Photo by Mass Communication Specialist Senior Chief Gary Ward
NORFOLK, Va. – A 1983 Granby High School graduate and Norfolk, Virginia, native is serving at Expeditionary Combat Camera, as a member of the Navy’s last Combat Camera Unit in Norfolk, Virginia.
Mrs. Wilma Shields is a Department of Defense employee who served in administrative support. “All the missions are very important and exciting because we were a combat unit,” Shields said. “I really enjoyed preparing and assisting members for deployments, especially those in very short notice, such as preparing their passports for travel to overseas locations, processing travel expenses to complete deployments, and ensuring their security clearances were up to date.”
Navy combat photography began its roots during World War I when the Navy organized its first photographic division to capture aerial reconnaissance photographs. During World War II, the Navy added Combat Photographic Units and sent them to the Pacific and European theaters of war to document major campaigns including Normandy and Iwo Jima.
After the onset of the Korean War, the Navy established the Pacific Fleet Combat Camera unit, and subsequently established the Atlantic Fleet Motion Picture Unit, which would become Atlantic Fleet Combat Camera Group in 1966 and deployed teams to document the war in Vietnam.
The unit became Expeditionary Combat Camera in 2010 and continued documenting all branches of the military during major U.S. conflicts, operations and exercises.
Shields credits success working with the military to many of the lessons learned in Norfolk.
“My family instilled in me a hard work ethic with morals and values that helped me work well with others and show compassion,” Shields said. “
Shields has military ties with family members who have previously served and is honored to carry on the tradition by working with the military.
“My husband was a Navy aircraft hydraulic technician, my stepfather served in the Army during Vietnam, and I had an uncle that was in the Army who served during Desert Storm,” Shields said.
Members of Combat Camera perform unique and highly specialized missions with visual information documentation capabilities supporting all phases of a military operation. Personnel maintain qualifications enabling them to operate with air crew, special operations forces and military divers. Combat Camera teams have the technological capability to rapidly transmit imagery during fast-moving operations around the globe.
Expeditionary Combat Camera held a disestablishment ceremony Sept. 21 on Naval Station Norfolk. The ceremony honored the history, heritage and legacy of the command. Navy's combat camera units officially disestablish on Oct. 1, 2018, ending 67 years of service to the Navy and Department of Defense.
“All those who have served at combat camera have conveyed everything they’ve had to give; creative vision, a drive to excel, and a willingness to sacrifice,” said ECC’s final officer in charge Lt. Michael Larson, during the Norfolk ceremony. “Many have done the best work of their careers here, and that imagery has made a legacy that will live on, and inspires us to carry on.”
Shields supported thousands of U.S. Navy combat photographers who have recorded historical events from the land, air and sea spanning from World War II to Operation Enduring Freedom.
As a member of the Navy’s last combat camera unit, Shields and sailors know they are part of a legacy that will last beyond their lifetimes providing the Navy the nation needs.
“There is a lot of legacy here,” Shields said. “It is sad because I have to leave the unit, but combat camera will never go away because there are a lot of pictures that tells the stories and have a lot of historical value. I cannot see that ever going away.”