Review: Exhibition Explores Vietnam Veteran’s Healing Journey
Third Coast Review
BY TOM WAWZENEK
AUGUST 28, 2019
Perhaps Costello’s most ambitious work is his Autobiography series, in which the viewer sees five different faces of the artist from different periods in his life. We see an evolution take place not only through his physical features, but also on a deeper, emotional level.
Maurice Costello, a Crossroads, 2017. Acrylic paint on hardboard and digital print. Photo courtesy of the National Veterans Art Museum.
The latest exhibition at the National Veterans Art Museum — Maurice Costello: Back to “The Nam” — tells the story of Maurice Costello’s experience while serving in the Vietnam War and his difficult transition as a civilian. This exhibition includes 21 works that are set in chronological order — starting with 1967 when Costello was drafted into the army until the present time.
One of Costello’s artistic strengths is his use of colors — from vibrant to muted — as a way to emphasize various emotions. A number of his works aren’t framed as rectangles or squares, but instead form various shapes, some looking like cutouts, that add an immediacy to his art. His creative process often involves constructing his work on the computer and digitally manipulating personal photographs and images.
Costello explores a range of emotions, many of them dark and painful, that allows us to peek into his psyche. In the First Time Ever, we see a close up of a terror-stricken face that has a sickly green hue. In this particular work, Costello tells the story of his first day in Vietnam when he finds a Vietnamese man in the jungle who has been shot by American GIs and is dying before him. Costello further examines his feelings about his war experience in the Crossroads — a deathly image of a skull being consumed by flames from within. This work does not only speak about Costello’s personal views about the horrors of war, but it’s also a reflection of his own painful emotions such as when he encountered the scattered remains of a young Vietnamese man who had been killed the night before.
Another powerful image is pre-Facetime which is a view of a ’60s-style television that shows the graphic for the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite in the foreground while in the background there are American GIs in the Vietnam jungle. Adding to the tension of this work is a reflection of the artist’s mother on the TV screen. This work is a grim reminder that Costello’s mother like millions of other Americans were dependent on these news programs to get as much information as possible about the Vietnam War.
Costello also explores the difficult adjustment he had to make once he became a civilian again. After being discharged from the service, Costello was divorced, fired from a job, and abusing a variety of legal and illegal drugs. This painful transition is best illustrated in a Blue Period that shows an army discharge paper that is covered with a bright red target with a hypodermic needle hitting the bullseye like a dart. This image has an out-of-focus quality that is a reflection of the artist’s own life that lacked a sense of clarity and direction.
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Navajo Code Talker Thomas H. Begay wanted to be a gunner. Here's how he became a Code Talker
Arizona Republic
Shondiin Silversmith
Aug. 29, 2019
ONE OF THE LAST SURVIVING NAVAJO CODE TALKERS THOMAS H. BEGAY SHARES HIS STORY ABOUT HIS SERVICE IN THE UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS.
Ronald said his father suffers from a post-traumatic stress disorder and has flashbacks of his time during his service at Iwo Jima. "It's still with him," Ronald said. "He still thinks about it."
Navajo Code Talker Thomas H. Begay (right) before the start of the Navajo Nation Code Talkers Day parade on Aug. 14, 2018, at the Navajo Nation Fairgrounds in Window Rock.
(Photo: Mark Henle/The Republic)
About a month after the battle of Iwo Jima in 1945, Navajo Code Talker Thomas H. Begay was flown to Pearl Harbor for a week. He wasn't told why and he didn't ask questions.
He was taken to the United State Naval base on Pearl Harbor with fellow Navajo Code Talker Wilson H. Price. Once they arrived, they met a Navy lieutenant at the communication center. He led Begay and Price to a round building filled with various vaults.
The vaults were opened. From inside, wagons full of paper were brought to the Code Talkers.
"It was all the messages sent (and received) on Iwo Jima," he said.
Begay said the lieutenant kept an eye on them and took notes of the entire process. After hundreds of messages, they were told the purpose of their task: to determine if there were any mistakes in any of the messages the Navajo Code Talkers sent and received throughout the Iwo Jima operation.
"800 messages we went through," Begay said. "There were no mistakes."
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New immigration policy withholds automatic citizenship for some children of troops overseas, but not all
Military Times
By: Meghann Myers
August 28, 2019
“This country cannot place them in harm’s way and then punish their children and families by requiring them to undertake a years-long adjudication from an agency that is already over-tasked.” Shaun May of the Federal Practice Groups
The agency in charge of approving U.S. citizenship has updated its definition of residence as it relates to eligibility to become a citizen, according to a policy memo released Wednesday.
A change in immigration policy withholds automatic citizenship for some children of troops overseas. The new policy does not affect children born to U.S. citizens serving abroad. Those children are still entitled to automatic citizenship.. (MC3 A.J. Jones/Navy)
It might affect the foreign-born children of some service members when it takes effect on Oct. 29.
Children born to — or adopted by — some U.S. service members overseas are no longer automatically considered U.S. residents or entitled to U.S. citizenship, according to the policy.
“This policy update does not affect anyone who is born a U.S. citizen, period," Ken Cuccinelli, acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigrant Services, said in a statement.
“This only affects children who were born outside the United States and were not U.S. citizens.”
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Disabled veteran helps nurse with confrontational patient
Your Sun
By ELAINE ALLEN-EMRICH
Community News Editor
Aug 27, 2019
ENGLEWOOD — A disabled veteran was deemed a hero after he helped tackle a man allegedly trying to harm a nurse.
Bill Tracy smiles recently with Englewood Community Hospital nurse Angie Bonakoske. Tracy received flowers and thank yous from nurses after he helped restrain a confrontational patient at the hospital. PHOTO PROVIDED
After undergoing a five-hour operation to save his right leg, 64-year-old Bill Tracy was recovering last week at Englewood Community Hospital when he heard a nurse screaming.
“I was on bed rest and attached to an IV and have two stents, but heard a ruckus going on near my room, I got up and went toward the nurse who was screaming,” said Tracy, a retired Army Paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne.
“It looked like this man was coming off of some kind of drugs. I came up behind him. I didn’t know he hit her. I helped pin him down until Tess (the nurse) could call the head nurse Cindy and security came too. Tess wasn’t hurt, just shaken up a bit.”
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Veteran carries fellow Marine to Utah mountain summit: 'We're all a band of brothers'
FOX News
By David Montanaro
August 27, 2019
Phil Casper wrote, "They sought no special attention. The disabled vet said he weighed 135 lbs. They were committed to reach the summit. Having just exhausted myself to reach the summit with less than 5 lbs on my back, it was hard to fathom the drive that the pair possessed to achieve their goal. To have arrived where I met them was already an incredible accomplishment. It was a powerful and inspiring experience to see them on their way."
When it comes to the U.S. Marines, one of their core beliefs is to leave no man behind.
That motto was on full display last week when retired Marine Sgt. John Nelson was caught on video carrying his friend and fellow Marine, Staff Sgt. Jonathon Blank, to the summit of Utah's Mount Timpanogos.
Blank lost his legs in an explosion in Afghanistan in 2010, with Nelson nearby when the blast occurred. The two, who served together on long-range reconnaissance missions, joined "Fox & Friends" Tuesday to detail the inspirational journey, which spanned 14 miles and 4,500 feet of elevation.
The sight of Nelson carrying Blank, who weighs about 135 pounds, on his back left two fellow hikers in awe and one shared the video on Facebook.
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