One photograph is worth a thousand words

[SASless]

http://www.poyi.org/63/photos/11/01.jpg
Do you reckon the folks looking out the window will forget their flight?

[Spurlash2]

SASLess
That would appear to be a PhotoShop pic. The provenance of the image would add credence to your post.
I understand your feelings, and all of us in the military carry with us the devastation of losing a friend; but please don't denigrate our loss with sub-standard images of fallen comrades.
Happy to be corrected, of course.
S2

[SASless]

Perhaps I missed something in the translation.....how would a photoshopped image detract from the message such a photo provides?

As to denigrating your loss.....I fail to see how this image in any way denigrates any one, any military service or any nation.

Would you kindly explain your comments and tell me why you feel the photo is offensive to anyone?

As to the origin of the photo.....who gives a fig....symbolism demonstrated by the photo speaks for itself.

[bad livin']

I do a lot of photography "on the side" and I am about 99% sure this shot is genuine.

The lighting makes sense and numerous AA and other major US carrier flights have brought their fallen ones home with similar displays of gravitas and respect. Significant other's younger brother is a C17 mover at McChord and also believes this is genuine (although he's more used, sadly, to the sight of his own aircraft full of coffins).

[Ali Barber]

I too thought it had been photoshoped and had the same feelings as Spurlash. SASless, the reason we felt that way was because you would have to source the components from other photos, i.e. the coffin scene had been cut from another photo. I hope (if that's the right sentiment) that it turns out to be a genuine photo, but it just looks too sharp in the hold where I would expect more blurring.

[stillin1]

As you said - " one photo is worth a thousand words".
I have no idea if the photo is genuine!
My problem now is - if it is not, then the photo is a lie, a fabrication, a falsehood.
We all get mighty pissed-off when we see a thousand words of lies in the press describing what some journo wants us to believe. What is the difference?
We must tell it like it is, the truth, unembellished, untarnished and with honesty or we demean our fallen comrades the respect that they have earned.
I really hope that it is genuine and that some ppruner will be able to confirm that it is.

[Bo Nalls]

A little investigation reveals that the picture is one of a series taken by
Todd Heisler of the Rocky News. The picture appears to show the arrival at Reno of 2nd Lt James Cathey.

The picture is one of a series awarded 2nd place in the newspaper photographer of the year category on the Pictures of the Year website. One of the rules states "No masks, borders, backgrounds or other artistic effects are allowed".

Pictures of the year home page link (http://www.poyi.org/)

Newspaper photographer of the year (http://www.poyi.org/63/NPOY2/story04_03.php)(click the red dots to access other pictures in the series)

[stillin1]

Bo Nalls
THANKS

[GOLF_BRAVO_ZULU]

Not detracting from the central message of the picture nor its poignancy, I also concluded that it had been manipulated. It is clearly a night scene but the PAX faces look remarkably well lit considering the cabin lights would be behind them. If it had been floodlit from the front, I would expect to see more reflections on the windows. I hesitate at suggesting, and doubt, that the coffin had been pasted in, though.

Whoever it was under the Flag, RIP.

[An Teallach]

For me, the image is convincing ... apart from the passengers gazing out of the window, who are made out in the caption to be as central to the image as 2Lt Cathey's coffin.

The seating geometry must be one of the most unusual i've seen in a civil airliner and, far from contemplating what is going on below, I imagine the fat lady in the red dress is contemplating what the hell the guy in the 3rd window from the left is doing sitting in her lap!

I'm afraid that for me it is the photoshopped schmaltz that denigrates 2Lt Cathey's sacrifice. But hey, why should the lies stop now?

[SASless]

I did an intensive Google search (15 seconds maybe)....typed "Rocky Mountain News, Todd Heisler" and came up with this article.
http://denver.rockymountainnews.com/news/finalSalute/


An excerpt from the article....page 3 or 4....

Witnesses to sacrifice

On a winter night, Beck pulled his SUV into Denver International Airport and looked into the sky, staring at all the lights that were not stars.

A limousine pulled in behind him, followed by an empty hearse.

It was early December, nine months before he would stand on the tarmac in Reno alongside a 23-year-old widow.

There is no rule requiring airports to allow a family into a secure area to receive the body of a fallen service member, and some airports around the country have refused, Beck said, shaking his head.

"In my mind, this is the first time that a Marine is back on Colorado soil, and (the family) deserves to be there," Beck said. "If I had my way, they'd know which frickin' light in the sky is him, which plane is bringing him in all the way."

Inside the SUV, his phone rang. He looked at the number and smiled.

"Hi, babe," he said. "We're at the airport, getting ready to bring one of our guys home. How are the kids?"

For Beck's wife, Julie, and their three young children, his job has sometimes meant his absence on birthdays and anniversaries. He spent last Thanksgiving at a funeral.

Still, when he wakes up in the middle of the night to an ominous call, Julie wakes with him and remains nearby until he heads off to knock on another door. He talks about her the way the families he cares for talk about him: She's his rock.

"Hang in there," he said into the phone. "I'll be home late."

Then another call. Again, he recognized the number: another one of his families.

The contact list on Beck's cell phone is programmed with the numbers of grieving parents and spouses from Rapid City to Reno.

But he's not the only one, he insists, over and over. He said he takes his cues from his Marines, the men and women who get involved to the point where many of their families say they might as well have been deployed overseas.

"This job is all about sacrifice," Beck said. "We sacrifice our family stability. Many of us sacrifice income. We sacrifice our bodies. We break things. We're hard on ourselves. We break each other. And we're asked to make the ultimate sacrifice."

Outside the car, a Denver police officer's walkie-talkie crackled and he motioned to Beck.

The cortege pulled behind the police escort, heading toward the tarmac.

"There are moments in this experience that energize you, and there are moments that suck you dry," Beck said. "Those moments are short, but they're so defining.

"And you're about to see one of them."

As jet engines roared around him, Beck looked at the plane. The Marines marched to the cargo hold, toward the casket.

"See the people in the windows? They'll sit right there in the plane, watching those Marines," Beck said. "You gotta wonder what's going through their minds, knowing that they're on the plane that brought him home."

Commercial airplanes transport caskets every day - including service members killed in action. For the most part, the passengers have no idea what lies below.

Most people will never see the Transportation Security Administration officials standing on the tarmac with their hands over their hearts as a body is unloaded. They won't see the airport police and firefighters lined up alongside their cars and engines, lights flashing, saluting the hearse on its way out.

Occasionally, a planeload of passengers is briefly exposed to the hard reality outside the cabin.

"They're going to remember being on that plane for the rest of their lives," Beck said, looking back at the passengers. "They're going to remember bringing that Marine home.

"And they should."

[shawshank]

I can't believe that this thread has descended into a discussion about whether elements of the picture are real or not.

RIP, whoever you are.

[cooheed]

I can't that this thread has descended into a discussion about whether elements of the picture are real or not.

RIP, whoever you are.

Hear, Hear Shawshank

[Rigga]

And to correctly identify the aircraft - it is a 757, rear cargo door and low Bay roof give it away.
...and it is a stirring image.

Condolences to the persons family.

[cooheed]

[quote=SASless;3040434]I did an intensive Google search (15 seconds maybe)....typed "Rocky Mountain News, Todd Heisler" and came up with this article.
http://denver.rockymountainnews.com/news/finalSalute/

Very moving

[parabellum]

Yup, agree with Shawshank and Cooheed, I made an inappropriate post and have deleted it, sorry about that.

Mickjoebill - have sent you a PM.