Whalen, Howard W.
Lieutenant Commander Howard W. Whalen, USNR(Retired), (1912-199-)
Howard W. Whalen was born in October 1912. During the early part of World War II he joined the Naval Reserve , receiving a officer's commission. In October 1943 he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. A year later he helped place the new attack transport Sanborn (APA-193) in commission and, late in the year, sailed with her as she headed for the Pacific war zone. During the February 1945 Iwo Jima Operation, Lt. Whalen was responsible for guiding amphibious tractors and landing craft from the ship until they landed Marines and equipment on Blue Beach 2, the northernmost of the Iwo Jima invasion beaches.
Whalen owned a 35mm Leica camera, with which he had earlier photographed some of Sanborn's crew members. Though standing orders forbade it, he used that camera and several rolls of Kodachome film to make a unique series of color transparencies during the Iwo Jima invasion, showing pre-landing bombardment, assault landings and other aspects of the operation. Though reprimanded for this action, he was able to retain the slides, along with others concerning his ship and other late wartime subjects.
Leaving active duty as a Lieutenant Commander, Whalen became a high school history teacher at Bakersfield, California, and used his Second World War photographs in his classes. He was later an educational administrator and remained a member of the Naval Reserve until April 1962. Following his death, his widow shared her husband's color images with popular magazines and with veterans groups. Some of these photographs were published in the "National Geographic" magazine's February 1995 issue and in the December 1996 issue of the U.S. Naval Institute publication "Naval History". Mrs. Whalen donated the original slides to the Naval Historical Center in August 1997. With the exception of a few items that are duplicative, unidentifiable or of poor quality, these photographs are now in the process of presention on the Online Library.
This page features all the views we have of Howard W. Whalen, and provides links to photographs taken by him.
Photographs (originally 35mm Kodachrome transparencies) taken by Lt. Howard W. Whalen during or shortly after World War II are filed as Photo #s NH 104300-KN through NH 104397-KN. In addition, these images are filed topically in the following Online Library pages:
Iwo Jima Operation -- H.W. Whalen's Color Photos of Pre-landing Bombardment, circa 19 Feb. 1945;
Iwo Jima Operation -- H.W. Whalen's Color Photos of Pre-landing Bombardment, circa 19 Feb. 1945 (Part II); and
Iwo Jima Operation -- H.W. Whalen's Color Photos of Pre-landing Bombardment, circa 19 Feb. 1945 (Part III).
