I made the scene below to donate to Honor Flight, a Springfield, Ohio-based organization that honors World War II veterans by flying them free to the World War II Memorial in Washington, DC.
The final scene, below, was covered with a dusting of snow.
Drew and Honor Flight Chairman of the Board Jim McLaughlin at the Honor Flight headquarters in Springfield, Ohio.
As I’ve looked at this scene so many times as I worked on it, here’s where my mind’s eye took me:
There was a time. A time when these Quonset huts were full of motivated GIs.
Hot in the summer, cold in the winter, these two huts were only a small part of a much larger facility. Stuck in the back, next to the tracks. Even then it was the end of the line. But steam engines still came and went. Picking up cars, dropping off others. Late night freight trains, so close, made it hard to sleep. At least at first.
And then it was over.
Now hardly recognizable, these huts have long since been abandoned. Nature reclaimed the area as the years passed. They were never fancy, that’s for sure. But they were clean. Real clean.
But time has a way.
And time has not diminished what happened here.
They’re not forgotten. They still live on if only in memories.
So many lived here, trained here, healed here. However brief. And left for parts around the globe to join so many others. They are the ones, all these years later, we honor.
Below you can see how I made the scene step-by-step.
Honor Flight is a non-profit organization. To learn more log on www.honorflight.org.
Everything they do is free to the veterans. So I’ve talked with Jim McLaughlin, Chairman of the Board at Honor Flight, and I told him they can sell this scene, auction it, or whatever to help raise funds for their efforts.
HERE’S MORE …
As a journalist I’ve had the opportunity to interview a number of the World War II veterans who made the flight to DC. Here are a couple stories to give you an idea of their experience.
Also, there are a couple more World War II veterans I think deserve special mention.
One is Bill Bettac. Bill was a D-Day survivor. He was there on Omaha Beach from the very start. For years Bill made the wood bases for all my dioramas, many of which now rest in a museum. I loved sitting around Bill’s kitchen table talking with him. He was quite a character. Bill just recently passed away, and he is missed. His story is below.
The last veteran in my personal hall of fame is my uncle-in-law Dick Sundin. Uncle Dick passed away several years ago but his memory lives on in my heart.