How History Unfolds on Paper: Important Americana from the Eric C. Caren Collection, Part X

Nagasaki and environs, Japan, September-December 1945. Group of 35 black and white and/or sepia-toned photographs; each measuring 4 x 5 in. (102 x 127 mm); each with typed or manuscript caption at bottom or within photo (one with additional manuscript on verso). Scattered surface soiling; each with tape remnants, or wear from removed tape, along top edge.

Several of these photographs are reproduced in the 1946 United States Navy Reserve cruisebook The Log (Mobile Power 43rd Construction Battalion 1942-1946).

Taken with a Speed Graphic camera by an unidentified member of the United States 43rd Naval Construction Battalion (Seabees), these 35 photographs show scenes in and around the vicinity of Nagasaki in the three months following its destruction by an atomic bomb on August 9, 1945. Several photographs document the bomb's destructive power, including scenes showing ruined landscapes, buildings, and infrastructure, as well as the efforts by the Seabees and Japanese soldiers to clean and rebuild roads, bridges, railroad tracks, and other sites. Several photographs depict the occupying American forces, within the city environs and in their barracks, with notations identifying the 43rd and 93rd Naval Construction Battalions. Specific individuals are also identified, including Lieutenant Commander William A. Weeks, Edward A. Gabel, Theodore A. Musset, Melvin George Gerlinger, and George Frank Koester. Some photographs show Japanese citizens, including a mother and child, a group of children, a Japanese police officer, and a large group around the Nagasaki railroad depot.

The 43rd Naval Construction Battalion was established in Danville, Rhode Island on November 12, 1942. Following the Japanese surrender on August 15, 1945, the 43rd debarked at Nagasaki on September 23, consisting of about 770 men. During their time in and around the city they undertook and oversaw repair work on buildings, roads, warehouses, railroad tracks, airfields, and docks. By October the number of men had been cut in half, many due to discharges, and by early December its last remaining members departed.