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By Ray Mews, Courtesy of Associated Press
Lance Cpl. Perron Shinneman hugs his wife, Shirley, in
this Aug. 13, 1966 photo upon his return home from the
hospital after losing his leg in the Vietnam War. The
photo won many awards for photographer Ray Mews.

Ray Mews,
award-winning
photographer,
dies at 62

He won many national awards
for his photo of the homecoming
of a one-legged Vietnam vet

Healer 'Papa' Auwae
More obituaries

By Harold Morse
Star-Bulletin

Veteran KGMB television cameraman Ray Mews -- winner of national awards for a homecoming photo of a one-legged Vietnam veteran embracing his wife as the Marine's crutch fell by his side -- died Tuesday at home. He was 62.

His death resulted from heart failure.

As a 28-year-old photographer with the newspaper Sioux Falls (S.D.) Argus Leader, Mews took the famous picture Aug. 13, 1966. The still photo brought him a Sigma Delta Chi award on April 13, 1967.

"Home from Vietnam" was its tag. The Marine, Lance Cpl. Perron Shinneman, was the last one off a plane that landed at Joe Foss Field, the Sioux Falls airport. The Marine's wife ran to meet him. Mews ran behind her and snapped the photo as they embraced.

Besides the Sigma Delta Chi Distinguished Service Award, the picture won a 1967 National Headliners Award, six other national awards and also appeared in numerous photo collections.

Mews was born in Lakefield, Minn. He began his camera career in high school and entered the Army in 1957. Assigned to the Hawaiian Armed Services Police, he took pictures for investigations.

After three years with the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, he left the paper shortly after taking the prize-winning picture and returned to Hawaii.

He joined KGMB-TV in 1966 and stayed with it 30 years, retiring in late September 1996 after a heart attack.

"For a lot of that time, he was the overnight guy," said longtime KGMB colleague Terry Hunter. "He was known as 'Hard News Mews.' "

On Feb. 24, 1989, Mews was first at the airport after United Airlines Flight 811 landed after a door blew out of the fuselage, causing nine deaths. Mews shot the only close-up video of the wreckage.

"He was out on the tarmac before they closed it all off, and no one else got to it," Hunter recalled. It was the day's top national story, and CBS played it big. Network management later called KGMB with congratulations.

Mews is survived by his wife, Theresa; four sons and two daughters.

Services are pending.