Historic WWII Camera Donated

The Museum has received the Bell & Howell movie camera used by Photographer’s Mate 1st Class Patrick McKnite Sr., a U.S. Coast Guard combat cameraman who captured major WWII events—from Atlantic anti-submarine patrols to D-Day at Utah Beach and the battle for Iwo Jima.

Donated by his son, Patrick McKnite Jr. of Rochester, Minn.,the collection includes the camera, 16mm color film from Utah Beach and Pompeii, and dozens of black-and-white prints and negatives, many showing frontline combat scenes. McKnite served aboard the USS Bayfield (APA-33), filming iconic footage of 4th Infantry Division troops heading ashore on D-Day.

This remarkable donation preserves the legacy of a cameraman who seemed to be everywhere history was being made.