Dickey Chapelle: An Unsung Hero

Dickey Chapelle is by no means a household name, but it is certainly should be. A heroic character from birth, "Dickey", or Georgette Meyer as she was named at birth, earned a full scholarship to Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study aeronautical design at age 16. She graduated at the top of her class. 

Upon graduation, she returned to her hometown of Shorewood, Wisc. and decided that she had more interest in piloting planes than in designing them, so she learned to fly. In hanging around with fly boys, she soon engaged in an affair with one, which undoubtedly enraged her mother. She was sent as punishment to Florida to live with her aunt.

Dickey floated around for a while before landing a job with TWA in New York. There she would meet her future husband, Tony Chapelle, a publicity photographer for the company. It was through Tony that Dickey gained a passion for photography and soon began working as a TWA photog herself. After 15 years of marriage, she divorced Tony and officially changed her name to Dickey.

Lacking experience and credentials, Dickey managed to convince someone at National Geographic to hire her during World War II, and she became a war correspondent posted with the Marines. Over the years, she went on to cover the Korean War and Vietnam. She even took up parachuting at the age of 40 and began making jumps into hostile territory over Vietnam as the first female to jump with the troops. In 1965, Dickey was killed when she stepped on a land mine in Vietnam and became the first female reporter to die in combat.

Read more about Dickey and check out images here.