Rest & Relaxation

Photos of Rest & Relaxation, Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Mickey Rooney, and Marlene Dietrich

We have gathered a collection of some of the best and most moving photos taken during the Second World War. They are from the National Archives in Washington D.C.
Please browse at your leisure. Meditate on the sacrifice given by these men and women in wartime.

This page is dedicated to showing how the soldiers got Rest & Relaxation from the War

"Marine Pfc. Douglas Lightheart (right) cradles his 30-cal. machine gun in his lap, while he and his buddy Pfc. Gerald Churchby take time out for a cigarette, while mopping up the enemy on Peleliu Is." Cpl. H. H. Clements, September 14, 1944. "Sailor reading in his bunk aboard USS CAPELIN at submarine base New London, Conn." Lt. Comdr. Charles Fenno Jacobs, August 1943
Click to Magnify   •  Full-size Image Click to Magnify   •  Full-size Image
 
"Activities aboard USS MONTEREY. Navy pilots in the forward elevator well playing basketball." Jumper at left identified as Gerald R. Ford. Attributed to Lt. Victor Jorgensen, ca. June/July 1944. "Liberty party. Liberty section personnel aboard LCM returning to USS CASABLANCA from Rara Island, off
Pitylieu Island, Manus." PhoM1c. R. W. Mowday, Admiralty Islands, April 19, 1945.
Click to Magnify   •  Full-size Image Click to Magnify   •  Full-size Image
 
"Bing Crosby, stage, screen and radio star, sings to Allied troops at the opening of the London stage door canteen in Piccadilly, London, England." Pearson, August 31, 1944. "Danny Kaye, well known stage and screen star, entertains 4,000 5th Marine Div. occupation troops at Sasebo, Japan. The crude sign across the front of the stage says: 'Officers keep out! Enlisted men's country.'" Pfc. H. J. Grimm, October 25, 1945.
Click to Magnify   •  Full-size Image Click to Magnify   •  Full-size Image
 
"Pfc. Mickey Rooney imitates some Hollywood actors for an audience of Infantrymen of the 44th Division. Rooney is a member of a three-man unit making a jeep tour to entertain the troops." T5c. Louis Weintraub, Kist, Germany, April 13, 1945. "Marlene Dietrich, motion picture actress, autographs the cast on the leg of Tec 4 Earl E. McFarland at a United States hospital in Belgium, where she has been entertaining the GIs." Tuttle, November 24, 1944.
Click to Magnify   •  Full-size Image Click to Magnify   •  Full-size Image