RESEARCH ARTICLE
The Weary Warrior I|I:
Paper Trail
Primary sources and archival documents as evidence in the question of Underwood v. Klonis.
Author’s Note: This is the third and final section of a three-part series that aims to re-establish the identity of W. Eugene Smith’s “Weary Warrior” as PFC Thomas Ellis Underwood of St. Petersburg, Florida, who served with Company B, First Battalion, 24th Marines in the battle of Saipan. In this installment, we will examine primary sources – including the military records of Underwood and Sgt. Angelo S. Klonis – along with corroborating evidence from other period sources.
This third article presents what I consider to be the most concrete proof of Underwood’s identity in the photographs by Troutman and Smith. While pictures are open to interpretation (to a degree, anyway) and biographies never tell a full story, the conclusions drawn below are based on primary sources drawn from military records, the National Archives, and first-hand accounts. While we cannot always assume total accuracy even in these sources, the confluence of information creates a pretty compelling case.
Here are a few basic facts to bear in mind while reading.
- Thomas Ellis Underwood served in the United States Marine Corps, specifically Company B, First Battalion, 24th Marines, Fourth Marine Division. He served exclusively with this company from 15 December 1942 until killed in action at Iwo Jima on 4 March 1945.
- B/1/24th Marines participated in the battle of Saipan from 15 June to 13 July 1944, and was on garrison duty from 14-24 July. Underwood was present with the company during that time, except for the period of 1-4 July when he was at a field hospital being treated for illness.
- The "Weary Warrior" photograph was taken on Saipan on 8 July 1944. Both Smith and Troutman noted that the subject was "T. E. Underwood" of St. Petersburg, Florida.
- Marine Corps muster rolls carry only one individual with the initials "T. E. Underwood" serving in that branch during World War II.
- Angelo Speros Klonis served with the United States Army from 1942 to 1945. Due to the destruction of many Army records, his full service history is not known.
- A search of Army enlistment records confirms that there was only one Angelo [or Angelos] S. Klonis in American military service at that time.
- Finally, as before, it is taken for granted that the three surviving images of the "Warrior" (one by Troutman, two by Smith) are the same person.
Question 1: Where were Underwood and Klonis in July 1944?
Underwood was on Saipan
The first part of this series established the service history of Thomas Ellis Underwood. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps on 22 October 1942 and trained at Parris Island; two months later, he joined Company B, First Separate Battalion (Reinforced) at New River, North Carolina. This company shipped to Camp Pendleton, California, in March 1943 and was re-designated as Company B, First Battalion, 24th Marines (or B/1/24). Marine Corps muster rolls indicate that Underwood served with this unit exclusively until his death. He was briefly absent from duty twice during his service. On Saipan, he was evacuated “sick” (no specifics are known) on 1 July, returning to duty on 4 July. On Iwo Jima, he was wounded in action (contusion, head) in February 1945, returning to duty on 1 March, and was killed in action on 4 March.[1]
It is an indisputable historical fact that B/1/24 was in combat on Saipan from 15 June to 13 July 1944, and heavily engaged on 8 July. Underwood received a citation for his service as a squad leader on Saipan and was authorized to wear a campaign star for the battle; ergo, he was definitely on the island. Source files may be downloaded at the links below.
Klonis was in Europe
We have not covered much of Mr. Klonis’ service in this series, mainly because few details are known – however, enough are available to place him on the other side of the globe. Angelo Speros Klonis was born on 26 October 1916 on the Ionian island of Kefalleneas (Cephalonia), Greece. He emigrated to the United States on 2 March 1936 and settled in Santa Fe, New Mexico, finding employment as a cook.[2] In 1940, when eligible to register for the draft, he listed his employer as a Waffle House “across from DeVargas Hotel, Santa Fe.”
Klonis was drafted into the United States Army on 10 August 1942 and was issued Army service number 38166479. Unfortunately, Army personnel files are more challenging to locate than Marine Corps ones – a fire at the National Archives in 1973 destroyed 80% of all such records. There were no copies or microfilms; millions of irreplaceable records are lost forever. Thus, tracking Klonis’ military path is complicated but by no means impossible. Fortunately, his unique name is an indelible clue: he was the only one in military service during World War II.
A newspaper article in the Santa Fe New Mexican of 27 November 1943 reports on a visit from seven Santa Fe enlisted men on leave from Fort Fisher, North Carolina. First on the list is Sergeant Angelo Klonis.
Fort Fisher was a somewhat remote and unpleasant training facility, known best to history as a Confederate fort protecting Wilmington Harbor and the site of novel amphibious assaults during the Civil War. During World War II, it served as a camp for anti-aircraft battalions, coast artillery batteries, engineer and ordnance troops, and air warning units.[3] Unfortunately, we don’t know which of these units included Sergeant Klonis, but we do know that he was serving in the United States through at least late 1943.
However, because Mr. Klonis was a New Mexico resident, a copy of his discharge paperwork is publicly available online, courtesy of the New Mexico State Archives. And from this document, we can fill in some details of his service. This document is vital to the identity question as it places Sergeant Klonis in the ETO before, during, and after July 1944.
Key details from the discharge document, and their corresponding fields:
1. Name: Angelo S. Klonis – match with enlistment records
2. Army Serial Number: 38166479 – match with enlistment and post-war naturalization records
3. Grade: T4 (Technician 4th Grade) – match with the stated rank of Sergeant
4. Arm Of Service: FA (Field Artillery) – match with known training activities at Camp Fisher
5. Component: AUS (Army of the United States)
6. Organization: Company C, 634th [or 654th] TD (Tank Destroyer Battalion)
The scan is difficult to make out here, but both of these units deployed from England to Normandy in July 1944.
7. Date of Separation: 23 November 1945 – matches with info on Selective Service registration
9. Address: – matches known residence in Santa Fe
10. Date of Birth: 26 October 1916 – matches multiple records including Selective Service
11. Place of Birth: Greece – matches multiple records including Selective Service and naturalization
21. Civilian occupation: Manager, Restaurant or Coffee Shop – matches Selective Service registration and known post-war career
22. Date of induction: 10 August 1942 – matches New Mexico Army enlistment records.
30. Military Occupational Specialty: Cook – matches known civilian occupation
This data is sufficient to prove that the only Angelos Klonis in military service was this man, a Greek-born Santa Fe resident – and that he served in the European Theater of Operations as a cook. He departed the United States on 10 February 1944 and arrived in England on 24 February, and remained in theater until returning to the United States in November 1945.
It should be noted that the unit listed above may not be the unit with which Sergeant Klonis served for most of his deployment, but instead the unit with which he returned to the United States. And this leads to one final piece of the puzzle. When he enlisted in the Army, Mr. Klonis was not yet an American citizen. He filled out the petition for naturalization while overseas. The date was 11 March 1945, and Sergeant Klonis was in Paris, France. He brought two witnesses to his character: T/3 George L. Nichols and Corporal Vincent J. Battaglia. Nichols and Battaglia both served with Battery C, 447th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons (AAA AW) Battalion.
And, according to the petition, Angelo Klonis was “serving honorably, without the jurisdiction of any naturalization court, in the military or naval forces of the United States as Technician Fourth Grade in Btry. C, 447th AAA AW Bn. under Serial No. 38166479 as shown by official service records.”
Click the image to view the entire file (PDF download)
The 447th was a self-propelled anti-aircraft unit, equipped with the M16 Multiple Gun Motor Carriage. They fought in the European Theater of Operations attached to the 28th Infantry Division, and saw heavy combat including the Hürtgen Forest and the battle of the Bulge.
Further evidence that Sergeant Klonis served in the ETO may be found in his list of awards and decorations. He was authorized to wear the following ribbons:
He was also authorized to wear five stars on his campaign ribbon, indicating he was present for duty in the following actions:
Normandy (6 June – 24 July 1944)
Northern France (25 July – 14 September 1944)
Ardennes-Alsace (16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945)
Rhineland (15 September 1944 – 21 March 1945)
Central Europe (22 March – 11 May 1945)
(Note that the discharge does not include the Combat Infantryman Badge, which would be noted in Box 31; nor does it include the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, which would have been awarded for service on Saipan.)
This ribbon rack paints quite a picture of long, dedicated service, including one year, nine months, and four days overseas. However, it also means that Klonis could not have possibly been present on Saipan. To accomplish this feat, he would have had to travel from an active combat zone in France – just after D-Day, when all men were desperately needed – all the way to the other side of the globe. Not only that, but he then had to return to the ETO for the remainder of the war. This journey would have been prohibitively difficult and expensive for the highest-ranking military officers – and entirely out of the question for an enlisted cook. Any job that needed doing on Saipan would have been filled by a serviceman already in theater.
Counterpoint: Klonis was on a secret assignment with a group like the OSS.
This argument is easily debunked. The Office of Strategic Services personnel records have been declassified and are publicly searchable thanks to the National Archives. There are no records connected to “Klonis” or service number 38166479.
Try the search here. Or, to learn more about the release of records (and duplicate the search string), visit The OSS Society.
Even supposing that Klonis was part of some alternate secret service, the logistics of sending him from France to Saipan and back again are, quite simply, impossible. John Sheridan summed up the argument nicely:
"What mission could he possibly have been needed for in the Pacific, that no other unit or individual could have performed, justifying the enormous expense in time and money required for his redeployment? What commander in the Pacific would have contacted Washington and demanded an elite super soldier (of whom he would never have heard) to be brought back from Europe? Alternatively, what commander in Europe suddenly announced that Klonis was an exceptional soldier and needed to be sent to a totally different theatre to perform an urgent mission no-one already there could manage? Even modern day Delta or Seals would find it very ill-advised to go from the climate and terrain of Europe to the totally alien environment of the Pacific at the height of both campaigns without very good reason indeed."[4]
Question 2: Could the photographers have mistaken their subject?
Stanley Troutman and W. Eugene Smith were professionals long before they arrived on Saipan.
Smith’s career in photojournalism began in the late 1930s, first with Newsweek in 1938 and then Life in 1939. He had a dual reputation as a prickly personality and a stickler for accuracy; this latter trait would influence his style and works. He is regarded as the father of the photo essay in its ultimate form, and the International Center of Photography considers “his work the standard by which photojournalism was measured for many years.”[5] Smith already had some experience in-theater, too, as a photographer for the Ziff-Davis publication Flying. He was on Saipan fulfilling an assignment for Life Magazine.
Troutman was as experienced as Smith, if not more so. During six years as a staff photographer for Acme Newspictures in Los Angeles, Troutman covered crime scenes and courtrooms, film premieres and natural disasters. Although exempt from the draft – his work was considered essential on the home front – Troutman nevertheless volunteered to go overseas.[6] He was assigned to the War Picture Pool with photographers from the Associated Press, International News Service, and Life. Saipan was his first assignment in the war zone; he arrived in a new Marine uniform, carrying his camera, and rank equivalent to a lieutenant commander – but no weapon. “Being away from my wife and two-year-old daughter was an adjustment,” he said. “The food was tough…. Adjusting to seeing death was the most difficult.”[7]
Smith and Troutman were the only press pool photographers assigned to cover Saipan, and they worked together for three weeks. By night they lived in the press tent with the correspondents and writers; by day, they went out to take pictures. Troutman carried a hefty medium-format Speed Graphic, while Smith preferred his trusty 35mm. They drew their film from military stores – “the Army or Marines supplied all the film depending on which branch of the service I was assigned to” – and slipped notebooks into their pockets.
In 2014, Troutman explained how he kept track of his negatives.
"A film pack [for his Speed Graphic] was a holder that contained twelve shots. I would shoot the twelve shots, or less, and send it to Pearl Harbor for processing into negatives and censorship. I kept track of each shot by hand on a notepad which I sent along with the film packs. The negatives and notes were sent from Pearl Harbor to Acme, and they wrote the captions and shared them with the other members of the War Picture Pool for publishing.
"For the particular photo [of Underwood], I would have noted 'Marine drinking water from the canteen,' the Marine’s name, and his city. Eugene and I would have personally talked to the Marine to get his name, rank, and hometown."[8]
Smith operated on a similar system, jotting down notes to jog his memory, then expanding into a more journalistic narrative. These notes were crucial for the editors back at Pearl Harbor, who had no other frame of reference for the pictures they received.
The salient point to be made here is that the two photographers were no amateurs prone to careless mistakes. Misidentifying the subject of a photo in civilian life had professional ramifications, and Smith and Troutman approached their combat subjects with the same level of detail. Thus, to have both men take down the name “T. E. Underwood,” the town of St. Petersburg, the rank of Private First Class, and in Smith’s case, a specific unit is a solid indication they were speaking to Ellis Underwood.[9]
Question 3: Did Klonis or Underwood ever confirm their identity in the photographs?
By contrast, Ellis Underwood did see his photo – and reacted to it, as well. Thanks to Stanley Troutman’s careful notes, the photograph ran in the St. Petersburg Times with Ellis’s name and details on 24 July 1944.
His parents, George and Cora Underwood clipped the photo and mailed it off to Ellis. We know this happened because the newspaper printed a follow-up story on 17 September 1944 – and, to make sure their readers didn’t miss out, re-ran the photograph along with Ellis’s reaction.
"I received your letter and the picture out of the paper that was taken on Saipan. It was funny about that. I never had any idea that it would get home. I just bent down low to take a drink, and my picture was taken. The fellow asked me my name and home address. Heavy fighting was going on where the picture was taken and the island wasn’t secured for about six or eight days later."[11]
Troutman's press photo with cutline, the first appearance in the St. Petersburg Times, and the article recording Underwood's reaction. (Click to expand)
Fascinatingly, the paper also ran a picture of a Japanese bayonet and sword that Ellis sent home as souvenirs. The sword’s tasseled hilt is visible under his arm in the Troutman photo.
Short and sweet: Thomas Underwood was on Saipan; Angelos Klonis was not. Two experienced and highly professional photographers got the same name and hometown, and a close approximation of the unit matching Underwood’s confirmed service information. There is documented evidence that Underwood was aware of and confirmed his identity in the Troutman photo. In my opinion, this picture shows Thomas Ellis Underwood and not Angelos Klonis.
Counter-Evidence
The argument presented in Ms. Swanson’s article is, unfortunately, flawed from the very beginning. The first assumption is that the man in the photos is “obviously a swarthy, dark-skinned, dusky-looking Greek, not an Anglo. It is highly unlikely that he would have been an ‘Underwood’ in the WWII generation of 55 years ago in America.”[12] Not only is this purely objective (not to mention incredibly presumptuous), it also ignores the effects of sun and exposure after long periods in the field. Ellis Underwood’s Service Record notes that he was of a “ruddy” complexion, with black hair and blue eyes – and this was his natural complexion from the Florida sun before he spent months training in southern California and additional months overseas in tropical climates. Even the palest specimens remarked on how their skin tone changed after a short while overseas. 1Lt. Philip E. Wood, Jr. (A/1/24) mentioned his “heavy brown tan” after the battle of Roi-Namur in February 1944.[13] Corporal Everett Schafer (B/1/24) noted a similar change while training at Camp Pendleton.[14]
The second error was committed by a researcher who, despite “having the ability to research each Underwood who was in any branch of the military in any war,” could not locate Thomas Ellis Underwood.[15] This individual identified a Vietnam veteran by that name but overlooked or otherwise ignored numerous records that would have made quick work of the investigation or raised the possibility that Smith and Troutman had the right man. Nor did they manage to locate Mr. Klonis’ discharge papers or naturalization records in the New Mexico state archives. While military records were not as easily searchable online in 2005 as they are today, it still sounds like Ms. Swanson’s estimation of this individual’s abilities was seriously overstated. (Ms. Swanson also noted that the researcher had a personal connection to the Klonis family – so the question of confirmation bias cannot be overlooked.)
The impact of this error cannot be overstated as it led to the presumption of error in the historical record. Instead of exhausting options to verify existing information, the Klonis team set out to prove the revisionist conclusion they believed to be correct.
Operating under the assumption that “T. E. Underwood” did not exist, the Klonis team had to explain how that name appeared in Smith’s notes. They landed on the explanation that the name was a portmanteau of Angelo’s nickname (“Crazy Greek” or Trelos Ellinas) and John Ray “J.R.” Underwood of St. Petersburg, Florida. Mr. Underwood passed away in the 1990s and was thus also unable to confirm the identity in the photo. However, his widow recalled several stories about “secret missions” with “a Greek buddy from New Mexico” that took them, somehow, from Europe to Saipan. Her version of these stories formed the basis the “undercover operative” storyline.[16]
However, this is more than likely a faulty memory. Assuming that Ms. Swanson’s information is correct – Army veteran John Ray Underwood, living in St. Petersburg at the time of his death – only one possible candidate emerges. T/44 John Ray Underwood (44022041) lived from 1926 to 1995 and was an Army veteran – but he enlisted on 28 November 1944, several months after the battle of Saipan.[17] It is not currently known where, or with which unit, he served, although if he did know Klonis, he was likely a member of the 447th AAA AW Battalion. (It should be noted that there are no entries for “J. R. Underwood” in the OSS records.) While Mrs. Underwood doubtless gave her affidavit in good faith, she may have misremembered or misunderstood details – and without Mr. J. R. Underwood living to verify the story, it seems to have been accepted at face value.
Note: Anyone with information concerning a different John Ray Underwood in US Army service is invited to offer corrections to this information.
Thus grew the story, based on incomplete data and a fanciful narrative that fit a pre-supposed conclusion. The tale of a mistaken identity, an immigrant hero, and a dash of secrecy are certainly enough to capture the imagination. However, based on wishful thinking and supported by flawed military research, the story falls apart under scrutiny.
Conclusions
Given the evidence presented above, I believe that the only logical candidate for the “Weary Warrior” is Marine PFC Thomas Ellis Underwood, as originally cited by W. Eugene Smith and Stanley Troutman.
It is a matter of historical record that Underwood, a private first class serving with B/1/24th Marines, was present at the battle of Saipan. His physical traits are similar to the Weary Warrior, and the uniform and personal gear in the photographs are distinctly Marine Corps. Two professional photographers confirmed his name and hometown, and Underwood personally confirmed that Troutman’s picture was him. Underwood was killed in action on Iwo Jima, presumably never having seen Smith’s photograph – but, since the subjects in the pictures are unquestionably the same man, he would undoubtedly have made the connection had he lived.
The burden of proof falls upon the challenger. Archival military documents show that T/4 Angelo S. Klonis was serving in the European Theater – either in England awaiting deployment to France, or already in Normandy – at the time was taken. To appear in the photograph, he would have had to travel to the other side of the world, disguise himself as a Marine for some unknown purpose, and subsequently travel back to Europe in time for the Northern France campaign. No documented evidence suggests any member of the United States armed forces made any such voyage, nor is there anything to support the hypothesis that Klonis worked with the OSS. Finally, this would also presume that Mr. Klonis’ petition for naturalization and his discharge paperwork from the United States Army was either wildly inaccurate or deliberately falsified, neither of which is plausible.
Therefore, the likelihood that Klonis is the Weary Warrior is so remote as to approach zero.
As stated at the outset, this series is not intended to slight Angelo Klonis or his military service. Few men spent so long in the European Theater of Operations; fewer still came home to raise a family and realize their dreams. He is, indeed, an American success story and leaves an admirable legacy.
Ellis Underwood, however, is no less a hero and deserves to be recognized as such. His life ended in pain and fear after twenty-two short years; he never had the chance to build a family or a legacy of his own.
The “Weary Warrior” is a genius photograph: it captures, in a single frame, the universal experience of the American fighting man in World War II. It reaches iconic status because the audience can relate to the man staring back at them, placing themselves or their family member in his dungarees. Determination is captured here, just as suffering appears in Troutman’s study of an exhausted Marine on Peleliu, and triumph in Rosenthal’s “Raising the Flag.” The individual identities of the subjects are almost secondary; they embody the experience of everyone who served in or lived through the Second World War.
Yet it is essential to remember that the people in these photographs were not archetypes. They did not start their day intending to become icons. They were ordinary people with their own histories, their own stories, and their own names. And we owe them the dignity of accuracy in the historical record.
Doubtless, some will always see Angelo Klonis in the “Weary Warrior,” just as others will see their father, grandfather, uncle, husband, or brother. But there can only be one man in the photograph – and all the evidence points to Thomas Ellis Underwood, a young fishing enthusiast from St. Petersburg, who went to war and never came home.
Continue Reading
Introduction
Part II
Footnotes
1. Thomas Ellis Underwood, Official Military Personnel File (OMPF), Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Washington National Records Center, Suitland, MD; Muster Rolls, First Battalion, 24th Marines; Roll 814, July, 1944. U.S. Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1893-1958. Microfilm Publication T977, 460 rolls. ARC ID: 922159. Records of the U.S. Marine Corps, Record Group 127; National Archives in Washington, D.C.
2. Naturalization Records From U.S. District Courts. Records of District Courts of the United States, Record Group 21. The National Archives at Denver, Broomfield, Colorado.
3. Friends of Fort Fisher, “About Us,” accessed 1 March 2021.
5. John Sheridan, comment on “Underwood v. Klonis II” 11 November 2016.
3. Lisa Hostetler, “W. Eugene Smith,” International Center of Photography. Accessed 1 March 2021.
6. Hillary Davis, “Newport’s Stanley Troutman went to war armed only with a camera,” The Los Angeles Times (16 February 2020). Article online, accessed 1 March 2021.
7. Stanley Troutman, correspondence with the author courtesy of Gayle Rindge, 26 May 2014.
8. Ibid.
9. Smith’s notes refer to the “24th Bat.” While there is no such unit as the “24th Battalion,” this was certainly a misprint of “24th Regiment,” to which Underwood belonged.
10. Mary Virginia Swanson, “Angelo Klonis: The Real-Life Story of an Army Soldier Turned American Icon,” The Digital Journalist (October 2005). Article online, accessed 1 March 2021.
11. “Marines Doing Quick Job Routing Japs In Pacific, But Pause For Souvenirs,” The St. Petersburg Times (17 September 1944).
12.Swanson, “Angelo Klonis”
13. Philip Emerson Wood, Jr. letter dated 13 February 1944.
14. Everett Ellsworth Schafer, letter dated 17 June 1943.
15. Swanson, “Angelo Klonis”
16. Ibid. There is no known relation between John Ray Underwood and Thomas Ellis Underwood. John was a Georgia native who moved to St. Pete in 1969. John Ray Underwood obituary, St. Petersburg Times (6 May 1995).
17. U.S. Veterans Gravesites, ca.1775-2006, National Cemetery Administration, Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006; Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2005.