Ed Fitchett's Army Memories – Historic 16mm Film Footage Now Available on DVD
During 1945-1946, Edwin Fitchett served in the Pacific Theater as a Second Lieutenant in the US Army 165th Field Artillery Battalion. While overseas, he documented the places he visited filming with his Kodak color 16mm movie camera. Little did he realize, sixty-five years later his color film would be a valuable record of the aftermath of the Pacific War.
Fitchett was the commander of a Prisoner of War Camp with a thousand Japanese and Taiwanese prisoners. He documented their lives with his movie camera, including work details, camp life and social events. The Japanese prisoners even built a miniature Mount Fuji, and made him curious about their country and culture.
During free time, Fitchett explored Manila, Corregidor Island, Bataan and even attended Philippine Independence ceremonies, filming up close with General MacArthur and President Roxas. Also, he accompanied prisoners being repatriated to Taiwan, Korea and Japan. In Tokyo, Fitchett recorded the rebuilding, bomb damage, MacArthur’s Headquarters and other famous sites.
Afterwards, he returned home via San Francisco and remained in the Army reserves for ten years. He completed his education at Cornell University and worked for his family business, Fitchett Brothers Dairy based in Poughkeepsie, NY and now lives in retirement.
With the benefit of modern technology, that allowed his original 16mm color film footage to be digitized at high resolution with narration by Ed Fitchett. Sixty-five years after it was recorded, his color film footage is now available on DVD. |
