| Original caption: “Dead Japanese soldiers on Guam.” This photo was taken by United States Marine Lieutenant Paul G. Dorsey (June 18, 1902 – January 16, 1968), attached to Naval Aviation Photographic Unit, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Edward Steichen (March 27, 1879 – March 25, 1973). Dorsey went ashore with the Marines of the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade on Agat Beach the 1st day of the Guam invasion. United States Marine Lieutenant Miles Overholt, Jr., riding along a Guam road in a jeep, ran into an artillery fire barrage. Diving into the nearest foxhole, he found it already occupied by Lieutenant Paul Dorsey, a childhood friend he hadn’t seen for years. Neither knew the other was in the Marines, much less in the same battle on the same island. Dorsey decided that snipers gave him top priority in order to try to get his camera, which he had to carry through the battlefield as a Marine combat photographer. On Guam, Dorsey and another Marine, Staff Sergeant Gerald D. Gordon (November 16, 1915 – Apri 6, 1969) carried the 4-inch by 5 inch (102 millimeter x 127 millimeter) Speedgraphic camera halfway to the front lines when Japanese rifle bullets began to ring overhead. The 2 men immediately hit the ground and started firing at the snipers. Gordon felt Dorsey carried too much equipment, and ignored the combat going on to focus on his imagery. “He becomes so obsessed with the pictures he’s taking, he tends to forget the war that’s going on around him,” Gordon told the Los Angeles Times. Dorsey and Gordon looked for the sniper, and were able to kill him. Then they “stopped to reflect.” Other Marines had been passing through all day without the Japanese opening fire on them. The only answer, Dorsey decided, was the camera. Dorsey shot 7 Japanese soldiers while on Guam. It’s possible that this photo is of some of Dorsey’s adversaries. It’s also possible this was just 1 of over 14,000 Japanese killed in action on Guam during the battle, and Dorsey found him interesting to photograph. Naval Aviation Photographic Unit photographers focused on the “little guy,” the sailors fighting the war. A former Los Angeles policeman, Dorsey joined LIFE Magazine in 1936 as the 1st photographer signed after the original 4 — Margaret Bourke-White (June 14, 1904 – August 27, 1971), Alfred Eisenstaedt (December 6, 1898 – August 23, 1995), Thomas D. McAvoy (November 6, 1905 – February 12, 1966), and Peter Stackpole (June 15, 1913 – May 11, 1997) — had been hired. Dorsey initially made his mark at LIFE with his work in China and Japan. In 1939, while in Japan on a pictorial assignment, a Japanese officer spat in his face. Dorsey went overseas in 1943 and participated in campaigns on New Guinea and Saipan. | |
| Image Filename | wwii1698.jpg |
| Image Size | 1,012.82 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2644 x 1920 |
| Photographer | Paul Dorsey |
| Photographer Title | United States Marine Corps |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | July 31, 1944 |
| Location | |
| City | |
| State or Province | Guam |
| Country | Marianas |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | NWDNS-80-G-475147 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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