Jack Wilkes with his camera in China. (Photo by Jack Wilkes/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

Jack Wilkes with his camera in China. (Photo by Jack Wilkes/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

A disabled Twentieth Century Fox cameraman named Clarence Albert Bach ran a photography high school near Los Angeles called Fremont, which produced several LIFE photographers, including George Strock, John Florea and Bob Landry. Jack Wilkes (born 1907), who had arrived in the United States from his native Wales when he was just a child, was among that select group. Like so many of his era, Wilkes covered WWII for LIFE, and saw much fighting in China as he roamed with his frequent collaborator, writer Theodore H. White.

Adapted from The Great LIFE Photographers

A Chinese infantryman. (Photo by Jack Wilkes/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

A Chinese infantryman. (Photo by Jack Wilkes/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

More Like This

Sisters playing music together. (Photo by Eric Schaal/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation) Photographer

Eric Schaal

Ballerinas at George Balanchine's American School of Ballet gathered around accompanist during rehearsal. (Photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation) Photographer

Alfred Eisenstaedt

Prisoners at San Quentin weightlifting in prison yard during recreation period. (Photo by Charles Steinheimer/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation) Photographer

Charles Steinheimer

Bushman children playing games on sand dunes.(Photo by N.R. Farbman/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation) Photographer

N.R. Farbman

African-American student Virginius B. Thornton receiving tolerance training before picketing. (Photo by Howard Sochurek/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation) Photographer

Howard Sochurek

Inside a cell at the notorious Breendonk Nazi prison camp, a former Flemish SS guard is imprisoned after overthrow of German forces. (Photo by George Rodger/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation) Photographer

George Rodger