With heart and gumption, photojournalist Dickey Chapelle thrust herself into wars, revolutions and dangerous assignments. Often in places the men wouldn't go, she was the first of her kind. Happiest on the front lines, she drew connections with the military men she stood beside and did everything she could to advocate for them.

This was a well written and engaging book. Dickey was a real life heroine with an adventurous spirit and open heart. Reading about her life was fascinating. I found myself googling her photos and stories after finishing. Highly recommended! ( )

Exceptional biography of trail-blazing female journalist,pioneer in war-reporting,beautifully told. ( )

biographical-novel, correspondent, documentary, documented, emotional-abuse, gaslighting, misogynistic-era, photojournalist, read, reporter, research, torture, unputdownable, US Marines, war, war-crimes, war-experiences, War is Hell*****

Intrepid, unrelenting, betrayed by her husband and herself (not to mention a certain ranking officer after the battle of Okinawa).
From the early days of WW2 and on through Viet Nam she covered very closely the people that mattered to war as well as recovery efforts. Misogyny was rampant everywhere except with the troops of the US Marines. She began with the war in the Pacific, moved on into post war Europe, into the effects of the Cold War in Europe, into Korea, and ending in Viet Nam.
One storyteller gives a clear and affecting posthumous voice to another.
I feel ashamed as a woman from the Milwaukee area and one who was out of high school by the time she died that I have NEVER even heard of this iconoclastic woman.
Her goal became "when I die I want to be on patrol with the (US) Marines". At 47 (11/04/1965), in Viet Nam, she did.
I requested and received an EARC from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley. Thank you! ( )

When I die I want to be on patrol with the Marines.

Dickey Chapelle quoted in First to the Front by Lorissa Rinhart
You know that Dickey Chapelle was remarkable when you see her, holding her camera, dressed in fatigues and sporting fashionable cats-eye glasses, and wearing pearl earrings.

She documented the after affects of war and she went to the front lines. She was fearless and stayed in an abusive relationship for fifteen years. She survived weeks in isolation in a Soviet prison. She championed freedom fighters in Hungary, Algeria, and Cuba. She was patriotic and hated Communism, and loved the Marines, and she was appalled at CIA abuses and America’s misguided wars. Her articles appeared in the country’s foremost magazines and the military considered her an expert on guerilla warfare. As a reporter, she kept up with the soldiers and gained their respect.

And yet she has been nearly forgotten.

Did I truly think I could, with the tool of the camera around my neck, help end the need for the tool of the carbine on my shoulder?

Dickey Chapelle quoted in First to the Front by Lorissa Rinehart
First to the Front is Dickey’s remarkable story of her life as a photojournalist. She covered the war in the Pacific, documenting the use of blood to raise awareness of the importance of blood drives to soldiers and the war effort. She documented the European civilian casualties of war and concentration camp survivors. She saw the fight against locusts in Iraq and in Iran notied the failure of aid efforts to make an impact. In India, she documented the impact of American tractors on farming.

Dickey reported on the Hungarian Revolution, where she was arrested and imprisoned. She recommitted her battle against totalitarianism and went to Algeria which was fighting for independence from the French and to Cuba where Castro was fighting the despot Batista.

Then, she went to Laos where the CIA and the military were “laying the groundwork for a much larger conflict”–what became the Vietnam war, where Dickey ultimately lost her life.

Dickey’s reporting had a slant–the human element. She cared. She cared about the soldiers and she cared about the victims of war. She championed social justice and human rights. She loved her country but was willing to see it’s faults, the promise and how it had not achieved the promise.

I was completely enthralled by this biography.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book. ( )