Portrait of William C. Shrout with his camera. (Photo by William C. Shrout/The LIFE Images Collection)
War, injury and disease met their match in Bill Shrout (1913-1986). During WWII he was in the Pacific for some extremely intense battles, such as Guadalcanal, and finally was so battered that doctors ordered him out of the combat zone. Still, he begged for more. “I will risk my neck for LIFE in order to get the kind of pictures you are after,” he wrote. “Malaria does not bother me… I will stay out there for the duration.” Shrout got his wish, and returned to document the fighting. When he was back home in Alabama, away from the theaters of war, things were very different. Every night his family said prayers together, then were in bed by 8:30.
—Adapted from The Great LIFE Photographers
View from the rear deck of a US aircraft carrier, its planes parked on the flight deck, Japanese planes shot down by American fighter squadrons in the background. (Photo by William C. Shrout/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)
Crowd of 10,000 at America First Committee rally. (Photo by William C. Shrout/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)
