WHITE DEATH: A STORY IN 50 TWEETS
This story is presented with the input and approval of family members of the two Soldiers primarily involved.
This story is presented with the input and approval of family members of the two Soldiers primarily involved.
2 of 50: Editing by @Mother_Of_tanks, enhanced images by @Erikhistorian, original research material on the 83 Infantry Division provided by @USAHEC.
3 of 50: Throughout our Battle of the Bulge series, we've had the opportunity to tell the stories of some amazing men and women.
4 of 50: From the story of the nurse caring for Soldiers in hellish conditions, to the Christian who saved hundreds of Jewish American Soldiers, to the all-black artillery battalion that fought outnumbered at Bastogne.
5 of 50: These stories have inspired us and countless others. But no story moved us like this one.
6 of 50: This is a timeless story, a story of fathers and sons and generational love.
7 of 50: This is the story of an orphaned Jewish boy, a dead, frozen American Soldier, and a photograph that brought to life the horrors of the Battle of the Bulge.
8 of 50: On Valentine’s Day, 1944, Henry Tannenbaum was drafted into the Army and sent to England with the 331st Infantry Regiment, 83rd division. He left his 1-year-old son Samuel and his wife Bertha in Brooklyn.
9 of 50: A Jewish college graduate from New York, Henry fought alongside Americans who grew up in vastly different cultures.
10 of 50: Henry’s platoon fought in France and Luxembourg. He and his men were clearing the enemy west bank of the Roer River when the Ardennes Counteroffensive began.
11 of 50: The platoon entered the Battle of the Bulge on December 27, 1944, striking at Rochefort and helping reduce the enemy salient in the bitter struggle.
12 of 50: On January 11, 1945, Henry’s platoon was ambushed by the 5th SS Panzer Army in Ottre. One American survived the slaughter: Platoon Sergeant Harry Shoemaker.
13 of 50: Shoemaker escaped and made it back to the regimental headquarters, where he told the sentry, Corporal Tony Vaccaro, the details of the massacre.
14 of 50: Vaccaro, a scout with the 83rd Infantry Division, had snuck his Argus C camera into combat, despite orders not to do so. He was told if his leaders saw him with the camera, it would be destroyed.
15 of 50: In 1944, Vaccaro, a trained photographer with a sensitive soul, sought an assignment as an Army Signal Corps photographer. At 24, he was rejected for being too young.
16 of 50: Nevertheless, Vaccaro believed he had a calling to document the grit, truth, and horror of this war for the rest of the world.
17 of 50: Vaccaro processed his own film each night in camp. He hid the developer chemical in one soldier's helmet and the fixer chemical in his own. This resulted in a lot of spills and lost images, but he produced 8,000+ negatives on 35mm film.
18 of 50: Tony Vaccaro was an observer, but he was also real Soldier amongst Soldiers. More artist than infantryman, he felt as if he had a responsibility to capture the pain and humanity around him.
19 of 50: Vacarro and Shoemaker returned to the site of the platoon’s massacre the next morning. What they saw was a true vision of hell.
20 of 50: The GIs who survived were murdered and stripped of watches and equipment by the German combatants. Then the Germans rolled their tanks over the dead and dying.
21 of 50: One figure looked peaceful and untouched by the panic and agony around him. A young man, face down in the snow; a final rest amidst the terror. The Soldier’s arms, knees, and face were buried in snow.
22 of 50: Tony Vaccaro told us: “I knew this was an opportunity for an abstract image, an homage to unknown dead soldiers of all nations.”
23 of 50: Vacarro pulled out his camera and photographed the man. Vaccaro and Shoemaker then chipped away at the Soldier’s frozen dog tags to learn the Soldier was their friend, Henry Tannenbaum.
24 of 50: Tony first saw the photo about two weeks later when he used an abandoned newsroom to process his prints. Tony was mesmerized by the image. Henry seemed to float on a sea of white.
25 of 50: Henry Tannenbaum was buried in Henri-Chapelle Cemetery in Belgium, his body returned to New York. His widow, Bertha, unable to withstand the psychological blow, became mentally and emotionally unglued.
26 of 50: Samuel, Henry’s son, was 4 at the time. "The bullet that killed my father also destroyed my mother's mind and ended my childhood," he told us. His mother was eventually committed to a state hospital.
27 of 50: Sam, who knew virtually nothing about his father, was forced to raise himself, obtaining a war-orphan scholarship, and graduating from Brooklyn College.
28 of 50: Meanwhile, after the war, when the 83rd Infantry Division redeployed, Tony stayed behind in Europe to document the death and destruction left in WWII’s wake.
29 of 50: In the decades that followed, Tony would go on to become a renowned commercial photographer for magazines such as Look, Life, and Flair. He photographed celebrities, including John F. Kennedy, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Sophia Loren.
30 of 50: Sam moved to Florida developed a career as a fundraiser and grant writer for non-profit organizations cancer societies and schools. He taught Sunday school at a Boytnon Beach, Florida. His mother died in 1983.
31 of 50: Throughout the 1980s and early '90s, Sam tried to piece together his father’s wartime service, identifying his unit and location. He helped start (AWON), an organization composed of the Gold Star children, to provide support to the more than 183K US war orphans from WW2
32 of 50: Sam married and had a daughter but the desire to fill that void in his life continued – a burning need to somehow connect with the father he never knew.
33 of 50: In the meantime, unbeknownst to Sam, Tony’s photograph of Henry, titled “White Death,” circulated the world, winning multiple awards, and becoming an iconic image of the Battle of the Bulge.
34 of 50: Both men walked the earth with unanswered questions. Henry Tannenbaum’s ghost hovering around each of them.
35 of 50: Tony always wondered what became of Henry’s family. Sam always wondered where and how his father was killed.
36 of 50: In 1996, Sam at an AWON meeting,
the 51-year-old Sam Tannenbaum learned that a man named Tony Vaccaro was a surviving member of his father’s unit. He still did not know of the
the 51-year-old Sam Tannenbaum learned that a man named Tony Vaccaro was a surviving member of his father’s unit. He still did not know of the
37 of 50: Sam got in touch with Tony. When Sam identified himself as Henry Tannenbaum’s son, Tony said “I’ve been looking for you for 50 years.” Both men cried.
38 of 50: Sam asked Tony if he would be willing to travel with him to the field in Belgium. Tony agreed.
39 of 50: When they arrived, the field where Henry was killed was now a forest of pine trees. Tony and Sam approached a local farmer and asked about the area where the US soldiers had been massacred. The farmer said it was this field and that they were in the right spot.
40 of 50: The farmer told the men that the field was now used to grow Christmas trees for sale. In one of war's cosmic wonders, "Tannenbaum" means Christmas tree in German.
41 of 50: The former field still carried the story of war, of love, of hate, of power, of the full spectrum of the human condition, the power and devastation of humanity.
42 of 50: In that forest, both men felt whole. They both found something they had been searching for since 1945. Something for which many of us who have experienced combat still search.
43 of 50: Last night we spoke with Tony's son Frank. He wants you to know this: "My father doesn't talk about White Death at all, but it means so much to him that 75 years later, that image holds so much meaning for so many people."
44 of 50: Sam and Tony are still with us today. But long after they, and we, are all gone, "White Death" will continue to represent the best and worst in this world.
45 of 50: Yesterday (Jan 18th), Sam returned from Belgium where a Belgian Soldier reenacted his father’s death (face-up rather than face-down).
46 of 50: Here is Sam at his father’s grave in New York City last year, with his wife Rachel and his beautiful granddaughter Jayna.
47 of 50: This morning Sam told us that his father is a symbol. “He represents the best in this world. He represents the best in this country.”
48 of 50: Sam continued: "These men represent the United States coming together to rescue the world form evil. Remember, Europe was wiped out. Belgium surrendered. This was a time when the entire country fought together. That’s something we can learn from today.”
49 of 50: Finally, Sam said: "People are certainly divided today, but we can come together to honor these men and the values for which they fought."
50 of 50: And on that, we can all agree.
