Donald K. Prothero World War II Photographs

The Donald K. Prothero World War II Photographs is comprised of 116 black-and-white photographs taken by Donald K. Prothero of the 86th Combat Mapping Squadron during World War II. A list of captions is provided for the photographs.

The photographs feature life of United States servicemen on base at Saipan, including construction of a photograph lab, USO shows, concerts, performances by indigenous Chamorro inhabitants, the base's theater, mess halls, and hospitals. Several images of nose art on B-24 Liberator aircraft are included. Aerial photographs of Guam, Bonin Islands, and Tinian, as well as images of aerial attacks against Japanese aircraft and ships are in the collection. Also included is a photographic reproduction of "The Viewfinder," the squadron newsletter.

Note that some photographs contain nudity or images of soldier deaths and the caption sheet contains derogatory terms.

Digitized Materials: This collection has been digitized in its entirety.

Please note that materials on TMOF: Digital Collections are presented as historical objects and are unaltered and uncensored. See our Disclaimers and Policies page for more information.