Corporal Zachary Stinson
Lance Corporal Kyle Carpenter
Lance Corporal Tyler Huffman
Last Thursday and Friday, fellow war artist Richard Johnson and myself, visited with and sketched battle wounded Marines recovering at McGuire Veterans Administration Hospital in Richmond, Virginia. For two days we followed three Marines as they relaxed with family and friends, and endured sessions of painful physical therapy.
Only one word is adequate to describe these young men....Courageous.
In his poem Invictus, William Ernest Henley put it perfectly:
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
You can see Richard's work and read about our visit at Canada's National Post.
9 comments:
Lest we forget! With the hourly chatter about Charlie Sheen or rantings from various political pundits, Afghanistan and Iraq have receded into the background, out of most our citizens' consciousness. Thank you for these much appreciated sketches and stories.
1. Glad you are back.
2. Congratulations on your marriage.
Wish you both all the best.
3. Am a fan of Leyendecker's work, Arrow shirt illustrations and all.
4. Own one JCL pen and ink (complete with return to artist stamp).
5. His Saturday Evening Post covers are fetching high five figures.
6. Fine, strong work.
7. As is yours, particularly your pencil sketches.
8. Thank you for sharing your work with us.
V/R JWest
Your sketches and story in today's New York Times are wonderful. Thank you, and thanks to those extraordinary young men, for opening their enormously courageous lives for us to see.
What fine and unforgettable soldiers, fathers, husbands and sons they are: the best of the best.
I am already looking forward to tomorrow's piece.
Love the NY Times article. Thank you for sharing your work.
Thank you for your drawings that tell the stories of these brave people and their brave families.
It occurs to me that when the US began this war, a good many of those who are fighting now were children in grade school.
Will their children also be asked to continue this fight?
I just finished reading The Good Soldiers, about Iraq, and was pleased to see your NY Times piece and blog, as another view of the soldier's story that too few Americans care to pay attention to. Thank you for giving voice to the recovering. I loved the comments of the young couple, appreciating the time they have to let him heal, and already aware of how quickly life passes and changes in a moment.
Just read the story in NYT, which brought me to this truly magnificent blog. I admire your art!
you work is poignant and thought provoking, your ability to see 'beyond the flesh' and to the humanity inside is incredible, thank you for opening our eyes to this, I would ask you also If you are able to sketch any afghan children who have had their arms and legs torn off by our Drones or the recent events surrounding our brave heroic soldiers who hunted down and murdered Afghan civilians as sport and then photographed them for trophies, all readers of these posts would agree, Im sure, that their lives are worth the same loving attention to detail as any soldier, perhaps more so, because they are, as all children are, innocent pawns in the criminal endeavors of humanity.
Thank you again for your masterful work, I am now a regular reader of your blog.
Really great work!
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