Art Giberson: An award-winning writer and photojournalist Art Giberson is a graduate of the New York Institute of Photography; Syracuse University (Navy Photojournalism Program); the Naval Schools of Photography and the Navy Motion Picture School.
A native of Bluefield, WV, Mr. Giberson retired from the U.S. Navy in 1977 with the rank of Chief Petty Officer. During his more than 20 years of service he served on two aircraft carriers, USS Lake Champlain (CVS-39) and USS Oriskany (CVA-34); the submarine tender USS Orion (AS-18); and the destroyer USS Zellars (DD-777). He also served with the U.S. Submarine Base, New London, CT; Atlantic Fleet Combat Camera Group; and the Naval Schools of Photography. A Vietnam veteran, he made two deployments to Southeast Asia. In October 1962, while serving aboard the Zellars, he participated in the Cuban Missile Crises. Mr. Giberson lives in Pensacola, FL. He is a member of the the National Association of Naval Photography and the International Combat Photographers Association.
BOOKS
Standoff in the Caribbean is a fact-based story of one U.S. Navy destroyer during 13 horrific days in October 1962 that kept the world on edge.
For two weeks in October-November 1962, the United States Armed Forces were placed on their highest state of readiness since World War II after photographs taken by reconnaissance aircraft revealed that Soviet missile sites were being constructed in Cuban. President John F. Kennedy and the Joint Chiefs of Staff were determined to prevent the sites from becoming operational. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and his field commanders in Cuba were equally determined that missile installations would be placed in Cuba and were prepared to use battlefield nuclear weapons to defend the island if the United States invaded.
An armada of 200 plus U.S. Navy ships set sail to enforce a blockade of Cuban with instructions to launch an attack on the Island Nation on a moment’s notice. Additionally, 20 aircraft armed with nuclear bombs were in the air, around the clock, ready to strike the USSR, if so ordered.
This period in history bought world to the edge of a nuclear holocaust. The final outcome depended entirely on which side would blink first.
Combat Photography:
Navy Chief Petty Officer Ross Dillon is a cocky self-confident Navy photographer with impressive credentials and a reputation for going after the story regardless of personal risk. His long list of photo journalistic achievements includes frequent publication in numerous military and civilian publications, including the wire services. With professionalism, experience and technical skill he always seems to be in the right place at just the right time. With war raging in Southeast Asia Dillon voluntarily gives up a safe, plush instructor assignment at the Naval School of Photography in Florida for risky combat documentary assignment in Vietnam.
Along the way he encounters another Navy photojournalist with perhaps an even greater “devil may care” attitude than his, whom he teams up with for the most dangerous assignment of his career.
Freedom's First Responders: American aircraft carriers have served as the first responders to world crisis since the early 1900s. With their long range, speed and ability to respond to natural or manmade emergencies, the aircraft carrier has traditionally been the first to show the flag and render assistance anywhere in the world. When the need arose, the orders went out … “Send in the carriers.”
This book is the story of two of those carriers with a combined active service of 81 years: USS Lexington and USS Oriskany.
Both distinguished themselves in war and peace but although they completed their active service long ago, they continue in service to American …USS Lexington as a floating museum and USS Oriskany as a fishing reef.
Through the Viewfinder: Many biographies begin as a project to “leave a few notes for the kids and grandkids.” Art Giberson takes this book far beyond that level. It is the story of a small town boy from the backwoods of West Virginia who grew up to become a renowned Navy photojournalist, newspaper editor, and author.
It is Americana in its purest form: young man with burning ambition, creativity, honesty and guts, rises to the top of his chosen profession. He can see a photograph in his mind, capture it on film, add words, and turn it into a historic photo documentary.
It is also a Navy story. He was told as a young Navy Midshipman that “Chief Petty Officers run the Navy. Admirals can order a certain course to sail and direct an attack on a particular target, but without good chiefs behind him to train and inspire the crew, nothing happens.”
Art Giberson was one of those outstanding Chief Petty Officers, armed only with a camera, he was willing to go in harm’s way to record history as he observed it through the viewfinder of his camera. Not a shabby accomplishment for a barefoot, dirty faced kid from the hills of West Virginia.
Anything but the Truth:
A novel about the falsehoods and roadblocks the media has to deal with while attempting to do its job as a government watch dog.
Ty Stephens a former Navy photojournalist, seriously wounded in Vietnam while covering a story for the military media, continues his fight for freedom of the press as a correspondent for Global News Service. ” a novel about the falsehoods and roadblocks the media has to deal with while attempting to do its job as a government watch dog.
Veterans Memorial Park:
A pictorial history of the Pensacola, Florida, Veterans Memorial Park and Wall South, a half-size replica of the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC and is the only memorial outside of Washington to list the names of all Americans killed or missing in the Vietnam War. The names, like those engraved on the national memorial, are listed in chronological order of when the casualty occurred.
War Stories:
Personal accounts of war experiences told by wartime veterans of World War II, Korea, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the first war with Iraq (Desert Storm) originally intended for publication in a small weekly newspaper. The interview list included officers and enlisted men and women from all branches of the armed forces. Veterans interviewed included Soldiers, Marines, Airman, Navy and Coast Guard Sailors. They had served as infantrymen, tank drivers, aviators, submariners, combat photographers, cooks, supply technicians, gunners and engineers. Included in the group were several former prisoners of war—one of which spent the entire war as a POW in Japan. Another participant was a member of the Women’s Royal Australian Air Force who later migrated to the United States as a war bride. A World War II widow tells of the cruel circumstances of her husband’s death at the hands of the enemy while being held as prisoner of war. The men and women interviewed for the Korea, Vietnam and Desert Storm sequences, like their War World II counterparts, served in every field. They ranged in rank from private to generals and admirals—regular military, Reservists and National Guardsmen. These were and are America’s finest—the sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers, who gladly go in harm’s way to ensure that freedom prevails.
The Crazy Ones Shot Film:
A history of sea service photography from its beginning in 1914 to its final demise in 2018. For more than 100 years Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard Photographers provided enduring and powerful images that have shaped American's memory of armed conflict as well as their ideas about warfare and its impact. It’s the story of brave men and women who risked their lives to be front line witnesses to the horrors and heroism of war.Combat photographers are the unsung heroes who served alongside America's fighting forces in trench¬es and jungles, in fighter planes, bombers and helicopters and aboard submarines, destroyers and air¬craft carriers, to capture the visual essence of war. Often armed only with cameras sea service were and will continue to be, among the first to enter battle in the most dangerous places and under the heaviest fire, to record the huge reservoir of memorable images modern day students, scholars and historians take for granted. Combat cameramen profoundly
Tin Can Sailors:
A Mayport, Florida base Navy destroyer, just returning from an 7 month deployment is suddenly deployed again, two days after returning from the Mediterranean, it ordered to return to sea for the Cuban Missile Crisis
Southern Appalachia: Paradise Lost:
When the Author left his hometown of Bluefield, West Virginia, to join the Nave he never dreamed that for other than a few brief visits back, he would be gone from the mountains for more than 40 years due to military service and job requirements elsewhere after retiring from the service. Beginning around 1999, he and his wife, a former resident of Bastian, Virginia, started making annual visits back to the area. This is when he realized how much the area had changed and decided he wanted to try and recapture the beauty and memories of the mountains through the lens of his trusty old Nikon Cameras, in order to share those memories with his children and grandchildren.
You may purchase these fine books:
The are also available online at
