Our History
Former Stars and Stripes journalist who played kazoo on ‘Woodstock’ album dies at 79
David Allen, a Navy veteran and longtime Stars and Stripes journalist who reported from Guam and Okinawa for nearly two decades, died Thursday after a prolonged battle with cancer, his sister Katherine Krais announced that day to his Facebook page. He was 79.
Shelley Smith, Reporter
Shelly Smith, now a correspondent for ESPN’s SportsCenter, was hired by Stars and Stripes in late winter 1982, arriving in Tokyo to become the first full-time civilian woman staffer on the previously all-male sports desk.
Hal Drake, Reporter
A native of Santa Monica, Calif., Drake served 10 months in the Korean War as an artilleryman, viewing up close the carnage on Heartbreak Ridge. He applied for one of a handful of reporting jobs at Stars and Stripes and joined the Pacific staff in July 1956.
Vernon Grant, Cartoonist
Cartoonist and Army officer Vernon Grant had a unique ability to capture the soldier’s perspective during the Vietnam War.
John Olson, Photographer
Former Stars and Stripes Pacific combat photographer John Olson is known for his haunting images of the Vietnam War, particularly those taken during the bloody Tet Offensive and Battle of Hue in 1968.
Steve Kroft, Reporter
Veteran broadcaster Steve Kroft, who retired from CBS-TV’s “60 Minutes” in 2019 after three decades with the groundbreaking news program, began his journalism career with Stars and Stripes Pacific during the Vietnam War.
Tom Sutton, Artist
Long before artist Tom Sutton began contributing to Marvel Comics and the popular Warren Publishing series “Vampirella,” he was sharpening his drawing pencil, and his skills, at Stars and Stripes’ office in downtown Tokyo.