John Banham

Prepared by the Witnesses of War team

John Conley “Jack” Banham was born on 14 December 1925 and grew up in Manhattan, New York, during the Great Depression. A musician from childhood, he played the clarinet and saxophone before serving in the U.S. Army during the Second World War.

Assigned to the 71st Infantry Division, Banham saw combat in Europe during the final months of the war. Serving as a radio operator, he also took many photographs, recording the horrific conditions encountered during the liberation of Gunskirchen concentration camp in Austria.

American troops liberated Gunskirchen, a subcamp of Mauthausen, on 4 May 1945. They discovered thousands of starving and desperately ill prisoners, most of them Jews, surrounded by the bodies of those who had died. Banham’s camera documented the human consequences of Nazi persecution as the war in Europe approached its end.

Awarded the Bronze Star Medal, Banham later served again during the Korean War. In civilian life, he worked as a credit manager at Pfizer in Manhattan. He lived in Flushing, Queens, for 60 years before moving in with his daughters on Long Island. He continued performing music and pursued painting, woodcarving and intricate paper art. His artwork was exhibited in libraries across Long Island. He died on 22 September 2026, aged 100, three months before his 101st birthday.