How was the life of a good sergeant from the famous photo
How was the life of a good sergeant from the famous photo

Video: How was the life of a good sergeant from the famous photo

Video: How was the life of a good sergeant from the famous photo
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Military correspondents most often tell the world about the horrors of war, their goal is to create a documentary chronicle of sad and tragic events. However, in 1952, during the Korean War, a picture was taken that amazed everyone with its nagging kindness. On it, an American sergeant feeds a still blind kitten with milk from a pipette. The photo instantly flew around the world, it was printed in almost two thousand newspapers and magazines, and the young American Frank Preighton suddenly became a celebrity.

The person in the photograph is commonly referred to as a "sergeant" or "American soldier." In fact, Frank Preyton was also a war correspondent. Together with a colleague in October 1952, he covered the Korean War with the 1st US Marine Division. According to the official version, the mother of the kittens died under mortar fire. However, much later in an interview, Frank admitted: in fact, the cat was shot by one of his own soldiers - she either bothered him with her meows, or steamed something from the food … Such a fact, of course, would not like the public, and the meaning of the photo - "the kindness of the American military" - would have been blurred, in general, military censorship, as it turns out, in America worked no worse than ours, so the story itself was "tweaked" a little.

Frank Preighton is a war correspondent who became famous for his love of animals
Frank Preighton is a war correspondent who became famous for his love of animals

However, the meaning of the photo does not change from this. The young military commander picked up a one-week-old kitten, whose eyes were just beginning to open, and really took on a task that would not look too simple under normal conditions. He named the cat in a very peculiar way - Miss Hap. The pun was that mishap means failure in English. As he later explained, the kitten was really born at the wrong time, in the wrong place. Frank fed the baby with diluted concentrated milk. It was for this occupation that the second military commander caught him. The picture sent to the editorial office turned out to be so successful that, in modern terms, it instantly became "viral" - in a few days it flew around all the media, and unexpected fame fell on the "good sergeant". Frank began to receive hundreds of letters, most of them from girls. Some promised friendship, others immediately, without further ado, offered to marry themselves. The male kindness, solicitude and good looks of the young soldier turned out to be an "explosive mixture" that conquered women all over America. Although, as Frank admitted, there were similar proposals and not only from the ladies.

A photo in which Frank Preyton feeds a kitten "under bullets" instantly made him famous all over the world
A photo in which Frank Preyton feeds a kitten "under bullets" instantly made him famous all over the world

Frank did not expect such an effect, but unexpected fame helped him out more than once in his life. Continuing his career as a war correspondent, some time later he sent his pictures from the theater of war to a national competition. The photographs were heavy enough - in them he captured the wounded American soldiers. Such pictures did not quite fit into the stream of the official ideology, which showed the Americans as victors and liberators. However, Frank won a prestigious competition. He was summoned home to present the award, but instead of a red carpet, he unexpectedly came under trial by a military tribunal. It turned out that the young military commander managed to send pictures to the competition, that is, in fact, publish them, bypassing military censorship. His affairs were really bad. Saved the military man, as he later liked to say, his Miss Failure. Thanks to the kitty, by that time he had become almost a national hero, and the censors themselves did not want to spoil the created positive image, and the prestigious competition had already been won … In general, the case was hushed up and the award was presented to Preyton.

War correspondent Frank Preighton wins Best Photo Award
War correspondent Frank Preighton wins Best Photo Award

The further life of this man was also extremely successful. He worked in the media, then opened his own advertising agency. After leaving the service, Frank got married. Whether his chosen one was one of those girls who bombarded him with letters is unknown, but he lived with his wife for almost 50 years. Frank Preighton passed away in January 2018 at the age of 90.

Frank Preighton in the early 2000s
Frank Preighton in the early 2000s

Even the fate of the cat with the photo was, despite the nickname, happy, because Frank really managed to feed her - first with milk, then with stew. When the military commander left home, Miss Hap lived at the division headquarters, and then another journalist took her to America, after all, the cat was also a celebrity. So we can say that the history of the famous photography even has two happy endings.

The work of war correspondents is hard and dangerous work, but today, thanks to them, we can see the First months of the war: Photos taken by military men in the summer of 1941.

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