The Coffee Photo That Survived the War.

Faris was just 19 or 20 years old in that moment, exhausted and hollow-eyed, drinking coffee like it was the only thing keeping him tethered to the world.

Beside him sits Private First Class Stephen Garboski, only a few years older. Stephen would never make it home. Weeks later, on Guam, he became one of more than a thousand Marines of the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade who were killed in action.

The man in the center — Faris believes — was later killed on Okinawa.

Three young men in a single photo.
Only one lived long enough to hold it again.

Faris says he later survived another unimaginable moment: he was hit in a friendly-fire strike when USAAF aircraft mistakenly attacked Marine positions. Even then, he lived. Many around him did not.Continue reading…