Forgotten Warriors: Combat Art from Vietnam by Dennis L. Noble Praeger Publishers, 88 Post Road West, Westport, Connecticut 06881, 1992, 198 pages, $29.95.
Dennis Noble's study of the "grunt," or the soldier in the field, redefines the Vietnam conflict using combat art, letters from the field, poetry, and anecdotes from American service members. For these Americans, the conflict was much different than the war that was edited and televised to the family back home, many miles from the action. For the grunts, the war meant dealing with harsh, extreme conditions, confusing alliances, and the realization that the ultimate sacrifice on the field meant little to the American public. They were forgotten warriors, and Americans were all but content to forget the conflict and the service members who participated in it.
After four years of denial, 1973-1977, unanswered concerns surfaced via the medium most associated with American society--the Hollywood film. Noble includes an appendix written by William Palmer that discusses the plethora of Vietnam war films that came out after 1977. "Though they did not always accurately portray Vietnam . . . or the war fought there, they did catch the attention of American culture and convince the American people that it was finally time to reconsider the war in all its dimensions" (page 176).
Noble sets out to make some distinctions between the fantasy of these Hollywood productions and the reality of battlefield sketches drawn by combat artists actually working on location in Vietnam. Noble uses this artwork to help show the effects of extended combat and maneuvers in the field, the effects of combat on the soldiers, and the sense of close companionship that developed between service members.
Artwork in the first three chapters depicts scenes of the lone warrior on patrol, soldiers working in support positions, and combatants dealing with the terrain and weather conditions. A common thread runs throughout these pictures: the pervasive loneliness.
Noble has included the pencil sketches of Henry C. Casselli, Jr., which demand attention for their powerful focus on the lone marine. Few faces are emphasized, and figures are nonspecific players within a larger scenario. The artist's narrative, then, becomes part of the appeal of these paintings and drawings.
Noble has also included reproductions that are highly emotive portraits of individual soldiers. These paintings do not focus on the setting but rather on the mood of the individual subject and on faces that show the effects of combat on young men who are no longer young. There is a stoic resignation to the confusion and chaos of war that is evident in many of these portraits.
Mood is also created by depictions of actual battle scenes. These compositions make the viewer aware of an underlying tension. Like the soldiers in these environments, viewers cannot be comfortable.
Powerful visual expression is not only relegated to human portraiture. The author satisfies the American public's fascination with the machinery of war by including a generous collection of reproductions of paintings of the aircraft, tanks, and naval vessels in action in Vietnam. Noble reserves a special place for art that depicts the helicopter, the aircraft most often associated with the Vietnam conflict.
Another special feature is the chapter containing art that depicts the Vietnamese people, culture, and country. A diverse presentation of drawings of architecture, religious shrines, and street scenes give further insight into the alienation felt by US service members in Vietnam. Several beautiful pictures of the children of Vietnam are portrayed by combat artist Trella Koczwara, one of the two female combat artists in Vietnam.
The serious and profound role of the combat artist becomes the main point of Noble's book. Combat art provides society with a visual record of war from a unique perspective. Noble has accomplished an admirable task with this book. Not only has he provided an insightful account of combat art during the Vietnam era, but he has done so in a way that does not trivialize the artwork represented.
If we are ever to fully reconcile ourselves to our country's role in the Vietnam conflict, Americans must first be willing to let go of the myths and try to understand some of the realities of this undeclared war that, unlike any other singular event in contemporary history, divided and fragmented American society. Noble's book visually shapes some of these realities in an important volume that is totally engaging.&127;
Capt Pamela J. Chadick, USAF
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Book Reviews | Home Page | Feedback? Email the Editor