial photographs of Nagasaki, Japan, after the atomic bomb was dropped there on 9 August 1945, as well as aerial photographs of the destruction of Hiroshima.
Aerial of ruins of Hiroshima after the atomic bomb blast, 1945.Aerial of ruins of Hiroshima after the atomic bomb blast, 1945.Aerial of ruins of Hiroshima after the atomic bomb blast, 1945.An aerial view showing an undamaged village.
Location: Near Nagasaki, JapanAerial view of the ruins of the huge Mitsubishi factory following the dropping of the atomic bomb on the city by US forces, bringing an end to WWII.
Date: 1945
Location: Nagasaki, Kyushu, JapanAerial view of factories destroyed by the devastation of the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki by the US, bringing a swift end to WWII.
Date: 1945-09
Location: Nagasaki, Kyushu, JapanAerial view of the ruins of the huge Mitsubishi factory following the dropping of the atomic bomb on the city by US forces, bringing an end to WWII.
Date: 1945
Location: Nagasaki, Kyushu, JapanAerial view showing ruins of the Mitsubishi factory, which produced munitions, torpedoes and armor, amid the devastation of the city after the US dropped the atomic bomb, bringing an end to WWII.
Date: 1945-09-06
Location: Nagasaki, JapanJapanese woman bowing in prayer for her husband who was killed in the firebombing as she stands before archway of shrine amidst the ruins of her home.
Date: 1945-10
Location: Tokyo, JapanAerial view of the flattened city of Nagasaki following the dropping of the atomic bomb (note twisted ruins of the Mitsubishi factory in the bkgrd)
Date: 1945-09
Location: Nagasaki, Kyushu, Japan
George Silk (17 November 1916 – 23 October 2004) was a New Zealand-born Australian photojournalist. He served as a photojournalist for Life for 30 years.
