Philip Schultz was born in April 1919 in a tiny village near Minsk, Belarus. His father had previously immigrated to the United States and was working as a tailor manufacturing custom suits in Harlem [Annotator's Note: Harlem is a neighborhood in New York, New York]. Five years after his father arrived, he sent for his wife and son and daughter. Schultz remembers seeing the Statue of Liberty and could tell it was an important thing. He recalls seeing a Black man for the first time, and telling his mother it was a man covered with tar. The family lived in a Jewish neighborhood but was not orthodox. In fact, his father was a socialist who seldom talked about current events. Meanwhile, Schultz was an avid reader and kept up with current events including the rise of Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] and Fascism [Annotator's Note: Fascism is a form of far-right, authoritarian ultranationalism characterized by dictatorial power]. The family did well during the Great Depression as Schultz's father had a lucrative business. Schultz learned English on the streets of the Bronx [Annotator's Note: the Bronx is one of the five boroughs in New York, New York] while playing games with his friends. He was educated in public schools until his second year in high school when he was called upon to work as an errand boy and help support his family. Schultz's mother was better educated than her husband. The family would grow with two younger brothers for Schultz. The one other brother who had been left behind in Russia was not heard of after the war. By 1942 and American entry into the war, Schultz had been conscripted and was in the Army.

Philip Schultz and friends became interested in photography. They eventually were fortunate enough to use that interest as a money making proposition. They met the right man who had access to feminine models for them to photograph. The young boys took risqué pictures of the girls in Schultz's apartment when his parents were not there. They were paid well for each picture they had published. That was his introduction into the business of photography. Like Schultz, some of his friends parlayed that experience into future careers. Those included Cornell Capa [Annotator's Note: Cornell Capa, born Kornél Friedmann; Hungarian-American photographer] who shot pictures of the Spanish Civil War [Annotator's Note: civil war in Spain, 1936 to 1939] for Life magazine [Annotator's Note: an American general-interest magazine known for the quality of its photography; 1883 to 2007]. Schultz got into motion pictures after his entry into the Army. He was trained to shoot movies. When the Army drafted him in 1942, he wanted to become a photographer. He failed the test because he did not know the science behind what he was doing. When he showed his previous work that had been published in girlie magazines, they wanted to make him a general. [Annotator's Note: Schultz laughs.] He went on to be trained as a combat cameraman.

Philip Schultz went through basic training like any other new recruit. Subsequently, he sailed to England and was there for about a year. He was a combat cameraman at the time. He covered the training and build-up in England before the invasion. The actual assault into France with death all around was far more serious a situation than training presented. The day he learned of the impending invasion [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944] becoming a reality was very emotional. [Annotator's Note: Schultz gets emotional.] Unexpectedly, the announcement was made for everyone to board the trucks. As they passed the people standing on the side of the road, it was very quiet. The soldiers knew they were on the way to attack the French coast. The men were loaded on the ships each with their 80 pounds of equipment. Schultz was assigned to the 29th Infantry Division and would be with them for a year. Schultz was assigned to land on D-Day in the afternoon. That was not possible because the beaches were not yet cleared. He landed the second day of the invasion.

[Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Philip Schultz what the D-Day landings in Normandy, France on 6 June 1944 sounded like at Omaha Beach.] He says it was the sounds of horrors. He landed on 7 June 1944, the day after the initial assault. The death on D-Day was overwhelming. He came to the realization that it was a real war and his friends were being killed. He lost a friend after two days in combat as the man squatted at Schultz's feet. When Schultz landed, the beach was clear but the fighting was nearby. He was attached to the 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division. They were the main attack unit in Normandy. His job was to photograph what he saw. A few days after landing, he was under heavy bombardment. He was in a tank rut crawling on his stomach when he looked up and saw his condescending general. Later the officer was hit. He was brave. The general was photographed by Schultz getting a medal on the battlefield. Schultz was a member of the infantry. He lived, ate, trained, and fought with them. He was happy the invasion had finally come. They had to kill the Boche [Annotator's Note: derisive term used by the Allies to describe the Germans]. There was no other choice but to win the war. Particularly, considering what the Germans did to the Jews. Schultz knew what was going on with the German treatment of Jews before and during the war.

Philip Schultz followed the 29th Infantry Division through its major battles through Belgium, Holland and Germany. The fighting was hot and heavy with the Germans refusing to give up. The Bastogne [Annotator's Note: Siege of Bastogne, December 1944, Bastogne, Belgium] fighting was memorable. When the Americans reached the Elbe River [Annotator's Note: near Torgau, Germany], the Germans focused on fighting the Russians. Berlin [Annotator's Note: Berlin, Germany] was in reach but Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower, Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force; 34th President of the United States] stopped them. Though the hedgerows were a problem for the division, Schultz had the flexibility of movement to get the best photographs. There were numerous photographers dispersed in the multitude of divisions. He reported to the lieutenant in his photograph unit. Combat resulted in high casualties among the combat photographers. Schultz had one instance when he could have fired his weapon and killed someone. He purposely fired off target. He could not kill someone. Situations became tense while he was under fire, but his focus was on taking pictures. He carried a pistol [Annotator's Note: .45 caliber M1911 semi-automatic pistol] and carbine [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 semi-automatic carbine] as a combat cameraman. His duty was to take pictures of the action around him. He did that. It was critical to win the war and defeat the Nazis. Schultz's unit consisted of his lieutenant, a motion picture photographer-Schultz, plus a still cameraman and a jeep driver. He was assigned to a division which had three regiments which had three battalions which, in turn, had three companies of about 100 to 150 men each. The generals defined the direction the units were to take in advancing toward the enemy. The men in Schultz's group were G.I. Joes [Annotator's Note: a slang term for an American soldier]. They rotated a lot. They were always in combat with the regiment that was attacking that day. Veteran divisions had to be rotated off the line to recover from the fighting. Schultz always stayed with the same men in his unit.

Philip Schultz was a combat cameraman and part of a team that filmed the wartime action [Annotator’s Note: Schultz was attached to the 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division]. He used his motion picture camera for filming what he encountered of interest. There was a still camera photographer in the team. A jeep and driver were assigned to them. Their officer mostly stayed at division headquarters and did nothing. His unit moved from outfit to outfit. He made friends as he proceeded through the war but moved so often that he could not remember their names. The men never spoke about the war, only the good times. Under heavy bombardment at Saint-Lo [Annotator's Note: Battle of Saint-Lô, France, 7 to 19 July 1944], a friend on his team was killed right next to Schultz. Meanwhile, Schultz never suffered a scratch. A medal proposed for Schultz was refused by him so that his still photography friend, Hendrich [Annotator's Note: no given name provided, surname spelling uncertain], could receive it posthumously instead. His dead friend was of German background and from Wisconsin. The still photographer had been investigated for Nazi sympathies. Schultz never saw that in him. When his friend was struck in the head with shrapnel, Schultz did not notice because he was focused on helping a truck filled with engineers that had been hit. He dropped his camera and ran to their relief. [Annotator's Note: Schultz is visibly shaken as he remembers what happened.] He pulled burning bodies off the truck and looked back to see Hendrich had been killed. [Annotator's Note: Schultz pauses again to collect himself.] The other thing that affects him strongly is the Holocaust [Annotator's Note: also called the Shoah; the genocide of European News during World War 2]. Schultz personally witnessed it. He encountered a survivor in one of the camps who dropped dead at his feet. Schultz was very much aware of what the Germans were doing to the Jews. He has never forgotten or forgiven them. It was worse than a person could ever imagine. The smell and the death were horrible. He filmed what he saw. He has never gotten over it. He still cries when he thinks of the mistreatment of innocent people in those camps. Schultz went through a number of smaller camps to the north while attached to the English advancing into Germany. The Russians suffered badly from treatment from the Germans. The Germans had one prisoner of war camp that they maintained in very good condition. They showcased that to the Red Cross as indication of how well they treated prisoners. The other camps had horrible treatment of their inmates. The liberation of Paris [Annotator's Note: Paris, France] by contrast was a glorious day with dancing and kissing. Schultz captured that with his camera. Girls were readily available in Paris and he enjoyed a girlfriend for the week. Some women in the bars were wearing turbans over their shaven heads. Those were the girlfriends of the Nazis. Parisians had shaved their heads after liberation. [Annotator's Note: Schultz points items of interest shown in photographs off interview camera.] Schultz met a friend from the Bronx [Annotator's Note: the Bronx is one of the five boroughs in New York, New York] in Europe who was attached to a different unit. They met on the battlefield and had their photo taken together.

Philip Schultz reviews photographs in his collection of various on and off duty activities while in Europe during and after the war [Annotator's Note: all are off-screen]. Schultz reached the Remagen Bridge [Annotator's Note: Ludendorff Bridge, also known as the Bridge at Remagen; Remagen, Germany] two days after its capture by the Americans. He followed the troops across the Rhine River to the Elbe River. They were stopped by Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower, Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force; 34th President of the United States]. Schultz encountered female Russian slave laborers. He made himself well known among the women. Local citizens were made to dig up Nazi victims and rebury them. Some of the victims were American airmen who were shot down and parachuted safely near various villages. They disappeared during the war. Some were killed by the local people and not the German army. Schultz and his comrades could never find the perpetrators. He made it to Berlin [Annotator's Note: Berlin, Germany] and enjoyed seeing the destruction of the city by the Russians. It had been a magnificent city. Berlin was still smoking when Schultz arrived there. The Russian soldiers quickly put Stalin's [Annotator’s Note: Joseph Stalin; General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union] picture up in Berlin. Schultz shows the interviewer a picture of him with his German girlfriend. Schultz attended the Potsdam Conference [Annotator's Note: The Potsdam Conference, Potsdam, Germany, 17 July to 2 August 1945] but was not allowed to take any photographs of the meeting. Hollywood [Annotator's Note: Hollywood, California] cameramen were brought in to do the job. After the conference, he was allowed to return home. He had enough points [Annotator's Note: a point system was devised based on a number of factors that determined when American servicemen serving overseas could return home] to do so in 1946. It was a good homecoming. He met a lovely young lady and married her. They have remained together through the years. [Annotator's Note: Schultz smiles broadly.]

Philip Schultz was not changed politically nor were his feelings against the Nazis altered by his wartime experience. He has always been politically more to the left than the right. He was very aware of what the Germans were doing to the Jewish people. The Holocaust [Annotator's Note: also called the Shoah; the genocide of European News during World War 2] was a horror. He never liked war but it was needed to eradicate the cancer of Nazism. He used his cinematography training in the Army to build a career making commercials in New York City [Annotator's Note: New York, New York] following his discharge. He belonged to both the Cameramen and Directors Unions. He married and had a nice family. He grew into his profession from his boyhood. It worked out fine. Many of his teenage friends also followed the profession of photography. He would change nothing in his pathway to his profession. He has no regrets. He remembers a wonderful welcome at the George V Hotel [Annotator's Note: now the Four Seasons Hotel George V, Paris, France] during the liberation of Paris [Annotator's Note: Paris, France]. Rhonda Fleming [Annotator's Note: born Marilyn Louis, American actress and singer] was famous. Her husband was in Schultz's unit [Annotator's Note: Schultz was in a photography unit attached to the 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division]. The men enjoyed when she visited. While in the United States, some of the men in Schultz's barracks were Hollywood actors. As the sergeant of the barracks, he would call them back to the base from the Waldorf Astoria [Annotator's Note: Waldorf Astoria New York hotel in Manhattan, New York, New York] to do KP [Annotator's Note: kitchen patrol or kitchen police] duty.