Griesheim, Germany, Sep. 27, 1962: Stars and Stripes photo editor Red Grandy in Stars and Stripes’ photo office in the Griesheim offices of Stars and Stripes Europe.

The image is one of two that appear randomly on the end of a roll of 32mm film filled with photos taken of Spanish surrealist painter and sculptor Salvador Dali, shot by fellow Stars and Stripes photographer Gus Schuettler.

Before the age of digital photography, photographers shot on film, by the 1960s this usually was 35mm film that usually held 36 frames per roll to capture 36 images on. When a roll still had frames left after photographers were done with an assignment, they sometimes filled the roll with random shots.

Hired by Stars and Stripes in 1951 Francis “Red” Grandy remained with the paper for more than three decades, most of it as its chief photographer. It is thanks to his enormous talent, our archives hold so many iconic - and award winning - images. He died in 2018.

October is Archives Month and today the Stars and Stripes archivists would like to express their eternal gratitude to Red and all the Stars and Stripes photographers who came before and after him. It’s a privilege to be able to work with the images created by our photographers through ages and wars and we are honored to have the task to preserve them for future generations.

Be sure to check out Stars and Stripes’ social media today Oct. 16 as the archives staff posts about our jobs and shares some of the amazing things we preserve.

To find some of Red’s iconic images, do a search on his name: Red Grandy on our website.

You can read his obituary here.

related stories

• Francis J. 'Red' Grandy: Stripes' prolific veteran photographer, dead at 96