Death of a Soldier
30" x 40"
Oil on Canvas
Vietnam – Central Highlands near Cambodia – 1967
In all wars there are some who die. DEATH OF A SOLDIER is in
memory of all those
who lost their lives in Vietnam in their country's service.
The scene took place in a field hospital, a canvas and sheet metal
structure partly below
and partly above ground, heavily sand bagged, but still vulnerable to
direct hits
by almost daily mortar fire.
Casualties of the war in Vietnam receive hospital treatment often with
within minutes
of being wounded because of the speed and efficiency of helicopter
evacuation.
Field hospitals and medical and ministerial personnel are a short distance
from any battlefield.
The heroism of medical personnel and chaplains who serve the casualties is
a quiet, unending,
unquestioning reality that disregards mortar fire, time of day or night,
weather, shortages,
or personnel concerns. The return of wounded soldiers to productive lives
is greater
than in any other war, and yet there are those who must die because their
wounds are
so extensive that they are beyond the help of man.
The surgeon portrayed is Captain Richard C. Schmidt, of Biloxi,
Mississippi,
representative of the medical corps who, often in the most difficult
circumstances,
render help to every type of casualty.
The Chaplain, Monsignor Howard T. Lee, is the only Chinese American
Catholic priest
ever to have served in the U.S. Army. He served as an army infantry
officer in
the China-Burma-India theatre in World War II, became a Roman
Catholic priest after that war,
rose to high office in the Church, then returned to the army for service
in Vietnam.
When the artist visited him in the remote Central Highlands, he was
sharing
the unspeakable living conditions that prevailed there and traveling to
the most
remote outposts manned by Americans to bring spiritual sustenance to all
who sought it.
