Dirty Words: “My Buddy, World War II Laid Bare” Exposes the Naked Truth About Combat

You'd think there would be nothing new to learn about the Greatest Generation, those brave men and women who fought the in Great War, but you'd be wrong. Every detail about engagement with the enemy has been squeezed dry by historians, sociologists, psychologists, artists, et al., but there's a wet spot that hasn't been noticed until now.

"My Buddy, World War II Laid Bare," edited by Dian Hanson, and available next month from Taschen, is an eyeopening picture book of life on the front lines. Though cameras were rare on the battlefield, less important than weaponry and ammunition, some did carry and document the bonds that naturally grew between men facing death together on a daily basis.

As noted in the promotional materials for this book, "Los Angeles photographer Michael Stokes has spent years searching out these photos and building an archive of over 500 images. His collection includes soldiers and sailors from Australia, England, France, Italy, Poland, Russia and the USA, cavorting on the sand in the South Pacific, shivering in the snow of Eastern Europe, posing solo in the barracks, and in great happy groups just about everywhere. These images show men barely out of boyhood, at their physical peak, responding to the reality of battle by living each day to the fullest—a side of the war never before made public."

Intimate relationships were encouraged by the military brass to help bolster the troops agains the horrors of combat. They officially sanctioned a "buddy" system, where close relationships would provide emotional support for these young men threatened by extinction in their physical prime.

There are not many survivors from that time to tell us what it was like, so these pictures are extra poignant and sexy. However, 89-year-old ex-Marine Scotty Bowers offers a personal look at the intersection between sex and death in his introduction. These soldiers got right up to the enemy line of homosexual conflict, but stayed in their foxholes. The tease, the goof and the playful nudity was the thing. More sexually explicit expression likely occurred, but outside the watching lens of the camera.

As editor Dian Hanson writes in her forward, "Keeping such photographic service records was encouraged; beautiful albums were marketed during the war, the leather or cloth covers embossed with slogans and imagery from each branch of the service. Many men kept meticulous photographic records of places and events they'd never see again, so why not include that funny nude shot? It's not like it meant anything; just grab-ass, just fucking around, the way young, high-spirited guys do when there are no women around to point, giggle or disapprove.

"Part of what makes these photos so rare is that guys weren't seeking out opportunities to take nudes: Even those who took a lot of photos didn't have more than one or two. The percentages are higher for men who served in the Pacific, as the hot, humid weather encouraged nudity, but still, any guy who showed up with a camera every time his buddies stripped down for a swim would cause talk. The scuttlebutt—slang for gossip—would get around, and as Scotty points out, overt behavior wasn't tolerated. Guys knew the difference between that kind of interest and the red-blooded grab-ass buddies got up to."

The book is filled with touching images of men brought to the threshold of inhumanity, but unwilling to cross that line. We see them clutching one other in genuine and unguarded affection. There are men fully nude but for their hats, strutting side by side, naked genitalia in step, with their faithful dog companions looking overdressed in comparison. American soldiers in tighty-whities photograph a Filipino comrade, who lounges with his penis tucked between his legs in a feminine pose. There are scores of images featuring fighting me pretending to kiss (or maybe pretending to pretend), with their arms around one another, naked in piles, and there are even advertisements from the time that feature the cavorting clothes-less conscripts half-naked in the service of commerce.

Of course this is the tip of the iceberg for hot naked men of war, only that iceberg has melted with time. We'll never know the full extent of the nude horseplay during World War II, as cameras were rare and film hard to process at the time. But we can be thankful for the brave men who documented this unprecedented male bonding. Their anonymous photographs, usually kept hidden away until their deaths, have finally come to light thanks to the work of Michael Stokes. We're stoked for it.

Buy "My Buddy, World War II Laid Bare" from Taschen here.