VETERANS DAY 2008

Edith Shain Then,
August 14, 1945

Edith Shain today

Edith Shain next to her likeness sculpture

click on images to enlarge

Veterans Day was a good one here in Western Pennsylvania. The day started with a parade downtown, and the rest of the cold afternoon found this Veteran out and about on his Harley. I rode for those veterans who could not!

This day honoring veterans has changed over the years with the political winds, but it has always maintained the original creative intent … to make those who are not such, aware of what others have done in their name. Those who did make the ultimate personal sacrifice would probably not be concerned about such waxing lyrical, as they more than likely died for the man next to, or behind them. The outsider cannot see or feel that bond that can only come from those so dependent on each other … a bond of trust not felt by most. A bond like this one does not throw away, most remain friends for life, “I got your back!”

I have selected a few images of World War Two fame for this column, with a few hot and current ones as well. They are but symbols, and not current in today’s news. These symbols represent a time when we as a country stood by the men and women in harm’s way like at no other time in our history. Those who were there must less those who watched it by newsreels, cannot comprehend the scope of that war. Such horrific and ghastly scenes do not permit simplistic logic to understand what happened, so most who saw chose to forget. It took some over 60 years to talk about what they saw, did, and felt then, during the biggest event of man ever.

The VJ Day kiss image is THE image remembered when most folks from that time think of the end of the war. Thousands of images were shot that day, but this one is the one. Like most memorable images, it is one of a serendipitous nature that was born out of instinct, captured as it happened … these qualities give it that thing that we like about it. The nurse in the images is Edith Shain. I met her in San Diego while out there shooting portraits and interviewing Pearl Harbor survivors. She is a special woman with an attitude that has not diminished in all these years … she has grit!

Veterans are easy. If you know one, give him a smile … he will know.

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Keep your head down,

Henry Hill, Plum Pennsylvania