John Turner; HMS Barham newsman dies

John Turner, the man responsible for capturing one of WWII's most dramatic film images, has passed away at the age of 91.

As a Gaumont British News cameraman, he was aboard HMS Valiant on November 25th, 1941 in the Mediterranean en route to Alexandria ,and watched as the accompanying battleship HMS Barham was hit by three torpedoes fired by the U-331.

Turner had only two minutes' film left in his camera and left it running as the Barham heeled over. As the funnel touched the water, the main magazine exploded.....

http://www.photoship.co.uk/Old Video Clips/page2d.html

846 men died. This legendary piece of film was not released to be shown to the British public until the war had ended.

 

Incredible. My first reaction was "why didn't the other ships help the Barham?" when I saw what happened next I understood. Poor men. Amazing that Turner managed to control his feelings and continued shooting.

 

Apparently, he just 'froze' and kept his finger on the shutter release even after the film had run out.....