He Won't Forget

by Scott Feldman

I'm sure you've seen them. Those black and white battlefield films of U-S soldiers in action. Well, the other day I met a Long Islander who shot them. He was one of the top combat photographers of the Korean War. 77 year old Len Totora, Jr. I caught up with Len at his camera and video store in Huntington. It was the 58th anniversary of the start of the Korean War. Photography was Len's first love. And the U-S Army trained him well. When General Douglas MacArthur wanted the best photographers in the military to show him exactly what was happening in Korea, he picked Len. His footage went directly to McArthur to show him how his men were doing and what was needed to defeat the enemy. As Len put it, "It was a little unfair. They were shooting at me with a gun, I was shooting at them with a camera." But then he quickly added, "I was full of you-know-what and vinegar and I had no fear." Len and other combat photographers were saved on more than one occasion by their film cans. They would strap a bunch of them around their necks. In each can, there was a 100 feet of film tightly wound. Len says when they got back from a battle, they discovered bullets in the cans, stopped by the thick film! They didn't even know they had been hit. Len returned home to Long Island with the Bronze Star. And ever since, he has been speaking around the Island to let all who don't know what Korea, known as the Forgotten War, was all about. Len tells me, "It is not the Forgotten War, not as long as I'm alive." If you ever get the chance, stop in to L&L Camera and Video at 267 New York Avenue. Len is quite a guy.