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Of all the fighting forces of the Navy, the least understood are
the Amphibious Forces. In a general way, of course, the public
is aware that special craft, large and small, are designed to
hit enemy beaches, disgorge their cargoes of men and material
and then back off under their own power. There have been photographs
and pictures of the assault waves doing this very thing. But nowhere,
until this collection of paintings was put before Americans at
home, has there been a graphic representation of where these craft
came from, how they were operated, and how the officers and crews
who manned them were trained.
And yet, the Amphibious Forces are a branch of the Naval Service
which must appeal particularly to the hearts of Americans since
they are in a very real sense " the infantry of the Navy,"
and their personnel and equipment, because of their front-line
duties, form the "fightingest team" afloat. The Amphibious
Forces have another aspect which also must commend them especially
to Americans; they are brand new. There was never anything like
them before.
The artists, whose work is here displayed, have felt and captured
the deep and essentially American spirit of the Amphibious Forces.
Wisely eschewing any attempt to glamorize their subject, they
have done us all the great service of presenting their subject
in the clear strong light of reality. The result is brilliant
and stirring it is the truth.
Vice Admiral Daniel E. Barbey, USN, Commander of the Seventh Amphibious Force, Pacific
Beachhead Scene, Marines at Tarawa
Kerr
Eby #23
Charcoal & Pastel, 1944
Gift of Abbott Laboratories
88-159-DG
Marines leaving the transport
for the attack on Tarawa.
Down the Net
Kerr
Eby #10
Charcoal, 1944
Gift of Abbott Laboratories
88-159-CT
Like a flowing stream, Marines come over the side of the transport for the attack on Tarawa.
Grapes of Wrath
Kerr
Eby #34
Charcoal, 1944
Gift of Abbott Laboratories
88-159-DR
I make no apology for drawings such as this. The official designation
of my job was activities of the Marines and dying terribly and
magnificently is one of those activities. The inside of an amphibious
tractor hit by an enemy mortar on the beach at Tarawa, it grimly
shows the cost of the war.
Ebb Tide, Tarawa
Kerr
Eby #33
Charcoal, 1944
Gift of Abbott Laboratories
88-159-DQ
The attack was at flood tide and when the sea went out over the
reef, this and much besides was left. In two wars, this I think
is the most frightful thing I have seen, perhaps because of its
isolation on the reef.
The Wave Breaks on the Reef
Kerr
Eby #2
Charcoal, 1944
Gift of Abbott Laboratories
88-159-CL
Jarred to a halt by a hidden reef, an assault boat is abandoned
by a unit of Marines. Doomed to near extinction by a storm of
enemy fire, long since trained on this objective, the group pushes
forward to a man into the hindering water, into the teeth of the
deadly storm.
D-Day on Tarawa
Kerr
Eby #5
Charcoal, 1944
Gift of Abbott Laboratories
88-159-CO
Wading through a leaden surf, under an overcast sky, wave on wave
of U.S. Marines doggedly brave a deadly sheet of fire to secure
a beachhead on Tarawa on November 20, 1943. Overhead Navy dive
and torpedo bombers scream down through a blanket of black smoke
to blast at the Japanese, entrenched in well nigh invulnerable
pillboxes.
The Hard Road to Triumph
Kerr
Eby #1
Charcoal, 1944
Gift of Abbott Laboratories
88-159-CK
Bodies angled forward, grim Marines press forward against the
entrenched Japanese on Tarawa in the Gilberts in November, 1943.
In the background an armored tractor lumbers forward, prodding
the enemy defenses with fingers of fire.
Marine Fall Forward
Kerr
Eby #3
Charcoal, 1944
Gift of Abbott Laboratories
88-159-CM
The road to victory in the Pacific is littered with the bodies
of gallant fighting men. Like this Marine (right center) who fell
in the assault on a Tarawa pillbox, the Honored Dead Fell forward,
facing the foe, their feet driving to the last ebb of strength
to carry on to the objective.
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Collection Branch1 April 2001