Dickey Chapelle - Your Art History Reference Guide!

ArtHistoryClub Information Site on Dickey Chapelle Art History Art History Search        Art History Browse             News        Gallery        Forums        Articles        Weblinks        welcome to our free resource site for all art history lovers!

Dickey Chapelle

Dickey Chapelle, born Georgette Meyer (1919-1965) was an American photojournalist known for her work as a war correspondent from World War II through the Vietnam War.

Chapelle was born in Shorewood, Wisconsin. By the age of sixteen, she was attending aeronautical design classes at MIT. She soon returned home, where she worked at a local airfield, hoping to learn to pilot airplanes instead of merely designing them. However, when her mother learned that she was also having an affair with one of the pilots, Chapelle was forced to live in Florida with her grandparents.

Eventually, she moved to New York, and met her future husband, Tony Chapelle, and began working as a photographer sponsored by Trans World Airlines. She eventually became a professional, and later, after fifteen years of marriage, divorced Tony, and changed her first name to Dickey.

Despite her mediocre photographic credentials, Chapelle managed to become a war correspondent photojournalist for National Geographic, and with one of her first assignments, was posted with the Marines during World War II.

After the war, she travelled all around the world, often going to extraordinary lengths to cover a story in any war zone. She later learned to jump with paratroopers, and usually travelled with troops. This led to frequent awards, and earned the respect of both the military and journalistic community.

An outspoken anti-Communist, she loudly expressed her pro-American views at the beginning of the Vietnam War. Chapelle was killed by a landmine in Vietnam, in 1965. She became the first war correspondent killed in Vietnam, as well as the first female reporter to be killed during battle.

Dickey Chapelle is the subject of a song by Nanci Griffith.

Last updated: 01-04-2007 01:18:57
The contents of this article are licensed from Wikipedia.org under the
GNU Free Documentation License. See original document.
Art History Search | Art History Browse | Contact | Legal info