Billy Yank & Johnny Reb (maquettes)

Billy Yank ~ Johnny Reb, I can’t hardly say one without the other. The North & South, The Blue & Gray, The Union & Confederate…words forever entwined. “Billy Yank & Johnny Reb” are the names I gave these pieces, but in actuality, they were names each opposing force called the other. Confederate soldiers often referred to their combatants as “Billy Yank,” and in kind, the Northern soldiers referred to their foes as “Johnny Reb.” I felt that by entitling each piece with the moniker they gave the other…it would not only reflect the intimacy of battle experienced, but intone the brother against brother aspect of this war.

There is an interesting word used to describe war…it is often termed a ’conflict.’ How appropriate, as that is most likely how those who fought, led, were bystanders, or were involved remotely…in any way…felt. Conflicted. As I ponder the reality of ‘war,’ I am left questioning everything I know about the worth of a life, God, morals, mankind, nationalities, right & wrong and the prices paid for anything.

I’ve often pondered why, as a child, a youth, and throughout adulthood, I’ve been a student of and drawn to war. In particular: The American Civil War, World War II, and the Vietnam War. Be it in film, books, intimate first hand accounts, articles, or personal stories (my grandmother’s brother, Stanley Ray Fuller, of Strawberry Arizona, served as a medic on Iwo Jima), I’ve marveled at the never ending chaos, the randomness of death, the seeming luck of staying alive, the miracles, the kindnesses, the utter futility of making any sense of it all. While writing this piece description, an image that stands out for me is the iconic “WAR IS HELL” photo, (of Larry Wayne Chaffin, with the 173rd Airborne Brigade Battalion, on defense duty at Phouc Vinh airstrip ~June 18, 1965, taken by AP Photojournalist Horst Fass).