"Soldier, would you mind standing up? I'd like to take your picture" Robert Capa said to me.
"It was the last good picture of my right leg" (James Conboy Jr.)
This is James Conboy Jr of Philadelphia PA, 513th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 17th Airborne Division, just before heading towards Germany during Operation Varsity, wearing a 'Cheyenne Warlock' haircut as they had a Cheyenne native Indian trooper in their unit, Saturday March 24, 1945.
On this day Jim Conboy participated in Operation Varsity. He was only 19 years old when he made the jump near the Rhine River, northeast of Wessel, Germany. After the jump, however, a 20mm shell hit him in the right leg, shattering it. His leg was amputated, for which he received a Purple Heart.
War photographer Robert Capa's shot of Mr. Conboy, taken just before boarding the plane that took him to Germany, was featured in a 1945 Life magazine photo essay and picked up by media around the world. Mr. Conboy appeared in a 2003 PBS documentary, Robert Capa: In Love and War.
Conboy was awarded a Purple Heart and also a Bronze Star for his courage in combat.
He passed on January 29, 2004. He was 78 years old.
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