Remembering Our Veterans

People across the globe still remember and commemorate November 11th. It was on this date, the 11 day of the 11th month, at the 11th hour, in 1918... more

by Douglas Taylor

Buy the Original Photograph

Price

$195

Dimensions

45.000 x 30.000 inches

Title

Remembering Our Veterans

Artist

Douglas Taylor

Medium

Photograph - Fine Art Digital Photography

Description

People across the globe still remember and commemorate November 11th. It was on this date, the 11 day of the 11th month, at the 11th hour, in 1918 that a cease-fire and armistice was declared, effectively ending the fighting of the Great War in Europe. It is still celebrated as Remembrance Day in the United Kingdom and Armistice Day across most of Europe.

Originally commemorated as Armistice Day in the United States, it was declared a National Holiday beginning in 1938. Following the Second World War a movement began for the day to honor all American veterans both alive and deceased. That official change was made in 1954. We honor our military dead on Memorial Day. On this day, November 11th, we honor all the veterans.

Yes, say a prayer for those who have gone. But say a prayer for our living veterans, too. They have gone into battle for you and I, and put themselves in harm's way for our freedom and liberty. Some came home with physical wounds, but many more returned with hidden scars and burdens they must carry the remainder of their lives. We must remember them, as we should all that have served.

For this expression of gratitude, remembrance and thanks I chose a detail photograph of the U.S. Marines Memorial at Arlington, Virginia, because it evokes in me the bravery, the grit and determination, the esprit de corps that can be found in every branch of our military.

The giant statue was inspired by the iconic photograph of U.S. Marines raising the American flag at the summit of Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima by Joseph Rosenthal, taken February 23rd, 1945. Rosenthal’s photograph would become one of the most famous photographs of the 20th century, and earned him the Pulitzer Prize for 1945.

Artist and sculptor Felix de Weldon was so inspired upon seeing this photograph on the front pages of newspapers the following days that he created a scale model, or “maquette” of the sculpture over a single weekend at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station where he was serving in the Navy during the conflict. Such was the emotional spirit of the times for this young man who had fled the Nazi occupation of his native Austria just prior to the start of the war. De Weldon’s extraordinary recreation was eventually chosen to be the focal point of the Marine Corps War Memorial in 1951, and he spent three painstaking years creating the colossal master model with figures 32 feet tall. Cast in bronze, the statue was then erected atop architect Horace W. Peaslee’s design for the base.

Uploaded

November 10th, 2022