Walking in his father’s footsteps

Paul Saitowitz

On Sept. 12, 1944 the United States invaded the tiny Micronesian

island of Peleliu. The island, occupied by the Japanese, was supposed to

be a routine job for the U.S. troops, and the entire mission was thought

to scantly last more than a few days.

Two months later the five-square-mile parcel of land was littered with

20,000 dead American and Japanese bodies.

Instead of defending the beaches, the Japanese troops decided to seek

shelter in the caves of Peleliu’s rocky interior. With the Japanese

soldiers refusing to leave the caves, the Americans poured aviation fuel

within the rocky confines and set them aflame -- igniting all inside.

The battle that took place on this island is said to be one of the

bloodiest of the second world war.

One of the American soldiers that did battle at Peleliu was

20-year-old Russell Fee. The events that took place there scarred him for

life. Fee’s son James recalls his father occasionally awakening violently

in the middle of the night, brandishing a weapon and shouting “Up and at

‘em soldier.” Fee eventually committed suicide in 1972.

While on the island, Russell Fee took several photos of the carnage he

witnessed. Those photos inspired his son, who is a photographer, to

return to Peleliu several years later on a mission of “Unstructured

experiences of discovery.” After three trips to the island retracing the

footsteps of his father, James Fee put together a photo exhibit of his

experiences. The exhibit, The Peleliu Project, is on display through Nov.

9 at the Golden West College Fine Art Gallery.

Fee’s color photos of beautiful sunsets and foliage juxtaposed with

old machine guns and war remnants hang side by side his father’s tiny

black and white gelatin prints, which include dead bodies and live

action.

“I think having his father’s photos next to his gives this exhibit

multiple layers of appreciation,” gallery directory Donna Sandrock said.

“On opening night I had a Vietnam veteran tell me how much he appreciated

the exhibit and I think there is added relevance because of what took

place on Sept. 11.”

There is a dreamlike quality in Fee’s earlier work, including a series

on a Philadelphia penitentiary and several independent slices of American

life. A lot of those works are in black and white and tend to be slightly

out of focus. With The Peleliu Project, the images are sharp with

brightly contrasting colors.

“I think the sheer lushness of the tropical environment really made

the photos work a lot better in color,” Sandrock said. “It brings to life

the feeling on the island.”

Fee’s trips to Peleliu included days and days of hiking across the

island looking for war remnants untouched and in positions conducive to

photographs. While there, he stayed with some of the natives because the

island did not have a single hotel. It recently received electricity this

year, and with a hotel on the way, it may eventually become a tourism

spot.

The Golden West gallery is the only gallery besides the Craig Krull

gallery at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica to display the exhibits. The

gallery hosts about seven shows a year, Sandrock said.

“I saw one image from James, it was a shot of the Statue of Liberty

from behind her,” Sandrock said. “It made such an impression on me that I

decided I wanted his Peleliu exhibit sight unseen.”

Fee, a photo instructor at the Art Institute in Pasadena has already

published one book and is in the works to publish his photos from

Peleliu.FYI

What: James Fee’s Peleliu Project

When: Through Nov. 9

Where: The Golden West College Fine Arts Gallery, 15744 Goldenwest St., Huntington Beach.