Portraits of Honor

Happy 100th birthday, Bill Greason!

Portraits of Honor

Today is V-J Day (Victory over Japan) and I am so honored to have met many WWII veterans who served in the Pacific Theater of WWII against the Japanese. Two of those who are still living I met at their homes in the Tampa, Florida area a few years ago and later spent time with them at Pearl Harbor. They are remarkable men and I want to highlight them again today.

From advanced Marine Corps training in San Diego, Neal McCallum boarded a troop transport and headed across the Pacific, where he was initially based on Guadalcanal for additional training for about one month. By that time the American “Island Hopping” campaign had reached the Japanese territory of Okinawa, and one of the penultimate battles of the Pacific War was about to begin. Part of the 6th Div., 29th Regiment, Neal saw action in the northern side of the island, where he was engaged in intense combat in the fight for Sugarloaf Hill. His personal role in the fight lasted for a 49-day stretch before he was wounded. After that, Neal was shipped back to the U.S. for recovery, fully expecting to return to the battlefield for the planned invasion of Japan. The atomic bombs ended that possibility though, and Neal did not have to return to the Pacific.

Kenneth Wells was 16-years-old when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and at the time had no idea how much that event would impact his life. In 1944, after finishing high school Wells received his draft notice and planned on joining the Navy, however a Marine recruiter persuaded Wells to join the Marines and he soon found himself at Parris Island. On April 1, 1945, Easter Sunday, Wells found himself aboard a Higgins boat heading toward the island of Okinawa. Although the beach landings went unopposed, Wells and his fellow Marines of the 29th Marine Regiment, 6th Division knew the enemy awaited them inland. Wells would go on to participate in some of the most brutal fighting in the Pacific theater. He would lose close friends during the fight for Sugar Loaf Hill and on June 11, 1945 he was wounded himself from an explosion.

Introducing 100-year-old Dr. Arlester Brown who was born on April 1, 1924 in Homer, Louisiana and spent a great deal of his life in Shreveport, Louisiana. I met him first a year ago with the Best Defense Foundation, but I wanted to photograph him again this year in Normandy, France looking amazing wearing his Army uniform.

At age 18, he was drafted on July 6, 1942 into the U.S. Army. After attending basic training at Camp Ellis in Peoria, Illinois, Arlester sailed to Southampton, England.

Arlester was deployed in various locations across Saint Lo and Normandy, France, Belgium, The Netherlands and the Rhineland area in Germany. He worked as a Quartermaster engineer with the 599th Quartermaster Laundry Company which was known for its involvement in the historical cleaning and supply for the front line. The supply line was formed by all Black troops who worked tirelessly to keep the troops’ clothing and cleaning supplies in line while the soldiers were in and out of combat during World War II. He also assisted in providing the soldiers personal hygiene and clean clothing. Arlester and other black soldiers were treated with more respect and equality in Europe than home in a highly segregated American culture. His most memorable time in World War II was in January, 1945 when an unmanned buzz bomb exploded near him and he was hit by shrapnel.

Arlester was discharged at Camp Shelby on December 28, 1945.

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Tom Rice (15 August 1921 – 17 November 2022). Today would have been his 103rd birthday. What a legend, and I'm so honored to have known him and photographed him.

Portraits of Honor Best Defense Foundation WWII Airborne Demonstration Team Our WWII heroes and memorial ceremonies 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)

Meet 100-year-old Bill Toombs (861st Bomb Squadron, 493rd Bomb Group, 8th Air Force)! What a great gentleman to be around! I met him with the Best Defense Foundation as we went to Normandy for the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

At age 18, he enlisted into the Army Air Corps on October 31, 1942 and trained at gunnery school in Texas. He then went on to Salt Lake City to train on the B-24 Liberator. In December 1943, Bill joined the 493rd Bomb Group and flew to Debach, Suffolk, England.

Bill’s first mission on D-Day, June 6, 1944 was not a productive one. They failed to find the target near Caen and returned with a full load of bombs. He flew twenty missions with the B-24 before being transferred to the B-17. On his 4th B-17 mission over Germany, the number three engine was shot out by a fighter. He and the pilot decided not to bail out, instead setting course for Brussels, ditching all the guns and heavy gear as they lost altitude. Landing in a turnip field, they met Canadian troops and were transferred back to England. Soon after, Bill joined on four missions again over Germany at the end of which they were summoned to Squadron HQ and told they were being sent home.

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Hello all! As most know, my goal is still to reach as many WWII veterans as possible, interview them, and make a photo portrait for them for free. As of today I have reached 368 veterans. The last year has been slower for me compared to the four years before due to some needs in my family that have kept me close to home. That also prevented me from raising much needed funding to travel to the veterans. The big highlight, however, was being invited again to join with the Best Defense Foundation as a volunteer caregiver for my veteran friend Joe Picard and make portraits of the veterans on our Normandy 80th anniversary program. That was a fantastic experience of "taking care of those who took care of us"!

Now, I want to ramp up efforts of finding more veterans, traveling to them to preserve their own stories and making their fine portraits. When I began this project in 2019 there were approximately 300,000+ WWII veterans still living. Today, there are less than 80,000. Next year there will only be half that number. The average age is around 100 years old. So, time is precious. A very sobering thought is that soon I may be reaching out to the very last one.

Donations that I have received not only help me with travel and print expenses, but also connecting with other people and groups who honor these veterans in many different ways. Volunteering and collaborating with them has helped gain more momentum in my journey to reach more WWII veterans. Please help me by sharing this post with everyone you know. I will include the link to my fundraiser in the comments. My calculations show that based on the amount of contributions I’ve received and used over the past four years, it costs around $70 per veteran for my travel expenses plus photo printing and postage. Help me reach one more with your donation.

As I always say, when you help it is like you are going with me to sit in a veteran's living room and get them to tell their own story of serving in WWII. Their stories and portraits live on after they are gone. Thank you for your help.

I met and photographed WWII veteran Victor Chaney with the Defense Foundation in Normandy. Victor turned 99 years old a few days ago. He was drafted in 1943 and was inducted into the Army on December 22nd of the same year. Following his basic training, Victor went overseas on July 1, 1944 and arrived in England two weeks later.

Landing with the 5th Infantry Division on Utah Beach in July, 1944, he fought through the hedgerows of Normandy as an infantryman. Victor and his unit pushed on towards Northern France and liberated towns such as Angers and Reims. When the 5th Infantry reached Metz, Victor was reassigned to 2029th POW Detachment, where he helped manage and handle German POWs at a camp in Fontainebleau.

Victor was discharged on November 16, 1945, however he reenlisted in 1948 and fought in the Korean War. Victor retired from the Army with over 20 years of service.

John “Bill” Kongable was another veteran I was honored to meet in Normandy last month with the Best Defense Foundation. He was born on February 22nd, 1926 in Hominy, Oklahoma.

Bill was drafted into the Army on May 28th, 1944 and received his basic training at Camp Fannin, Texas. After completion, he was assigned to an Antitank Company in the 354th Regiment of the 89th Infantry Division.

Bill and the 89th Division landed in Le Havre in January, 1945 and made their way to Camp Lucky Strike near St. Valery, France. From March to May of 1945, Bill was in combat with his anti tank unit fighting through Germany. In late March 1945, Bill crossed the Rhine River near St. Goar, moving his unit closer to Berlin. Then, on April 4th, 1945, Bill and the 89th Division helped liberate the Ohrdruf concentration camp, a moment which Bill remembers very well.

After V-E day, Bill was transferred to the 42nd Infantry Division, where he was a member of the Army of Occupation in Austria. He had served for a total of 25 months.

Meet 104-year-old Edward L. Berthold whom I met in Normandy with the Defense Foundation.

After high school, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps because he didn’t want to be in the infantry. He went into active duty service on October 1, 1943 and trained at Santa Ana Army Air Base in California as a B-24 Bomber pilot.

On March 4, 1944, Ed shipped out and was assigned as a co-pilot with the 702nd Bomb Squadron, 445th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force. He flew to Iceland, Ireland and finally England at Tibenham Airfield in Norfolk. On his first mission, the number three engine caught fire and they had to land and abort the mission, only flying for two hours and 25 minutes. On the second mission, the prop governor wouldn’t work, so they couldn’t fly their mission. His third mission was on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Ed co-piloted a mission to bomb the town bridge of St. Lo, France. By his last 4 missions, he was leading as pilot aboard the B-24 “Fort Worth Maid.” It was shot down seven weeks after he left Europe. In total, Ed flew 35 missions in just two months.

I met Enoch “Woody” Woodhouse in Normandy last month with the Best Defense Foundation. What a great guy to be around for 12 days, and an awesome experience!

Woody was born on January 14, 1927 in Roxbury, MA. On his 17th birthday, he enlisted in the US Army Air Corps. While on the train headed for boot camp, Woody and his fellow soldiers were told the train was for ‘Whites Only’. The train he was allowed to ride on arrived six hours later, causing him to show up late for his assignment, much to the chagrin of his white drill sergeant.

Woody was transferred to Ogden, UT, where he was assigned to Squadron F, an all-Black squadron, primarily in charge of housekeeping, upkeep of the roads and peeling potatoes for the unit. Woody was assigned to the more coveted jobs as a waiter in the Officer’s Club. Woody, who spoke several languages, always kept his favorite book close by while cleaning the Officer’s Club. One evening, a lieutenant spotted the book and told him to apply for Officer Candidate School.

Commissioned a 2nd Lt. at 19, Woody was assigned F Co. to the 332nd Fighter Group, better known as the Tuskegee Airmen, where he became paymaster/finance officer for the squadron.

https://www.wgbh.org/news/local/2024-02-29/meet-the-boston-native-at-the-center-of-the-tuskegee-airmen-mural-at-logan-airport

Best Defense Foundation

Mae Krier, whom I met and photographed in Normandy with the Best Defense Foundation, is the epitome of the "Rosie the Riveter" and was the driving force for getting national recognition for these women who contributed so much to the war effort at home. It was an honor to get to know her in Normandy.

Please watch this video https://youtu.be/wM1uANa1SuM?si=5ZbM-YJPUiVOvfzh

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Meet 98-year old Fred J. Nungesser Jr., whom I photographed in Normandy, France last month with the Best Defense Foundation.

Fred was drafted into the Army in July, 1944 after he graduated from high school and was brought directly to Fort Dix, NJ. He attended basic training at Camp Wheeler in Macon, GA.
Fred deployed to Europe, arriving in Le Havre, France, in early January, 1945. From there, he was transported to Belgium where he was assigned to M Company, 334th Regiment, 84th Infantry Division. Joined by his close friend, James F. Maloney, they would be assigned to different companies.

Fred served as a heavy weapons machine gunner and operated a .30 caliber machine gun. On February 25, 1945, he participated in the fighting at the Roer River and crossed into Germany. It was during this battle that his close friend, James F. Maloney, was killed in action. The 84th Infantry Division continued its advance through Germany, ultimately reaching the Rhine River and then the Elbe River.

84th Training Command 84th Infantry - Victorious Battalion Best Defense Foundation

I was very excited and honored to meet and photograph 99-year-old Col. Joe Peterburs while in Normandy, France with the Best Defense Foundation. Spending 12 days with him and almost 50 other veterans in Normandy was amazing! Joe was a P-51 fighter pilot and served during WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. In 1979 Colonel Peterburs retired after over 36 years and 5 months of active military service. He is a Command Pilot with over 2000 hours conventional and 2000 hours jet time, 125 Combat Missions, 407 Combat Hours in the P-51; a Master Air Weapons Controller and an inductee into the USAF Air Weapons Controller Hall of Fame. His military decorations include: the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross w/1olc, Bronze Star w/1olc, Purple Heart w/1olc, Air Medal w/7olc, P.O.W. Medal and 32 other Medals and awards.

https://joepeterburs.com/bio

Tomorrow I leave to participate in the Best Defense Foundation program in Normandy as a caregiver for my friend, veteran Joe Picard, and I’ll be shooting portraits of many of the 50 WWII veterans with us whom I’ve not met yet. This program will be epic in Normandy since it is the 80th anniversary of D-Day. I’m so happy to be a part of this great honor for these wonderful veterans and experience their return as a caregiver. Thanks also to BDF partners Delta Air Lines, Michelin, The Boeing Company, and others.

Memorial Day is a day for remembering our fallen in battle, and for giving thanks. General George Patton said it this way; "It is wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather, we should thank God such men lived."

Here is the other WWII veteran I met last week in Leeds, Alabama. Ninety-six year old Reuben Melton is a veteran of WWII, Korea, and the Berlin Crisis of 1961. He joined the Navy on November 1, 1944 and went to Great Lakes, IL Naval Training Center. Then to Postal Service School in San Francisco. He was sent to Pearl Harbor for a month and the Fleet Post Office Philippines for 21 months. Reuben was recalled in September 1950 for the Korean War and sent to Guam for 16 months running the Navy Courier Service. After his time in the Navy, he joined the Alabama Air National Guard as a Staff Sergeant in the photo field. Sent to Photo Lab School at Lowry AFB, then to Photo Interpretation School at Sheppard AFB. Officer Candidate School followed at Lackland AFB. Eventually promoted to Captain and called to active duty for the Berlin Crisis and sent to Dreau, France for three months, and then to Wiesbaden, Germany to take over the Intelligence Center. After his return to Birmingham he was promoted to Major and assigned to Wing Staff Intelligence Office. Thirty two years of combined service!

Portraits of Honor

After several months of not meeting any new WWII veterans, last week I met two who live just minutes away from me. After a chance meeting outside a local restaurant I went to visit 101-year-old Colonel Lambert (Bert) Perina, a Marine Corps recon pilot who made it to the Pacific just before Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed. He continued his service from Guam and Japan and made reconnaissance missions around Japan, China, and Korea flying the twin engine F7F Tigercat.

Col. Perina stayed in the Air Force and served in Korea and then many years afterward, flying 32 different aircraft over his amazing career serving our country. 🇺🇸

Portraits of Honor

Eighty years ago today my uncle Huey Bracknell was killed in action in the North Atlantic serving on the destroyer es**rt USS Leopold. The ship was sunk by a torpedo from a German U-boat. The portrait is of my mother, his only living sibling, holding Huey’s portrait.

Today I visited with my friend George Hamilton, who is almost 102 years old. After meeting him and making his portrait a few years ago, I’ve been with him to Pearl Harbor and to Normandy. We plan to go to Normandy again this June.
Best Defense Foundation Portraits of Honor

Since the new series “Masters of the Air” is out now on Apple TV, and it focuses on the 8th Air Force’s 100th Bomb Group, here is an interview I did with a “Bloody 100th” B-17 copilot. Meet Lt. John Alden Clark, whom I met in Minnesota in October 2022. Clark flew 32 missions and published a book titled, “An Eighth Air Force Combat Diary: A First-person, Contemporaneous Account of Combat Missions Flown with the 100th Bomb Group, England, 1944-1945”.

100th Bomb Group Lt. John Alden Clark Interview with Portraits of Honor Lt. John A. Clark was a co-pilot in the 418th Squadron of the Bloody 100th Bomb Group in the 8th Air Force. He served in 1944-1945 on 32 missions. The Bloody...

Almost five years into my Portraits of Honor journey and I decided it’s time to wear a hat with the brand. So, here it is! I had a small amount of these made for some specific friends, but if I get enough interest from others I’ll order another batch for selling. It’ll help me raise more money to reach veterans.

Two and a half years ago someone gave me the name and phone number of a local WWII veteran whom I should meet and include in my Portraits of Honor project. Gene Cushman's name sounded really familiar to me, but it wasn't until I met him at his apartment that I recalled I had known him about 35 years ago as a top life insurance producer with Protective Life where I was working as Art Director. I was fortunate to go as photographer on one of the Top Producer conventions, that one being in Montreaux, Switzerland. While we talked I remembered that I have some 35mm slides from that trip in a box in storage and I knew that there was a photo I made of him and his wife on a dinner cruise on Lake Geneva. I went home, found the slide and copied it to a digital file, printed it and took it to him. He loved it! His beloved wife had passed away some years ago, and when he saw the photo he said, "Oh, isn't she sooo beautiful!" I'm so happy I could provide that to him. I know he liked it better than the portrait I made of him at I guess age 100 then. I heard this morning that he passed away at age 103. What I learned as we talked was that he was a fighter pilot in WWII, flying P-40s, P-51s, and was so good in training that he was selected to be an instructor pilot teaching other young pilots before they went off to the war. He had a long career as pilot in the Air Force, flying almost every type of aircraft they had over the years, participated in the Berlin Airlift, and reached the rank of Colonel. My friend Jim Griffin became close friends with him over the past few years and took him up in his Cub on his 101st and 102nd birthdays, and Gene took the controls in flight, flying like it was still so natural to him. Gene was a wonderful man, and will be missed greatly.

Portraits of Honor

Never Forget. December 7, 1941. I am so grateful that I have been able to meet several Pearl Harbor attack survivors. Here is one of the first I met, Cass Phillips. Cass was at Kaneohe NAS the morning of Sunday, 7 December 1941. He and several squadron mates had slept in and were walking to the exchange to get a late breakfast. The Army Air Corps had been conducting regular exercises, so Cass wasn’t surprised when a lot of planes flew over. He remembers seeing “meatballs” painted on the sides of the planes and saying to his friends, “They’re really making this look realistic - they’ve even painted the planes differently.” Until bombs began exploding, he thought the Japanese attack was just another training exercise.

Shortly after the planes flew overhead he saw smoke coming from the squadron’s hangar. He rushed to the hangar and began helping move damaged airplanes. He was still at the hangar when the second wave of Japanese airplanes attacked. He and other sailors at the hangar had no access to any guns, so all they could do was take shelter and help the wounded until the attack ended.

Thank you to all those who have served!

Finally, we have a preview! I know so many folks have been anxiously awaiting this series!

Masters of the Air — Official Teaser | Apple TV+ 128 seconds of Masters of the Air. The 9-part series event premieres January 26. https://apple.co/_MastersOfTheAirFrom Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and Gary ...

RIP Bob Izumi. Airborne!

Want something really cool to listen to while on a road trip, or while working out? Check out my Portraits of Honor podcast! The latest episode features my very first WWII veteran, Carl Cooper. Available wherever you stream podcasts.

Happy 100th birthday to my friend Wally King! He’s just amazing! I met him first through Best Defense Foundation programs in Hawaii and Normandy and then have met up with him here in Birmingham a couple times where he has visited family, and in Ohio where he introduced me to one of his longtime friends. Wally was a P-47 pilot in Europe, and a POW.

Continuing from last week, the story of Jerome Wilner, a WWII bombardier/navigator who went from Cornell to the skies of Europe. Jerome defied the odds to survive 30 harrowing missions on B-17s over Germany, surrounded by deadly flak. Hear how his indomitable spirit carried him through the war and perilous bomb runs. From academia to the fierce theater of war, Jerome's story is a testament to adaptability and resilience.