Before America's entry into World War II, Arnold E. Samuelson (1917-2002) worked for the Eastman Kodak Company in Portland, Oregon. In May 1942, he was inducted into the U.S. Army. He served in the Army Air Corps and later joined the Signal Corps in January 1943.

Three months after D-Day (June 6, 1944), Samuelson came ashore on the Normandy beaches with the 167th Signal Corps Company and began documenting the Allied military campaigns in France and Belgium. He saw service in the Battle of the Bulge (December 1944), and, in 1945, he was given command of the 123rd Combat Unit. That unit consisted of two motion picture cameramen, John O'Brian and Edward Urban, and two still photographers, J Malan Heslop and Walter McDonald.