LVSportsBiz.com Photographer Tyge O’Donnell Meets Pope Francis In Japan To Honor His Dad’s World War II Photo Legacy This Weekend
By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
It’s a moment that LVSportsBiz.com photographer Tyge O’Donnell will never forget.
O’Donnell, who works as a full-time Caesars hotel bellman when not doing photography for LVSportsBiz.com, met Pope Francis at the Nagasaki Ground Zero Peace Park in Japan Sunday. The Pope decided to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki after two Japanese student peace messengers visited the Vatican this past summer and invited the Pope to visit Japan. It’s the first visit to Japan by a Pope in 38 years.
It was an emotional meeting for O’Donnell, who carried the legacy of his dad for the papal audience because Pope Francis through the years has cherished the haunting World War II photo work of O’Donnell’s father, Joe O’Donnell.
Joe O’Donnell, a U.S. military photographer, was among the first photographers to document the aftermath, death and destruction of Japan in the Second World War. As an Army Air Corp photographer, the elder O’Donnell came to Japan in September 1945 after the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
O’Donnell’s photography captured the gruesome images of war — the charred bodies and destroyed cities.
Some of these powerful photographs ended up in the hands of Pope Francis, who kept these images as graphic reminders of the pain and death of war.
For the past two years, the Pope has handed out copies of O’Donnell’s most famous photo, “Two Brothers at Cremation Site,” to the masses, with his message, “The fruit of War,” written on the back of the photos.
So, the pope welcomed Tyge O’Donnell — the World War II photographer’s son — with open arms Sunday.
“I found out about this trip over two months ago,” O’Donnell said, “but I had to keep it on the down-low because it could have easily gone away, given the Pope’s stature and busy schedule.”
O’Donnell brought his father’s Saint Christopher medal along with a commemorative Pope Paul the VI medallion that was given to his dad while he was in Rome during the election of the new Pope in 1963.
“I was hoping to give His Holiness the medals to put in the Vatican Museum next to my father’s famous photo so people would know my father was Catholic. He was wearing that St. Christopher medal during the war and when he took all his photos,” O’Donnell said. “But I was advised to pursue that endeavor down the road, as the timing isn’t right on this trip to present the Pope with gifts.”
It was far from a solemn session with the Pope. O’Donnell also presented Pope Francis through a Vatican aide a “papalhead” with a not-so-subtle Vegas Golden Knights touch.
O’Donnell also gave Vegas Golden Knights gifts to his journalist friends and the two Peace Messenger students, who received the VGKWorldWide gift boxes.
“I am also gifting my father’s “Japan1945” book to the Pope,” O’Donnell said.
O’Donnell also had his father’s medallions blessed by his Holiness at the ceremony.
O’Donnell will be returning to LVSportsBiz.com photo action soon. He will be in Nashville Wednesday when the Vegas Golden Knights play the Predators in Tennessee. Look for O’Donnell’s photos on LVSportsBiz.com after the game.
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