Into the Jaws of Death

This dramatic image is not a painting but a photograph, taken by Robert F. Sargent, a Chief Photographer's Mate in the U.S. Coast Guard. He pressed the shutter on June 6, 1944, the morning we remember as D-Day. American soldiers are shown wading out of a landing craft toward Omaha Beach in Normandy, France, walking into one of the biggest military invasions ever attempted. Sargent gave his picture a chilling title that has stuck ever since: "Into the Jaws of Death."

Standing inside the landing craft, Sargent aimed his camera out over the shoulders of the men, so we share their view exactly. The lowered ramp, the gray churning sea, and the smoke drifting over the distant shore fill the frame with dread. Because the soldiers face away from us, their features hidden, they seem to stand in for every young man who made that crossing. The dark clouds and rough water only sharpen the sense of what lies ahead.

Knowing that many of these men would not live through the day gives the photograph a heaviness that is hard to shake. Over the years it has grown into one of the enduring pictures of World War II, holding together both the bravery and the terrible price of that morning. Plain in its setup yet impossible to forget, it remains a steady salute to the people who were there.