Mural thanks fallen servicemembers

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Erin Dorrance
  • 6th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AFPN) --  Bayshore patriots wave flags, kindergartners write thank you letters and spouses send pictures, all supporting servicemembers fighting during Operation Enduring Freedom. Stewart Wavell-Smith took a different approach to show his appreciation to the military, especially those who give the ultimate sacrifice -- life.

During a dedication ceremony Jan. 30 at U.S. Central Command headquarters here, Mr. Wavell-Smith presented the 8-foot-tall, 28-foot-long Enduring Freedom Mural to Army Gen. John Abizaid, U.S. CENTCOM commander.

Mr. Wavell-Smith, who has been recognized for more than 30 years for his art, created the mural to honor fallen servicemembers, to provide money for the surviving spouses and children of fallen troops, and to portray the complex role of the U.S. military worldwide.

Mr. Wavell-Smith called retired Army Gen. Tommy Franks, former U.S. CENTCOM commander, several months ago and asked him if the mural could hang in the CENTCOM headquarters building. General Franks, who owns a piece of Mr. Wavell-Smith's artwork from Vietnam, said he would be honored to have this artwork displayed at U.S. CENTCOM headquarters. It will be permanently housed here.

Mr. Wavell-Smith is originally from England and moved to the United States in 1963. He was drafted into the Army during Christmas of 1964 as a combat photographer.

"I take all of the images from photographs I have taken during times of war to create art," he said. "My art is simply flashbacks from what I have seen through life."

Mr. Wavell Smith said he can recall the second when he was inspired to create the Enduring Freedom Mural. He was on his way back to the United States in a C-17A Globemaster III on April 16, 2002.

"There was a casket on board and I felt a terrible sense of loss," he said. "I knew the troop's family had been notified and was mourning. I had to thank him."

Mr. Wavell-Smith said the mural represents the eminence of danger, the partnership of people in Afghanistan to regain old dignity, the strength of a coalition and the memory of those who served.

Mr. Wavell-Smith's mural represents the work of several volunteer artists who worked in an airplane hangar in Palm Springs, Calif.

John Durst, an 82-year-old who spent several hundred hours working on the details of the mural, said the mural was that important to him.

"I wasn't the smart one," Mr. Durst said. "I would volunteer from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. when temperature would soar well above 100 degrees. Most of the volunteers would come when it was cooler, midnight to sunrise."

Mr. Wavell-Smith said the hard work was worth every second.

The mural inspired him to form a nonprofit charitable organization called the Operation Enduring Freedom Killed in Action Fund which collects donations to provide monetary support to surviving family members of the fallen servicemembers.