But we're profiling one serviceman who had a special relationship with one of our reporters, and whose artistry made sure our veterans' sacrifices are never forgotten.
Cameras were introduced to the battlefield in the Civil War. In World War II, they became a weapon in themselves by bringing the war home to families who saw what their soldiers were fighting.
For the veterans who fought the battles of World War II in Europe and the Pacific, their memories were preserved in the stories they told. But it's the images that never fade from history.
It was combat photographers whose pictures were on front pages and newsreels. Each branch of the military had combat photo units, and in charge of the Navy's Unit Number 10 was Lieutenant Commander Dewey Wrigley, the father of ABC-13 Reporter Deborah Wrigley. Perhaps his most famous piece of work was shot aboard the deck of the USS Missouri the day Japan surrendered and General McArthur accepted.
Wrigley was a movie cinematographer in Hollywood, under contract to Paramount, where he worked for Cecil B. Demille. When America entered the war, dad went into the Navy to shoot pictures, though he also had a sidearm. Back home he had a sweetheart, a beautiful Texas transplant who would later become his wife. She kept every letter they shared during the war, a chronicle of hopes and fears during the war. During the invasion of Anzio in Italy, she wrote of a dream she had that he had been shot; he had been wounded by a sniper.
In one of his letters he wrote, "They want to sew it up but holy smoke, I hate to have a needle jabbed in me. It will take a lot of stitches. Wouldn't mind it so much if they put me to sleep but I'm afraid I'd never wake up."
He apparently took his medicine, healed and quickly picked up his crew and his camera, traveling from Italy to North Africa to the Aleutians and back, following the fighting until it ended.
After the war, dad returned to Hollywood, married and started shooting movies again, always staying in touch with his war buddies.
A few years after the war, he died suddenly. He was buried in his Navy officer's uniform and given military honors. It's the way he would wanted it.