Memorial Day 2011

"Compassion" by Howard Brodie

"I remember the young soldier well, he screamed, he was just out of control, and he screamed, and there was another soldier next to him who consoled him, and embraced him. That was a moving moment for me, to see that compassion in combat. And these are the things a person feels when he's in proximity to death-- his buddy, that next human being, that person in the foxhole is the most important person in your life. "


Howard Brodie sketched this picture in the midst of combat during World War II. He was a combat artist, trying to portray war as it really was - not the sanitized version, not the version Hollywood most often wanted you to see. He, and other combat artists, showed war in all its gruesome reality. We need to see the true face of war. It is not glamorous. It is a sacrifice of the body, mind, and soul.

Today, remember those who served and died for their country. Remember those we have lost.

Remember them. Always.