Paul Vathis was born in Mauch Chunk (now Jim Thorpe), PA in 1925. He enlisted in the Marine Corps during WWII as a high school senior and trained in photography. He flew combat missions with the 1st Marine Air Wing in the South Pacific photographing bomb damage.  He began a fifty-six-year career as an Associated Press photographer in 1946, most of it with the Harrisburg bureau. His proximity to President Eisenhower’s Gettysburg residence made him a regular in the press pool there. This familiarity helped give him access to photograph a Camp David meeting between Eisenhower and new President John Kennedy after the disastrous Bay of Pigs Invasion. “Serious Steps,” a photograph taken in this session won the 1962 Pulitzer Prize.  He died in 2002  and is buried in Indiantown Gap National Cemetery (Section 25, Site 504).

*The preceding content is not intended as a comprehensive biography, but it highlights their significance as a result of military or civilian distinction, lasting achievements, or association with impactful national events.

Only known photo by Paul Vathis of Wilt Chamberlain's 100 point game.

Serious Steps, Vathis's Pulitzer Prize winning photograph of Kennedy and Eisenhower at Camp David.

PAUL VATHIS

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