The American presence in Iceland was a regular source of fasciation to LIFE magazine. Photographer Ralph Morse repeatedly documented life in this cold and remote outpost.

One of Morse’s shoots was a general study of life in Iceland. Another documented a visit from a theater troupe performing a show called The Drunkard. Yet another shoot showed the U.S. soldiers celebrating Christmas.

For all the wintry outdoor shots, the particular challenges of Iceland life come through most starkly in the indoor photos. The ceilings of the huts many soldiers stayed in were low and curved, and all the rooms look a little smaller than they should be—a side effect of designing buildings to keep the snow off and the heat in. Much of America knows about the experience of winter, but in Iceland it was so ingrained that it changed the shape of the architecture.

In its Nov. 15, 1943 issue LIFE described the troops’ winter experience.

In Iceland these days it is dark by four in the afternoon and by nine in the morning the daylight still has not come. In long winter nights the American troops are comfortable in their tunnel-shaped iron Nissen huts, warmed my old-fashioned pot-bellied stoves. To keep themselves busy they read their ancient magazines, look at 16 mm motion pictures or make shelves and cupboards out of old packing boxes.

Morse’s photos of the Christmas celebration ran in the Jan. 24, 1944 issue (The story noted that the previous year, Morse had spent Christmas with U.S. soldiers in a very different location, Guadalcanal). In writing about the Iceland Christmas, LIFE noted that the locals, who at first had been slow to embrace the presence of occupying troops, had over the course of three years warmed to the American presence. “An Icelandic choir toured American hospitals and soldiers gave parties for Icelandic children,” wrote LIFE. “At a dance in one Red Cross center there was an attendance of 68 Icelandic girls, where before there had never been more than six.”

Like a like of things, the Icelandic winters were easier when people got through them together.

U.S. soldiers in Iceland, 1944.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Men playing basketball in Iceland, 1944.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Life in Iceland for U.S. soldiers during World War II, 1944.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Wall decorations helped pass the time in Iceland, 1944.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The United States Armed Force barracks during Christmas in Iceland, December 1943.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Soldiers gathered for a Christmas service in Iceland, December 1943.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Performers visited a hospital for United States soldiers during a Christmas celebration in Iceland, December 1943.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A member of the U.S. military danced with a woman during a Christmas celebration in Iceland, December 1943.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A child carried his sled in Iceland, 1944.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Shopping in Iceland, 1944.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

An artist at work in Iceland, 1944.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Iceland, 1944.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A fishing ship off the coast of Iceland, 1944.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Man picking flowers, Iceland, 1944.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A gymnastics demonstration in Iceland, 1944.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A boxing match in Iceland, 1944.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A boxing match in Iceland, 1944.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A visiting troupe performed The Drunkard in Iceland, 1944.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The play ‘The Drunkard’ was performed at the Herskola Theater, Iceland, 1944.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

U.S. soldiers watched the play ‘The Drunkard’ being performed at the Herskola Theater, Iceland, 1944.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A view of a monument dedicated to explorer Leif Erikson, Iceland, 1944.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post Seeking Warmth During an Iceland Deployment appeared first on LIFE.

Guadalcanal was an important early win for the Allies in World War II, but victory came at a high cost; 1,592 Americans were killed in action, another 4,183 were wounded and many more suffered from tropical diseases. On the Japanese side the toll was even greater, with 14,800 killed in action.

In Guadancanal, war was indeed hell. It’s something to keep in mind when viewing these photos of the joyful Christmas celebrations that the troops were able to muster on that remote and battle-torn island.

The pictures shot by LIFE staff photographer Ralph Morse ran in LIFE’s issue of March 1, 1943, when the campaign was over. The photos were part of a much larger story that was built around an excerpt from a book that would become a classic of war reporting, Guadalcanal Diary.

The Guadalcanal Christmas featured touches that American soldiers would have found familiar. A chaplain led midnight mass, a choir performed songs, and the troops were served a holiday meal that included turkey and pie.

Of course there were differences too. Santa was walking around in shorts because they were in the tropics and it was 90 degrees out. He wore a military helmet instead of a red stocking cap. The presents he distributed were provided by the Red Cross. The only family these soldiers could be with was the found family they had made with each other.

And if the energy in the photos is any indication, they were grateful for all of it.

American soldiers celebrating Christmas in Guadalcanal, 1942; one soldier held a sign with a message for Japanese prime minister Hideki Tojo.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Santa Claus, wearing red shorts on a 90 degree day, visited a field hospital during the Guadalcanal campaign, 1942. He toured hospitals around the island in a Chevrolet captured from Japanese forces and gave out presents supplied by the Red Cross.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Soldiers prepared turkeys to be cooked for a Christmas meal during the Guadalcanal campaign, 1942.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

U.S. soldiers cut up mince pies in preparation for a Christmas celebration in Guadalcanal, 1942.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A church flag flew above the stars and stripes during Christmas celebrations for the American forces in Guadalcanal, 1942.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

American soldiers celebrated midnight mass on Christmas eve in Guadalcanal, 1942.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A choir sang on Christmas eve in Guadalcanal, 1942; this group toured the island with Santa to perform for soldiers during the holiday.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection Shutterstock

The post Cheer Amid Wartime: Santa Visits Guadalcanal appeared first on LIFE.

In the spring of 1959, Fidel Castro was settling into his new role as Prime Minister of Cuba. Castro and his 26th of July Movement the revolutionary army named for the 1953 attack that began the Cuban Revolution had overthrown U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista and were now looking to implement a socialist agenda for Cuba. Meanwhile, in the U.S., a toy manufacturer was capitalizing on the news with a brand new product, as LIFE explained:

The hairy specter which once haunted Fulgencio Batista in Cuba is rising again incongruously to startle parents in the U.S. The latest novelty for moppets is a battle cap with fur chin strap which will turn any youngster, male or female, into a miniature version of Fidel Castro’s Cuban rebels.

Looking back on those days with the benefit of hindsight, the photographs of carefree youngsters take on a more sinister tint. To those who regard Castro as a totalitarian strongman with no concern for human rights, these images are disturbing: laughing children, ignorant of what was really going on in the world, costumed as a man who was busily tightening his control on a terrified nation. And the children may seem no less naive to those who view Castro as a hero dedicated to the fight against inequality and imperialism.

When LIFE published a selection of these photos in 1959, it was undoubtedly intended as a lighthearted story about children mimicking the serious business of adults in a complicated world. Castro was a mere two months into a half-century regime for which there were still high hopes, and the controversial policies he would implement in the ensuing decades were still unwritten history.

Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter @lizabethronk.

Catro-bearded babes in the woods

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Catro-bearded babes in the woods

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Catro-bearded babes in the woods

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Catro-bearded babes in the woods

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Catro-bearded babes in the woods

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Catro-bearded babes in the woods

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Catro-bearded babes in the woods

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Catro-bearded babes in the woods

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Catro-bearded babes in the woods

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Catro-bearded babes in the woods

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post A True Passing Fad: Castro Caps for Children, 1959 appeared first on LIFE.

The group portrait came about because Morse knew there was no way that he could follow 14 professional quarterbacks around the country individually the way LIFE’s sports editors wanted him to.

“Those editors were crazy,” Morse (now 96 years old) recently told LIFE.com. “One week I might fly to Dallas or St. Louis or Detroit to photograph one of the players, and maybe he’d be great. Or maybe he’d be awful. Either way, the assignment would take weeks months! and there was no guarantee we’d end up with what we wanted. The only way I could make a decent picture is if I made it in one place, at one time, with all of the players. I called the NFL commissioner, Pete Rozelle, and told him what I wanted to do. He said I was crazy. He told me they’d have to do it on their day off, and they’d never agree.

“So I said, ‘Look. You’re the commissioner, aren’t you? They’ll do what you tell them, won’t they?’ I suggested we do it in Chicago, somewhere in the center of the country. All they had to do was bring clean uniforms, and show up. We set a date, and I flew out to Chicago a week early to rent a studio. I had a local high school football team come to the studio every day for that week, and we practiced all sorts of scenarios until we had one that worked the guys in front tossing the ball underhand, the guys in back throwing overhand. We also set up a sheet of plexiglass with a hole cut in it for the camera lens to poke through, so I wouldn’t get creamed by 14 footballs coming at me.

“All the quarterbacks arrived on the scheduled day, and we had the whole thing figured out ahead of time. These guys were famous. They were busy. They didn’t want to mess around. They wanted to get into their uniforms, take the picture, get out of their uniforms and go. And that’s what happened.”

One thing worth noting here is that the great Y.A. Tittle (front row, far right), who was playing for the New York Giants at that point in his career, was 35 years old when the photo was made. Old for an NFL quarterback, sure but he looks like he’s 65.

One hell of a player, though; he’s one of just 11 Giants to have his number retired. He’s also one of six future Hall of Famers in Morse’s photo; the others are Layne, Starr, Unitas, Tarkenton and Jurgenson.

Ben Cosgrove is the Editor of LIFE.com

Quarterbacks of the NFL in 1961: (back, L-R) Milt Plum, Bobby Layne, Sam Etcheverry, Bill Wade, Bart Starr, Johnny Unitas, Norm Snead, Zeke Bratkowski; (front, L-R) Jim Ninowski, Fran Tarkenton, Don Meredith, John Brodie, Sonny Jurgensen, Y.A. Tittle.

Ralph Morse/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

The post How to Take a Group Portrait of 14 NFL Quarterbacks on Their Day Off appeared first on LIFE.

But for all of their emotional and historical heft, Morse’s pictures also present a question: How the hell did he do that?

In 2014 Morse, who died later that year at the age of 97, spoke with LIFE.com, and briefly described how the sequence came about.

“You have to realize,” he said, “that the rocket had to go through the camera, in a sense. It had to go through the camera’s field of view. It took me two years to get NASA to agree to let me make this shot. Now, RCA had the camera contract at Cape Canaveral at that time, and they had a steel box with optical glass attached to the launch platform. We negotiated a deal with them and I was able to put a Nikon, with maybe 30 or 40 feet of film, inside the box, looking out through the glass. The camera was wired into the launch countdown, and at around minus-four seconds the camera started shooting something like ten frames per second.

“It was probably less than an hour after liftoff when we rode the elevator back up the launch tower and retrieved the camera and film from inside that steel box.”

In addition to the launch sequence this gallery also includes a photo of Neil Armstrong’s wife, Jan, with sons Erik and Mark, watching the launch of Apollo 11 from the deck of a boat rented for them by LIFE magazine. The scene, as captured by LIFE’s Vernon Merritt III, is a quiet reminder that the mission to the moon was not only an epic public spectacle. It was also a human adventure, shared by the astronauts and those closest to them.

The gantry retracted while Saturn V boosters lifted the Apollo 11 astronauts toward the moon, July 16, 1969.

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jan Armstrong, wife of Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong, and her sons watched the rocket’s liftoff.

Vernon Merritt III The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post Apollo 11: What Liftoff Looked Like appeared first on LIFE.

(A scan of the note that Morse sent to his editors along with his film is included with this story’s photos.)

A handful of Morse’s photos were published in the Aug. 14, 1944, issue of LIFE but most of the pictures featured in this gallery never appeared. In that Aug. ’44 issue, LIFE described the scene Morse witnessed at a “rest camp” for the troops:

“While the great breakthrough boiled southward [from Normandy toward Paris] a few U.S. soldiers were taking it easy at rest camps behind the lines. At one of the camps the men were entertained by an eager troupe of French vaudevillians called Les Grandes Tournées d’André Fleury.”

Les Grandes Tournées, it seems, had been organized in Paris three years before, while the French capital was under German control. In late May of 1944 the troupe set out for Cherbourg; on June 5, the day before the invasion, they set up in the ancient town of Carteret. When the Germans pulled in the face of the Allied onslaught, the performers were stranded, with little food or money.

So when a U.S. Army Special Service officer asked them to put on a show for American troops, they were happy to comply. “They were charging the Germans and French 30 to 60 francs,” Morse wrote in his notes. “Now they get 25 francs a head from the Special Service funds for each soldier at the showings.”

The money, by all accounts, was well-spent.

“The show is old-type vaudeville and plenty of legs,” Morse went on. “A perfect show for the battle-tired troops resting a few days. The girls not understanding English and the troops not understanding French . . . the remarks and wisecracks are terrific. Its value as medicine for the boys is tops. They are completely relaxed . . . and yell and scream to their hearts’ content.”

Liz Ronk edited this gallery for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter @lizabethronk.

An acrobatic dancer performed for U.S. troops lounging in the field at rest camp. The show featured girl dancers and two clowns, one of whom had once performed with Ringling Circus in New York. The girls heavily relied on dancing and pantomime because none of them spoke English.

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Stage-door Johnnies talked with French dancers at their dressing tent. Most of dancers were Parisians. For soldiers in the camp, the show’s price of admission was paid by the Army Special Services Fund.

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The first organized show for American troops after D-Day, Normandy, July 1944.

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

First organized show for American troops after D-Day, Normandy, July 1944.

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The first organized show for American troops after D-Day, Normandy, July 1944.

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The first organized show for American troops after D-Day, Normandy, July 1944.

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The first organized show for American troops after D-Day, Normandy, July 1944.

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The first organized show for American troops after D-Day, Normandy, July 1944.

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The first organized show for American troops after D-Day, Normandy, July 1944.

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The first organized show for American troops after D-Day, Normandy, July 1944.

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A French performer in first organized show for American troops after D-Day, Normandy, July 1944.

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The first organized show for American troops after D-Day, Normandy, July 1944.

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

French performers in the first organized show for American troops after D-Day, Normandy, July 1944.

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The first organized show for American troops after D-Day, Normandy, July 1944.

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

French performers in the first organized show for American troops after D-Day, Normandy, July 1944.

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

French performers in the first organized show for American troops after D-Day, Normandy, July 1944.

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

French performers in the first organized show for American troops after D-Day, Normandy, July 1944.

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

French performers in the first organized show for American troops after D-Day, Normandy, July 1944.

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

French performers in first organized show for American troops after D-Day take a bow, Normandy, July 1944.

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post After D-Day: The First Show for U.S. Troops in Normandy appeared first on LIFE.