<p>Landing operations on Rendova Island, Solomon Islands, 30 June 1943.  Attacking at the break of day in a heavy rainstorm, the first Americans ashore huddle behind tree trunks and any other cover they can find.  (Navy)
NARA FILE #:  080-G-52573---WAR &amp; CONFLICT BOOK #:  1176--- original filename is HD-SN-99-02835.JPEG 
</p>
('<i>The soldier behind the tree looking toward the camera is believed to be Army Private First Class Clayton Sholes. Claims of other individuals in this picture have yet to be proven. He was 1st Scout, Company B, 172 Batalion, 43rd Division, United States Army. Two months after this photo was taken, he was wounded by shrapnel on Munda (New Georgia) and subsequently evacuated to Auckland, New Zealand. Clayton Sholes died at the age of 93 in August of 2012. He lived in the town of Ada, northwestern Minnesota, for most of his life except his service in the United States Army. The image of himself looking toward the camera was confirmed by him numerous times in his life including details of WHO took the picture, which was a Navy photographer. This image, which is now widely circulated on the internet was searched for, and found in 1994 (pre-internet) at the National Archives by his grandson. The archivist who helped his grandson find the image told him the orignal negative hadn't been viewed for thirty years. She also confirmed that the person who took the photograph was a Navy photographer because of the way it was catalogued at the National Archives. Source: Clayton Sholes, Grandson Jon Van Amber </i>)
Major Robert Jacquot
1943-06-30
U.S. Navy, www.defenseimagery.mil