11/04/2024
Gayety web portal reports on a major new collection of photographs compiled by Los Angeles photographer Michael Stokes, which is now available from the German arts publisher Taschen. During the emotionally charged 1940s — a few years before the Kinsey Report revealed that many men had same-sex affairs — soldiers and seamen were urged to build close relationships with their fellow troops. To survive, these military men needed to be able to trust and count on each other in and out of battle. Every frightening day for a serviceman during World War II was possibly his last. To help support troops confronting the horrors of warfare, commanders encouraged them to form tight “buddy” relationships for emotional support. Many war buddies, together every moment, and relying on each other for survival, also developed intimate friendships. When they weren’t in the battlefield, they relaxed together. The collection of photographs amassed by Stokes numbers around five hundred images, taken on something of a rarity in the second world war - portable cameras. These images of physical intimacy between men have survived for the last eighty years and often come from the private collections of men who served the Allied cause but kept their relationships with other men secret until their deaths. Scotty Bowers, an 89-year-old ex-Marine and author of Full Service, wrote the introduction. He explains how the war forever changed his attitudes about gay and straight, just as these photos may alter our views about World War II and war buddies. "My Buddy: World War II Laid Bare" is the title of the book and it is available now through all good LGBTQIA, independent and radical bookstores.
Find links to the book at the excellent web portal Gayety. https://gayety.co/
