- Fred Waters was an Associated Press photographer since 1952 who covered everything from the Korean and Vietnam wars to construction of the Gateway Arch
- He also traveled with Martin Luther King Jr. and covered the upheaval after his assassination
- Waters died Wednesday at age 86 in Gulf Breeze, Florida, after several years of failing health
By Daily Mail Reporter and Associated Press Reporter
Published: | Updated:
Fred Waters, a longtime Associated Press photographer who covered everything from the Korean and Vietnam wars to construction of the Gateway Arch, has died, his daughter said Thursday.
Waters died Wednesday in Gulf Breeze, Florida, after several years of failing health, daughter Karen Wiley said. He turned 86 last month.
Waters was born in Alabama in 1927. His family moved to Miami in the 1930s and he got a job as a clerk in the photo lab of the Miami Herald.
Emotion: Waters took this lasting image of a woman grieving for her son, who was killed by Viet Cong rebels in fighting at Tra Bong, Vietnam, in 1968, in a village 330 miles northeast of Saigon
Combat: Waters took this picture of a seriously wounded GI receives life saving blood plasma while another medic open a tin containing bandages as he prepares to dress the GIs wounds on Oct. 17, 1952, Vietnam
French-Indochina War: A Laotian woman and child are lifted by stretcher onto a truck for transport to a hospital in the capital city Vientiane, December 1960
He was 17 when he joined the Navy in World War II, earning a Purple Heart on Guam. He joined the Army after his hitch in the Navy ended in 1946 and was trained as a photographer, serving a tour in Japan and earning the name 'Mizu-San', Japanese for 'Mr. Waters'.
Waters was hired by AP in 1952. He remained in Southeast Asia and covered conflicts that included the Korean War, the French-Indochina War and Vietnam.
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He was wounded in Korea, hurt in a helicopter crash in Laos and suffered an eye injury from a bamboo trap in South Vietnam.
During the French-Indochina War, Waters covered the fall of the French to the Vietminh. He was one of the last three newsmen to leave Hanoi before it was overrun by the Vietminh in 1954.
Waters captured this May 10, 1955 photo of a child sitting in a basin awaiting the return of his parents who were nearby searching the ruins of what was once their home in Cholen, the Chinese community of Saigon
Korean War: Waters was there on June 4, 1952, when U.S. soldiers entered compound 96 in Korea, holding Communist prisoners of war, as teargas smoke fills the area
Freedom: Waters captured this image of a South Korean woman lights a cigarette for one of the escaped anti-communist North Korean war prisoners, freed in the mass escape of 27,000, June 26, 1953
Back in the day: In this Jan. 29, 1952, Waters poses with a Speed Graphic press camera, en route to Tokyo and Korea
Always snapping pictures: Under constant surveillance and forbidden to take pictures, Waters hung his camera around his neck and as he walked around Hanoi during the French-Indochina War
Under constant surveillance and forbidden to take pictures, Waters hung his camera around his neck and as he walked around, aimed his body and snapped his shutter.
Once his film was smuggled out of the country, it provided the first photos from Hanoi under Vietminh rule.
In his book, Mizu-San, published in 2011, Waters wrote, 'Very few people can say that they accomplished their life's goal before they were 30 years old. That's what happened to me. It's been a good ride.'
Waters was transferred to St. Louis in 1962 and worked there until he retired in 1987.
Movie set: Ethel Waters and Jeannie Crain, and Jack Watson, sing an Irish duet between scenes on the set of Pinky, in Hollywood, California on May 16, 1949. In the background is Fred O'Neill, technical adviser for the film
Segregation: Waters took this picture of women cheering Sept. 6, 1962, as other white parents pull their children from the Thomas J. Semmes School in New Orleans, one of the first public schools integrated
Equal rights: June 21, 1963, a crowd of black demonstrators sit in the middle of Locust Street during rush hour in St. Louis to protest alleged re-segregation in the city's schools
Passed away: Fred Waters, a photojournalist who covered everything from the Korean and Vietnam wars to construction of the Gateway Arch, died Wednesday, aged 86
His photos chronicled construction of the Gateway Arch, presidential visits, World Series and Stanley Cup Finals games. He traveled with Martin Luther King Jr. and covered the upheaval after his assassination.
Waters was inducted into the Missouri Photojournalism Hall of Fame in 2008.
Funeral services are 2pm Sunday at Bayview Memorial Park Funeral Home in Pensacola, Florida.
Waters is survived by his wife of 54 years, Mary Waters, daughters Karen Wiley and Jane Taylor, both of Gulf Breeze, and son Oscar Waters of St. Louis; nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
