In the run-up to World War II, Iceland became a hot property. Britain first occupied the country in 1940, getting there before German soldiers and gaining a strategic base for air and naval forces. But Britain soon needed its troops elsewhere, and eventually America took over the occupation beginning in July 1941. This was months before the U.S. had officially entered the war.
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
