Atomic Photographers & Artists Joe O’Donnell

Joe O’Donnell

Joseph Roger O’Donnell (May 7, 1922 – August 9, 2007) was an American documentarian, photojournalist and a photographer for the United States Information Agency.

His most famous work was documenting photographically the immediate aftermath of the atomic bomb explosions at Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945 and 1946 as a Marine photographer. The iconic “The boy standing by the crematory” is one of his works.

Notes: Nagasaki survivor donates notebook on his bid to identify boy in A-bomb photo

I saw a boy about ten years old walking by. He was carrying a baby on his back... I saw that the baby was already dead. The men held the body by the hands and feet and placed it on the fire. The boy stood there straight without moving, watching the flames. He was biting his lower lip so hard that it shone with blood. The flame burned low like the sun going down. The boy turned around and walked silently away. Note: Image correctly flipped horizontal.

Women walking past a crematorium, Nagasaki.

Notes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_boy_standing_by_the_crematory
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/special/senseki/article_22.htm