The Story Behind the Iconic Photo of a Soldier Wearing a Hand Lettered “War is Hell” Slogan on His Helmet in Vietnam War

German photographer Horst Fass began his career at the age of 21. He was a photojournalist during the Vietnam War and took a handful of iconic photos of the time period. One of the most famous pictures is War is Hell. On June 18, 1965, Fass wrote in his notes: “the unidentified Army solider picture was shot June 18, 1965, and the soldier was with the 173rd Airborne Brigade Battalion on defense duty at Phouc Vinh airstrip in South Vietnam.” For a while, this was the only information known about this photo. The soldier’s identity was a complete mystery.

AP photojournalist Horst Faas took this iconic photo on June 18, 1965, during the Vietnam War with the 173rd Airborne Brigade Battalion on defense duty at Phouc Vinh airstrip in South Vietnam.

Fass’s picture grabbed the attention of many because of one main element: contrast. The soldier’s bright eyes contrast heavily with the darkness of the rest of the photo. He’s young and smiling innocently, despite his position as a soldier fighting in a very complex, mature war. “Take the helmet out, and this could easily be a high school yearbook photo.” Most importantly, his eyes lead the viewer to the words written on his helmet: War is Hell.

Years later, Fran Chaffin Morrison revealed that the soldier in the photograph was her late husband, Larry Wayne Chaffin. The two met while Chaffin was stationed at Fort Gordon, Georgia; they married when Chaffin was 17 and Fran was 16. Chaffin served for a year in the 173rd brigade, beginning in May 1965. When the photo was taken, Chaffin was only 19 years old. He was discharged from the army, and his wife gratefully met him at the airport upon his return home. Tucked under his arm was a copy of the Stars and Stripes publication that featured the photograph of the unidentified soldier. He showed it to his wife and jokingly told her, “That picture is going to make me rich some time.” His portrait was printed in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch special about soldiers returning home, along with his name in the caption. There was no doubt the photo was of Chaffin.

A family photo shows Fran Morrison and Larry Wayne Chaffin reunited shortly after Chaffin returned from serving in the war.

Unfortunately, Chaffin had trouble readjusting to life back in the States. He developed diabetes, possibly as the result of the use of Agent Orange, and died of health complications at the age of 39. His family carries on his story, however. All three of his children know the story by heart. Chaffin’s daughter Belinda was working as a magazine distributer when she noticed the photograph in the November 2010 Time publication that she was delivering. Best of all, Belinda’s son Marcus strikingly resembles his grandfather and has been photographed next to the famous portrait.

(Photo by Horst Faas. This original article was written by Hannah Ross, and published on Sites at Penn State)

A Soldier’s Face After Four Years of War, 1941-1945

In 1941, Evgeny Stepanovich Kobytev was a young man ready to start his creative life as an artist when Germany attacked the Soviet Union and he had to join the Army. Four years later, the difference in his face is striking. A thin and tired face, deep wrinkles, a troubled stare, this man was completely changed after witnessing 4 years of a no-rule war in the Eastern Front.

These two pictures are shown side by side in the Andrei Pozdeev museum. The museum caption reads: “(Left) The artist Eugen Stepanovich Kobytev the day he went to the front in 1941. (Right) In 1945 when he returned”. This the human face after four years of war. The first picture looks at you, the second one looks through you.

Evgeny Stepanovich Kobytev was born on December 25, 1910 in the village of Altai. After graduating from pedagogical school, he worked as a teacher in the rural areas of Krasnoyarsk. His passion was painting especially portraits and panoramas from daily life. The dream for a higher artistic education came true in 1936 when he started studying at the Kyiv State Art Institute in Ukraine.

In 1941 he graduated with honors from the art institute and was ready for a new artistic life. However, all his dreams were cut short on June 22, 1941 when Nazi Germany attacked Soviet Union. The new artist voluntarily became a soldier and enlisted in one of the artillery regiments of the Red Army. The regiment was engaged in a fierce battle to protect the small town of Pripyat, which lies between Kiev and Kharkiv.

In September 1941, Kobytov was wounded in the leg and became a prisoner of war. He ended up in a German notorious concentration camp operated out of Khorol, which was called “Khorol pit” (Dulag #160). Approximately 90 thousand prisoners of war and civilians died in this camp.

Built on the grounds of what used to be a brick factory, the Khorol camp had only one barracks; it was half-rotten and rested on posts that were leaning to one side. It was the only shelter from the autumn rains and storms. Only a few of the sixty thousand prisoners managed to cram in there. The rest had no barracks. In the barracks people stood pressed tightly against each other. They were gasping from the stench and the vapors and were drenched with sweat.

In 1943, Kobytev managed to escape from captivity and again rejoined the Red Army. He participated in various military operations throughout Ukraine, Moldova, Poland, Germany. After the Second World War ended, he was awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union medal for his excellent military service during the battles for liberation of Smila and Korsun in Ukraine. However, the High Command refused to award him the Victory over Germany medal since his military career was “spoiled” for being a prisoner of war.

(via Rare Historical Photos)

Sharing Bananas With a Goat During the Battle of Saipan, ca. 1944

A lovely photo of marine First Sergeant Neil I. Shober of Fort Wayne, Indiana, sharing the spoils of war bananas with a native goat, one of the few survivors of the terrific naval and air bombardment in support of the Marines hitting the beach on the Japanese-mandated island of Saipan, ca. 1944.

(Photo: National Museum of the Pacific War)

The Battle of Saipan was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, fought on the island of Saipan in the Mariana Islands from June 15 to July 9, 1944.

The Allied invasion fleet embarking the expeditionary forces left Pearl Harbor on June 5, 1944, the day before Operation Overlord in Europe was launched. The U.S. 2nd Marine Division, 4th Marine Division, and the Army’s 27th Infantry Division, commanded by Lieutenant General Holland Smith, defeated the 43rd Infantry Division of the Imperial Japanese Army, commanded by Lieutenant General Yoshitsugu Saito.

The loss of Saipan, with the deaths of at least 29,000 troops and heavy civilian casualties, precipitated the resignation of Prime Minister of Japan Hideki Tōjō and left the Japanese archipelago within the range of United States Army Air Forces B-29 bombers.

Soldiers of 11th Battalion Posing on the Great Pyramid of Giza, January 1915

Group portrait of the Australian 11th (Western Australia) Battalion, 3rd Infantry Brigade, Australian Imperial Force posing on the Great Pyramid of Giza on January 10, 1915, prior to the landing at Gallipoli. The 11th Battalion did much of their war training in Egypt and would be amongst the first to land at Anzac Cove on April 25, 1915. In the five days following the landing, the battalion suffered 378 casualties, over one third of its strength.

The 11th Battalion was an Australian Army battalion that was among the first infantry units raised during World War I for the First Australian Imperial Force. It was the first battalion recruited in Western Australia, and following a brief training period in Perth, the battalion sailed to Egypt where it undertook four months of intensive training. In April 1915 it took part in the invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula, landing at Anzac Cove. In August 1915 the battalion was in action in the Battle of Lone Pine. Following the withdrawal from Gallipoli, the battalion returned to Egypt where it was split to help form the 51st Battalion. In March 1916, the battalion was deployed to the Western Front in France and Belgium where it took part in trench warfare until the end of the war in November 1918.

The battalion was disbanded in 1919, but since 1921 has been re-activated and merged several times as a reserve unit, initially as the 11th Battalion (City of Perth Regiment), which fought a brief campaign against the Japanese on New Britain during World War II. Other units that have maintained the traditions of the original 11th Battalion include the 11th/44th Battalion (City of Perth Regiment), ‘A’ (City of Perth) Company, 1st Battalion, Royal Western Australia Regiment and the current 11th/28th Battalion, Royal Western Australia Regiment.

Apparently, This Is How They "Passed the Time" at Cavalry School in the 1930s

The feats of cavalry riders in times gone by... not sure who is braver really, the horse and rider duos, or the ‘jumps’ themselves (especially that upside down guy!)

Cavalry (from the French word cavalerie, itself derived from “cheval” meaning “horse”) are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry in the roles of reconnaissance, screening and harassing in many armies, or as heavy cavalry for decisive shock attacks in other armies. An individual soldier in the cavalry is known by a number of designations depending on era and tactics, such as cavalryman, horseman, trooper, cataphract, hussar, lancer or dragoon.

Cavalry had the advantage of improved mobility, and a soldier fighting from horseback also had the advantages of greater height, speed, and inertial mass over an opponent on foot. Another element of horse mounted warfare is the psychological impact a mounted soldier can inflict on an opponent.

In the period between the World Wars, many cavalry units were converted into motorized infantry and mechanized infantry units, or reformed as tank troops. However, some cavalry still served during World War II, notably in the Red Army, the Mongolian People’s Army, the Royal Italian Army, the Romanian Army, the Polish Land Forces, and light reconnaissance units within the Waffen SS. Most cavalry units that are horse-mounted in modern armies serve in purely ceremonial roles, or as mounted infantry in difficult terrain such as mountains or heavily forested areas.

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Rare Photographs of 18-Year-Old Ernest Hemingway in Italy During World War I

In the winter and spring of 1918, Ernest Hemingway churned out several feature stories for The Kansas City Star about military recruiting campaigns. The Navy, the Tank Corps, and even the British had set up local offices to seek troops after the United States joined its allies in Europe.

Hemingway at the time was a recent high school graduate who had landed a reporting job in Kansas City in lieu of going to college or enlisting. At 18, he was too young to join without parental permission, but he talked a lot about getting into the war, a desire he expressed in several letters to his sister Marcelline. After arriving in Kansas City in mid-October 1917, he joined the Missouri Guard and even trained at Swope Park. Further military service was not in the cards, but a Kansas City friendship led him down another path toward serving in the war. In February 1918, the American Red Cross announced it was seeking volunteers to join the ambulance service in Italy. Hemingway most likely heard about this directly from Dell D. Dutton, who ran the Red Cross office in Kansas City. Still wanting to participate in the war effort, Hemingway signed up with the Red Cross as an ambulance driver.

Upon leaving the US, Hemingway first traveled to Paris, and then received orders to report to Milan. A short time later, he moved to the town of Schio where he worked driving ambulances. While delivering chocolates and cigarettes to soldiers on the front, Hemingway was seriously injured on July 8, 1918 by fragments from an Austrian mortar shell. Though badly wounded by the mortar, and hit by machine gun fire as well, Hemingway worked to secure the safety of his fellow soldiers, getting them out of harms way.

Hemingway’s friend Ted Brumbach, who visited him in the hospital, wrote to Hemingway’s parents that: “A third Italian was badly wounded and this one Ernest, after he had regained consciousness, picked up on his back and carried to the first aid dugout. He says he did not remember how he got there, nor that he carried the man, until the next day, when an Italian officer told him all about it and said that it had been voted to give him a valor medal for the act.” As Brumbach reported, Hemingway was awarded an Italian medal of valor, the Croce de Guerra, for his service. As he wrote in his own letter home after the incident: “Everything is fine and I am very comfortable and one of the best surgeons in Milan is looking after my wounds.”

Hemingway spent time recovering at a hospital in Milan, where he met Agnes von Kurowsky, a nurse originally from Washington D.C. She was six years older than Hemingway, but nevertheless he fell in love with her, and planned to take her home to Oak Park. Agnes never did return with Hemingway as planned. Her involvement with an Italian officer ended their relationship. His time spent recovering in the Milan hospital, and his failed romance with Agnes von Kurowsky served as inspiration for Hemingway’s famous novel, A Farewell to Arms.

Hemingway returned to Italy throughout his life, during his many travels to Europe and around the world.

WWI Red Cross ambulance in Italy, 1918.

Ernest Hemingway in an American Red Cross ambulance, Italy.

Ernest Hemingway during his time in Italy, 1918.

Ernest Hemingway riding a bicycle in Italy, 1918.

Portrait of Ernest Hemingway as an American Red Cross volunteer in Milan, Italy.

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Human Torpedo in Use by the Israeli Commando Unit, 1967

Human torpedoes or manned torpedoes are a type of diver propulsion vehicle on which the diver rides, generally in a seated position behind a fairing. They were used as secret naval weapons in World War II. The basic concept is still in use.

The name was commonly used to refer to the weapons that Italy, and later (with a larger version) Britain, deployed in the Mediterranean and used to attack ships in enemy harbors. The human torpedo concept has occasionally been used by recreational divers.

Israeli manned torpedo, 1967.

A typical manned torpedo has a propeller, hydroplanes, a vertical rudder and a control panel with controls for its front rider. It usually allows for two riders who sit facing forwards. It has navigation aids such as a compass, and nowadays modern aids such as sonar and GPS positioning and modulated ultrasound communications gear. It may have an air (or other breathing gas) supply so its riders do not have to drain their own apparatus while they are riding it. In some the riders’ seats are enclosed; in others the seats are open at the sides as in sitting astride a horse. The seat design includes room for the riders’ swimfins (if used). There are flotation tanks (typically four: left fore, right fore, left aft, right aft), which can be flooded or blown empty to adjust buoyancy and attitude.

The concept of a tiny manned submarine carrying a bomb was developed and patented by a British naval officer in 1909, but was never used during the First World War. The Italian Navy experimented with a primitive tiny sub carrying two men and a limpet mine as early as 1918 and this craft did have some success. The first truly practical human torpedo was the Italian Maiale (nicknamed the “pig” because it was difficult to steer) used in the Second World War.

Manned torpedo, called Maiale, at the Museo nazionale della scienza e della tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci of Milan.

The Maiale was electrically propelled by a 1.6 horsepower (1.2 kW) motor in most of the units manufactured, with a top speed of 3 knots (5.6 km/h) and often required a travel time of up to two hours to its target. Two crewmen in diving suits rode astride, each equipped with an oxygen rebreather apparatus. They steered the craft to the enemy ship. The “pig” could be submerged to 15 meters (49 ft), and hypothetically to 30 meters (98 ft), when necessary. On arrival at the target, the detachable warhead was released for use as a limpet mine. If they were not detected, the operators then rode the mini sub away to safety.

Development began in 1935 but the first 11 were not completed until 1939 by San Bartolomeo Torpedo Workshops in La Spezia, Italy and a larger number followed. The official Italian name for the majority of the craft that were manufactured was Siluro a Lenta Corsa (SLC or “Slow-running torpedo”). Two distinct models were made, Series 100 and then (in 1942) Series 200 with some improvements. At least 50 SLCs were built by September 1943.

A maiale in Taormina, Sicily.

In operation, the Maiale torpedo was carried by another vessel (usually a conventional submarine), and launched near the target. Most manned torpedo operations were at night and during the new moon to cut down the risk of being seen. Attacks in 1940 were unsuccessful but in 1941, the Italian navy (Regia Marina) successfully forced the harbor of Alexandria and damaged the two British battleships HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Valiant, as well as the tanker Sagona. This feat encouraged the British to develop their own torpedo “chariots”.

The last Italian model, the SSB (for Siluro San Bartolomeo, “San Bartolomeo Torpedo”) was built with a partly enclosed cockpit, a more powerful motor and larger 300 kg (660 lb) warhead (up from the earlier SLC’s 220 and 250 kg (490 and 550 lb) warheads). Three units were made but not operationally used because Italy surrendered in 1943.

A captured Kaiten torpedo at the USS Bowfin Museum in Hawaii.

The first British version of the concept was named the Chariot manned torpedo. Two models were made; Mark I was 20 feet (6.1 m) long while Mark II was 30 feet (9.1 m) long, both suitable for carrying two men. Later versions were larger, starting with the original X-class submarine, a midget submarine, 51 feet (16 m) long, no longer truly a human torpedo but similar in concept. The X-Craft were capable of 6.5 knots (12.0 km/h) on the surface or 5.5 knots (10.2 km/h) submerged. They were designed to be towed to their intended area of operations by a full-size 'mother' submarine.

A Mk.I Chariot (minus warhead), 3 March 1944, Rothesay. (© IWM)

Chariot Mk 1 and crew. 3 March 1944, Rothesay.

The German navy also developed a manned torpedo by 1943, the Neger, intended for one man, with a top speed of 4 knots (7.4 km/h) and carrying one torpedo; the frequent technical problems often resulted in the deaths of operators. Roughly 40 of these were made and they did manage to sink a few ships. The later Marder (pine marten in English) was about 27 feet (8.2 m) long and more sophisticated and could dive to depths of 27 meters (89 ft) but with very limited endurance. About 500 were built.

A Neger with its operator being launched, ca. 1944–45.

(via Wikipedia)

French World War I Soldier’s Bedroom Untouched for Over 100 Years

French World War I soldier Hubert Rochereau died in an English field ambulance on April 26, 1918 a day after being wounded during fighting for the village of Loker in Flanders. He was 21 years old.

His parents had no idea where he was buried until 1922 when his body was discovered in a British cemetery and repatriated to the graveyard at Bélâbre, France. They turned the room into a permanent memorial, leaving it largely as it had been the day he went off to war.

Hubert’s bedroom was left untouched in his memorial for over 100 years. His military hat lays quietly on the 100 year-old bedsheets not far away of a dusty military jacket. Pictures of a young man stand on various surfaces. His chair, tucked under his desk, faces the window in the room where he was born on October 10, 1896.

“When you walk into it it’s as if time has stood still,” Laurent Laroche, mayor of Bélâbre, told the Guardian. “Our little village is being spoken about the world over, which makes me proud to be mayor. And maybe it will help us find long-lost Rochereau relatives and save the room. It would be a great pity for it to be lost to future generations.”

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Amazing Vintage Photos of 1936 Tempo G1200 All-Terrain Military Vehicle

Built as a private venture by Vidal & Sohn of Hamburg for the German Army and exportation, the Tempo G1200 was mechanically complex for its time, and-for a vehicle that was designed in the 1930s, it was remarkably advanced in some aspects in his design.

Oskar Vidal and Sohn founded Tempo Werkes of Hamburg in 1924 building motorized triporters. These little 3 wheeled delivery vehicles proved to be extremely popular and the foundation of the company’s success.

By the early 1930s Tempo were building three wheeled delivery trucks that would later be known as the Hanseat. Hanseats were powered by a proprietary JLO two cylinder two stoke motors in either 200 or 400cc capacity. Versions of the Hanseat remained in production until 1956 and were widely exported around Europe.

In 1936 Tempo-werke responded to a Landwehr (army) contract for a four wheel drive light utility vehicle and their response was uniquely unorthodox. The G1200 was powered by two 600cc JLO two-stroke motors, one in the front and one in the rear. Each engine separately drove the front and rear independently suspended axles in much the same arrangement as Tatra used in their trucks. Each engine had its own gearbox and could be operated together for full four wheel drive or they could be run independently for either front wheel or rear wheel drive operation. The car had high ground clearance and with the body floating over its independent suspension it was able to comfortably traverse even the roughest ground. Top speed was 70 kilometers per hour. Fuel economy was a reasonable 12 liters per hundred kilometers, which could be reduced further by running on one engine alone.

Despite the versatility of the vehicle, the Landwehr were prejudiced against two-stroke engines in both cars and motorcycles, even refusing DKW, then Germany's biggest motorcycle manufacturer, an army contract, so it came as little surprise that they showed no interest in Tempo’s offering. Tempo however were not disheartened and successfully shopped the G1200 to other European armies, including Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Croatia, Czechoslovakia and Romania. The G1200 was even sold as far afield as Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. See this link for contemporary advertising for the G1200.

The Second World War put an end to Tempo’s export market. The German army seized the Tempo’s on the production line and some of those in foreign service. They were mainly used as auxiliary vehicles by police and home defense forces, rather than entering front-line service, despite the fact they would have been extremely well suited to service on the Russian Front. Production ceased in 1943 after only 1335 were built.

After the war Tempo reverted to its trusty three wheeled product which revived the company’s fortunes. The Hanseat tricycle continued in production until 1956 until it was replaced with a modern, four wheeled van called the Matador. After a turbulent history Tempo would be absorbed by Mercedes-Benz in the 1970s.

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Rare Photographs Reveal British Soldiers Manning Anti-Aircraft Guns in Full Drag in World War II

This set of photographs, taken by John Topham while working in RAF intelligence, was censored by the British Ministry of Information when they were taken during the Second World War. The images were captured during a visit to the base of the Royal Artillery Coastal Defence Battery at Shornemead Fort, near Gravesend, in Kent.

Taken in 1940, these pictures show the gunners going about their business in dresses, complete with their usual helmets. Others show the men applying makeup to each other, running up steps as their dresses blow in the wind and showing off their undergarments on stage. The troops had been rehearsing in drag for one of the shows they often staged to keep themselves entertained.

However during one of Topham’s visits, the men were called to attention in order to deal with the approach of Luftwaffe bombers, going over the Channel to southern England. As there was no time to change back into their uniforms they had no choice but to return to their battle stations still dressed in drag.

After the war, Topham revealed that the Ministry of Information was concerned that these specific pictures could undermine morale. It was feared that it would give the impression that British troops were not quite as masculine as the public believed. There may have also been concern that Nazi propaganda chiefs would use the images of the troops in drag shooting anti-aircraft guns to ridicule Allies.

(Photos: TopFoto)

Cool Pics of Elvis Presley While Serving in the U.S Army From 1958-60

In December 1957, the Memphis Draft Board announced that Elvis Presley would soon receive his draft notice. At the time of his draft he was the most well-known name in the world of entertainment. Presley told reporters that his service was "a duty I've got to fill and I'm going to do it."

Elvis Presley was on active duty from March 1958 - March 1960, and he spent another four years in the reserves. Despite being offered the chance to enlist in Special Services to entertain the troops and live in priority housing, he decided to serve as a regular soldier.

These cool pics captured moments of Elvis Presley while serving in the United States Army from 1958 to 1960.

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“A GAY VIETNAM VETERAN” – Leonard Matlovich Tombstone

The headstone belonging to a gay Vietnam veteran still today remains a poignant reminder of the homophobia faced by the LGBTQ+ community on a daily basis. He arranged for his own burial at Congressional Cemetery, and designed his tombstone which reads: “A Gay Vietnam Veteran. When I was in the military, they gave me a medal for killing two men, and a discharge for loving one.”

Had Leonard Matlovich (1943–1988) never publicly admitted his homosexuality to Air Force officials in 1975 he might have retired from the military and slipped quietly into oblivion. Instead, on March 6, 1975 with 12 years of exemplary military service, he wrote and delivered a letter to his commanding officer in which he openly admitted his homosexuality. By May of that year, this unlikely celebrity became the focus of attention that would not fade for five years.

For thousands of gay and lesbian Americans, particularly during the 25 years following World War II, expressing their homosexuality publicly remained unthinkable. That changed one warm June night in 1969 when a routine police raid against the Stonewall Inn, a private gay club in New York’s Greenwich Village, met with unexpected opposition. The men who had always been easily targeted for their homosexuality decided to fight back. If their identities became public, they were willing to take the risk even if that meant losing their jobs, becoming estranged from families, or meeting with further violence.

The movement for gay rights was still young in 1975 when Leonard Matlovich revealed his sexual orientation in a letter to his commanding officer. That admission would lead to a place on the cover of Time magazine. Emblazoned across his chest in bold black letters, according to The New York Times, on September 19, 1975, was the caption, “I Am a Homosexual.”

Leonard Matlovich on the cover of Time magazine, September 8, 1975.

Leonard Philip Matlovich was born on July 6, 1943 in Savannah, Georgia, the only son of a career Air Force sergeant. He spent his childhood living on military bases, primarily throughout the southern United States. Matlovich and his sister were raised in the Roman Catholic Church. In an article for The New York Times, on May 25, 1975, Lesley Oelsner wrote that, “Technically, the sergeant’s case is just beginning. To Sergeant Matlovich, though, the case is really much older, going back at least to his youth, when he was, as he puts it, an ‘Air Force brat’ growing up on bases from Georgia to Guam, wanting to be in the military himself and worrying about his sexual inclinations.”

Despite a deep inner conflict, Matlovich decided at the age of 19 that he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps. By his own admission, he had become a “white racist,” and a “flag-waving patriot.” Not long after he enlisted, the United States increased military action in Vietnam, about ten years after the French had abandoned active colonial rule there. Matlovich volunteered for service in Vietnam with a sense of patriotic pride firmly entrenched. He served three tours of duty and was seriously wounded when he stepped on a land mine in Da Nang. His military service in Vietnam earned him both a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star. By 1975, Matlovich was already in his 12th year of service. As a technical sergeant stationed at Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, Virginia, Matlovich was also a race-relations and drug abuse counselor. His exemplary work earned additional awards. Trying to suppress the sexual inclinations he considered aberrant behavior, Matlovich joined fellow soldiers who mocked homosexuals. Oelsner noted that, “What changed everything, he said, was a change that started, slowly, at first, in his attitude toward black people. He was in the service with blacks; then, on one assignment, a black man was his supervising officer. One stereotype after another stereotype started to crumble,” Matlovich said.

Matlovich had enrolled in the race relations program while he was stationed in Pensacola, Florida, and became an instructor. That was when he began frequenting gay bars. “I met a bank president, a gas station attendant—they were all homosexual,” Matlovich recalled for Oelsner. He “came out” to his friends, but continued to conceal the fact from his commanding officers. Matlovich gradually came to believe that the discrimination faced by African Americans was similar to the persecution that homosexuals endured. For him, it became a civil rights issue.


Letter Changed His Life

Matlovich described the way he delivered the letter he wrote about his sexual orientation for The New York Times, in the September 19, 1975 article on his case. He said that he handed his “coming-out” statement to his superior. His captain asked, “What does this mean?” Matlovich said, “It means Brown v. the Board of Education” a reference to the 1954 landmark Supreme Court case outlawing racial segregation. For Matlovich, his test of the sexual-preference tolerance the military system would allow him was the equivalent to that. “I told him to sit down before he read it. He didn’t, but he sat down after he read it.” Matlovich contended that the military was full of homosexuals because he ran into them when he spent evenings in one dance club in Norfolk.

The issue of homosexuality in the military was brought to the forefront because of Matlovich’s confession. He hired David F. Addlestone of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), as his chief counsel. A military lawyer, Captain Jon Larson Jaenicke, was assistant counsel. After a series of hearings, Matlovich was offered a general discharge from the Air Force. According to Oelsner, Lieutenant Colonel Charles R. Ritchie, the Langley commander, notified Matlovich. “I am initiating action against you with a view to effecting your discharge from the United States Air Force.” A general discharge was less than an honorable discharge. Although he had hoped to stay in the military and avoid a discharge altogether, Matlovich was not content with the idea of a general discharge. “I love the military,” he told The New York Times. “The first time in the bar, I met a bank president who was petrified he’d be found out. I decided then and there I was not going to jump from job to job.” Six months after he openly admitted his homosexuality, Matlovich was out of the Air Force, considered unfit for military service by a three-member panel.

Perhaps the most painful aspect of the whole experience for Matlovich was his confrontation with his parents. He told his mother by phone. She was so stunned she refused to tell Matlovich’s father. Her first reaction was that God was punishing her for something she had done, even if her Roman Catholic faith would have not sanctioned that notion. Then, she imagined that her son had not prayed enough, had not seen enough psychiatrists. Before long she admitted that she had suspected the truth for a long time. When his father finally found out by reading it in the newspaper, Matlovich recalled, “He cried for about two hours.” After that, he told his wife that, “If he can take it, I can take it.”


Died a Hero

Matlovich soon found his way to San Francisco while his appeal was continuing. His admission had catapulted him into the role of a national hero for the cause of gay and lesbian rights. In 1979, he ran for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the governing body of that city and county. Midway through the campaign he discovered that his campaign manager had supported an opposing candidate. He lost the election. In November 1980, Matlovich finally received an upgraded discharge, that of honorable, and a $160,000 settlement. “That settlement vacated a Federal court ruling only two months previously ordering that he be reinstated with back pay,” according to Alfonso A. Narvaez in the obituary he wrote when Matlovich died of AIDS on June 23, 1988 at the home of a friend in West Hollywood, California.

Matlovich wrote the epitaph for his grave Washington’s Congressional Cemetery. It read, “When I was in the military they gave me a medal for killing two men, and a discharge for loving one.”

In those years before his tragic early death at the age of 44, Matlovich was satisfied that he had followed his conscience and his heart. His actions gave others the courage to do the same. The movement has progressed because of him and others like him.

The day he first saw the stone he’d designed in place. Leonard purchased two side-by-side plots, one intended for a future partner. Today, each plot would cost thousands more.