Taxis to Hell – and back – Into the Jaws of Death is a photograph taken on June 6, 1944, byRobert F. Sargent, a chief photographers mate in theUnited States Coast Guard. It depicts soldiers of theU.S. Army's 1st Infantry Division disembarking from anLCVP (landing craft, vehicle, personnel) from theU.S. Coast Guard-crewedUSS Samuel Chase atOmaha Beach during theNormandy landings inWorld War II.[3][4]
The photograph was taken by Chief Photographer's Mate Robert F. Sargent during the troop landing phase ofOperation Neptune, the naval component of theOperation Overlord Normandy landing commonly known asD-Day.
The photograph was taken at 7:40 am local time. It depicts the soldiers departing theHiggins boat and wading through waist-deep water towards the "Easy Red" sector ofOmaha Beach.[5]
The image was one of the most widely reproduced photographs of the D-Day landings. The original photograph is stored by the United States Coast Guard Historian's Office.[5]
Neptune was the largest combat operation ever performed by theUnited States Coast Guard.[5]
The Higgins boat depicted in the photograph had departed from theattack transportUSS Samuel Chase about 10 miles (8.7 nmi; 16 km) from the coast ofNormandy at around 5:30 am. Waves continuously broke over the boat's square bow, and the soldiers inside were drenched in cold ocean water.[5]
In all,Samuel Chase lost six landing craft on D-Day; four foundered near the beach, one was "impaled" by a beach obstacle, and another was sunk by enemy gunfire.[5]
The phrase "into the jaws of Death" in the photograph's caption comes from a refrain in "The Charge of the Light Brigade", an1854narrative poem byAlfred, Lord Tennyson about theCharge of the Light Brigade at theBattle of Balaclava during theCrimean War.[6]
The image was evoked in the 1998 Hollywood filmSaving Private Ryan,[7][8] and appears on the cover ofStanley Lombardo's 1997 English translation of theIliad as a symbol of the universality of war.[9]
Media related toInto the Jaws of Death at Wikimedia Commons