Joe O'Donnell

Joseph Roger O'Donnell (May 7, 1922 – August 9, 2007) was an American documentarian, photojournalist and a photographer for the United States Information Agency.

Early life and education Joseph Roger O’Donnell was born on May 7, 1922, in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. After graduating from high school, he enlisted in the Marines, who sent him to photography school.

Photojournalism At 23, as a Marine sergeant, O'Donnell documented the aftermath of bombing in Japan for seven months, starting with Nagasaki, devastated by an atomic bomb on August 9, 1945. On August 28, 1945, his unit became among the first to enter Japan. The photos included the iconic "The boy standing by the crematory" as well as a photo of a classroom of burned children, and one of faces torn away.

Following the war, O’Donnell moved to Washington and briefly operated his own photography studio, before returning to public work. He was so disturbed that he became an advocate against nuclear arms, publishing books and lecturing in Japan and the United States. A photograph of a saluting John F. Kennedy Jr. during the funeral for his father in 1963 was taken by Stan Stearns for United Press International, not by O'Donnell. O'Donnell also claimed credit for a photograph showing Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill during a wartime meeting in Tehran, Iran, in 1943, but O'Donnell is not known to have been in Tehran at the time.

Tyge O'Donnell, the son of O'Donnell, attributes his father's instances of wrongly claiming credit for others' work, such as Stearn's photo, to his dementia, suggesting that he mistakenly asserted authorship of several photographs due to difficulties in remembering which ones were genuinely his own.

Personal life O'Donnell married Kimiko Sakai (b. 1960) in 1997. He had three sons and a daughter.

Death O'Donnell died in Nashville, Tennessee on August 9, 2007, due to complications arising from a stroke, according to his wife. She mentioned that he underwent over 50 operations, including procedures on his colon and heart, and attributed his declining health to radiation exposure from his visits to Nagasaki and Hiroshima.