Richard Thomas Ham

Military
media-55536.jpeg UPL 55536 Richard 'Dick' Ham, formerly of the US Signal Corps signing a copy of one of his portraits of Pablo Picasso taken in December 1944.

Object Number - UPL 55536 - Richard 'Dick' Ham, formerly of the US Signal Corps signing a copy of one of his portraits of Pablo Picasso taken in December 1944.

Dick studied photography at Modesto Junior College, California, and undertook a brief period of training in Hollywood to learn how to operate a film camera. He enlisted in the US Signal Corps in May 1942 as a motion picture cameraman and was sent to the UK with the 162nd Signal Photo Company.



In late 1942 Ham was attached to the Royal Navy where he filmed the invasion of Algiers during Operation Torch. On his return he was posted to ETOUSA in Grosvenor Square. Among his film assignments were capturing the visit of Kind George VI and Queen Elizabeth to Molesworth, photographing Maynard Smith receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor at Thurleigh on 12 July 1943, and filming A Welcome to Britain (1943). Ham flew a mission over Hamburg with the 303rd Bomb Group in 1943, he was also invited to film a B-24 Liberator mission, but declined the opportunity, later finding out that squadron who extended the invitation lost all 19 of its aircraft that day.



In 1944 Ham shot an instructional film about waterproofing jeep. He landed in Normandy on D+3 and filmed African American troops serving on an artillery battery in France in August 1944. The footage was used in The Negro Soldier (1944). Ham was then transferred to SHAEF headquarters in Paris, where on 15 December 1944 he notably captured a series of portraits of Pablo Picasso in his studio.



Ham flew in a C-47 Skytrain during Operation Plunder in March 1945 to record airborne operations over the Rhine, reporting that his aircraft was repeatedly hit by small arms fire while hedge-hopping over woodland. In April 1945 he accompanied Lowell Thomas to document conditions at Buchenwald concentration camp shortly after its liberation by US Forces. He filmed VE Day celebrations in Paris in May 1945.

Connections

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Units served with

Official emblem of the 303rd Bomb Group approved 7 November 1942.
  • Unit Hierarchy: Group
  • Air Force: Eighth Air Force
  • Type Category: Bombardment

People

Comedian Bob Hope in the cockpit of a B-17 Flying Fortress, during a visit to the 94th Bomb Group.
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Civilian
  • Nationality: American
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Service Numbers: 39021076
  • Highest Rank: Captain
  • Role/Job: Actor and filmmaker
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: The Writing 69th
  • Service Numbers: 32135400
  • Highest Rank: Sergeant
  • Role/Job: Staff Reporter, Stars and Stripes
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Civilian
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Group 107th Reconnaissance Squadron
  • Role/Job: Journalist

Places

  • Site type: Prisoner of war camp
  • Known as: Konzentrationslager Buchenwald

Events

Event Location Date Description

Born

Ceres, Stanislaus, California 11 July 1920

Enlisted

Los Angeles 25 May 1942

Died

Palo Alto, Santa Clara, California 10 April 2014

Revisions

Date
ContributorEmily
Changes
Sources

Information from object file for IWM EQU 3934 , B-2 Cap worn by Dick Ham

Date
ContributorEmily
Changes
Sources

Enlistment record, Legacy Obituary, Obituary in the Ceres Courier, footage of The Liberation of Buchenwald, filmed by Dick Ham at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum,

Richard Thomas Ham: Gallery (2 items)