On this 66th anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 1944, the start of the 10-week Invasion of Normandy, France Revisited honors veterans and the fallen through the work of American photographer Ian Patrick and his book Portraits: Anonymous Heroes.

Ian Patrick in his studio by Canal Saint Martin in Paris. Photo GLK.

Born in 1951, Ian Patrick became interested in photographing veterans when he first accompanied his father William on a visit to Normandy. The elder Patrick, to whom the book is dedicated, landed at Utah Beach on June 17, 1944. In his portrait of 1994, the 50th anniversary, he stands by the grave of a high school friend in the American Cemetery.

For the past 25 years, Ian Patrick has been photographing the sites, people, and events surrounding D-Day ceremonies in Normandy. In this collection of portraits, released last year on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landing with the support of France’s national Musée de l’Armée, he set out to present “The horror of war and the joy of the liberated, two intangible sensations which have been my inspiration for this photo essay.”

The black-and-white portraits of participants in the events of June 1944—American, British, French, German—and the brief accompanying texts (in French and in English) of their memories and reflections are at once proud, moving, and humble.

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Cover of Ian Patrick's Portraits: Anonymous Heroes

Ian Patrick has lived in Paris since 1979 and now also has French citizenship. His work has appeared The New York Times Magazine, Esquire, and Rolling Stone, among other publications. Bob Marley and Andy Warhol are among the many well-known faces whose portraits he captured while working in New York in the 1970s.

Reduced-size copies of some of the photographs Portraits: Anonymous Heroes can be seen at d-dayportraits.com. For more examples of Ian Patrick’s work also see ianpatrickphotos.com and ianpatrickimages.com.

For more articles about Normandy and the Landing Beaches on France Revisited click here.

- Text and photo by VNP

It’s springtime in Paris.
A line in Sofia Coppola’s “Lost In Translation,” which I saw again recently, goes like this:
“I tried taking pictures, but they were so mediocre. I guess every girl goes through a photography phase. You know, horses… taking dumb pictures of your feet.”
Should take that personally.

Spring / Printemps. Photo: Va-nu-pieds

C’est le printemps à Paris.
Une réplique de “Lost in translation” de Sofia Coppola, revu récemment :
« I tried taking pictures, but they were so mediocre. I guess every girl goes through a photography phase. You know, horses… taking dumb pictures of your feet. »
Dois-je le prendre personnellement ?

Steel beams… and my foot.
A painter extends his hand and his brush to take measure of the object…
I extend my foot.

Monuments 2, La tour Eiffel / The Eiffel Tower. Photo: Va-nu-pieds

Who is Va-nu-pieds? Click here for further information.

Parc de Sceaux, located several kilometers south of Paris, is unquestionably my favorite park. Lots of space: horizontal lines, basins, the canal… And vertical lines: waterfalls, fountains… 

Le Parc de Sceaux, à quelques kilomètres au sud de paris, est sans conteste mon parc préféré. Beaucoup d’espace : des lignes horizontales, des bassins, le canal… Et des lignes verticales : les cascades, les jets d’eau…

Parc de Sceaux, Une famille / A Family. (c) 2009, Va-nu-pieds