From the family collection
Photos & Documents
Family photographs and the newspaper stories written about him during the war. Tap any one to zoom in.
Photos
- Date unknownJohn Lauten as a young manAn early portrait.
- May 29, 1938John and Ginny's weddingThey married the same week he finished law school at Boalt Hall.
- About 1942John H. LautenIn uniform and garrison cap.
- Date unknownIn his officer's uniformJohn in his Army officer's uniform beside a palm tree.
- 1942Ginny LautenHis wife, Virginia “Ginny,” in 1942.
- About 1942Ginny and LindaGinny with their daughter, Linda, the “little princess” of his letters.
- 1943Ginny and Linda, 1943Ginny and Linda at home while John was overseas.
- World War IIWith fellow officersWartime snapshots of John and fellow officers, labeled with their names.
- 1939 noteAn Italian 2-lire noteItalian money kept among his wartime papers, front and back.
- Early 1944The 16th Infantry staffAn amphibious exercise in England before D-Day. Left to right: Col. George A. Taylor, Maj. Carl W. Plitt, Maj. Charles E. Tegtmeyer, Maj. John H. Lauten and Capt. William Friedman.
- May 1944Press photo, May 1944Two officers before D-Day. The back carries the Army press censor's stamp.
- World War IIThe ivy-covered housePrints of an ivy-covered country house kept with his wartime photos, with a soldier out front.
- June 1984Normandy, 40 years laterThe 40th anniversary of D-Day, June 1984, at the Ranger monument on Pointe du Hoc.
- 2001At Hoover DamJohn on the cover of the 2001 Colorado River Water Users Association program.
- 1940sFamily album: Remember WhenA family album page of Linda, Ginny and John in the 1940s.
- 1940sFamily albumFamily snapshots from the 1940s.
- 1940sFamily albumGinny and Linda in the early 1940s.
- 1940sFamily albumFamily snapshots from the 1940s.
- Family albumFamily albumEarly family photos.
- 1940sFamily album: Linda, Ginny and JohnA family album page from the 1940s.
Newspaper Articles
- March 18, 1943“Americans Led Into Gafsa by Glendale Man”AP story by Noland Norgaard on the capture of Gafsa, Tunisia.
- March 19, 1943“Yanks Roll On in Tunisia”Front page of the Glendale News-Press: “Leads Yanks Into Gafsa.”
- March 1943Press pursuit at El GuettarClippings from a family album: AP reports from Tunisia and a Glendale tribute.
- August 11, 1943“Battlefield Bargain”Hal Boyle's AP story of the truce near Gela, with John quoted.
- June 9, 1944“U.S. 1st and British 50th Divisions Doing It Again”AP report from Normandy three days after D-Day.
- September 16, 1944“Great Infantry Victory Related”Los Angeles Times: “Glendale Major Among First Yanks to Break Through Siegfried Line.” The paper spelled his name “Lawton.”
- 1945 or 1946“War Hero Honored in City Council Ceremony”Glendale News-Press, after he came home.
- March 2010Obituary, Ventura County StarThe family's obituary: “he was chosen to be one of five men who planned the landing at Omaha Beach.”
