The photos are of men in the trenches. Dirty, cold, wearing helmets, and ready for battle… 

While Vernon Biever was one of the foremost photographers of professional football, the photos he took during his service in World War II tell a different story than the ones he took as the Green Bay Packers team photographer. 

Documenting the 100th Infantry Division’s campaign through France and Germany in 1944-1945, Biever took numerous poignant photographs, detailing the destruction of war and the daily lives of servicemen on the front lines. Many of the photographs were featured in a weekly newspaper for the 100th Division called The Century Sentinel. Vernon’s wartime photographs were so impactful that the U.S. Army awarded Vernon the Bronze Star for “improving troop morale.”