Red Grandy in the Stars and Stripes photo office in Griesheim, 1962

(Gus Schuettler/Stars and Stripes)

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

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

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

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

October is Archives Month and today the Stars and Stripes archivists want to express their eternal gratitude to Red and all the Stars and Stripes photographers who came before and after him. It is a privilege to be able to work with the images created by our photographers across eras and wars and we are honored to have the task of preserving them for future generations.

Be sure to check out Stars and Stripes social media today October 16th as the Archives staff posts about our jobs and shares some of the amazing things we keep.

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

You can read his obituary here.