John Riedy Photography

Sorting through old hard drives this morning, I came across photos from two of the highlights of my career photographing veterans for the The Greatest Generations Foundation. The first is from 2016 when I traveled to Tuba City, Arizona to photograph two of the last surviving Navajo Code Talkers. On the left is Peter MacDonald, who today is one of the last two surviving code talkers, and on the right is Dan Akee, who died three years after this was taken. One of my most vivid memories of that day was having lunch with MacDonald, who joined the Marines at 15 to aid in the war effort, at the local Denny’s. It was literally like eating with a rock star. No fewer than 20 people approached him to say hi, so clearly beloved Peter is in the Navajo community.

In the second photo I’m next to James Leavelle, who not only survived the attack on Pearl Harbor, but went on to become famous for the iconic photo you see to his left. He was the Dallas PD officer who was escorting Lee Harvey Oswald (handcuffed to him actually) when Oswald was shot by Jack Ruby. Talk about living history. Sadly, he too passed just a few years after this photo was taken.

As we transition to the warriors of the Vietnam War generation, I can only imagine the interesting men I may be lucky enough to meet and photograph along the way. Stay tuned.

It’s great to be back in my happy place exploring the battlefields of Normandy with one of the few remaining American heroes who experienced it firsthand, 101 year old Harold Radish. Hard to fathom such a beautiful place was the scene of so much death.