Tag Archives: 1000 yard stare

The background may change, but the stare remains the same

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Found this haunting image of a Marine with the “2,000-yard stare” currently in storage at the National Museum of the Marine Corps awaiting display. (If anyone recognizes the artist, please let me know).

in-storage-at-national-museum-of-the-marine-corps

It is, of course, an homage to war artist Thomas Lea’s The 2000 Yard Stare of WWII fame:

"2000 YARD STARE" "Down from Bloody Ridge Too Late. He's Finished - Washed Up - Gone" "As we passed sick bay, still in the shell hole, it was crowded with wounded, and somehow hushed in the evening light. I noticed a tattered Marine standing quietly by a corpsman, staring stiffly at nothing. His mind had crumbled in battle, his jaw hung, and his eyes were like two black empty holes in his head. Down by the beach again, we walked silently as we passed the long line of dead Marines under the tarpaulins. He left the States 31 months ago. He was wounded in his first campaign. He has had tropical diseases. He half-sleeps at night and gouges Japs out of holes all day. Two-thirds of his company has been killed or wounded. He will return to attack this morning. How much can a human being endure?” Life Collection of Art WWII, U.S. Army Center of Military History, Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

“2000 YARD STARE”
“Down from Bloody Ridge Too Late. He’s Finished – Washed Up – Gone”
“As we passed sick bay, still in the shell hole, it was crowded with wounded, and somehow hushed in the evening light. I noticed a tattered Marine standing quietly by a corpsman, staring stiffly at nothing. His mind had crumbled in battle, his jaw hung, and his eyes were like two black empty holes in his head. Down by the beach again, we walked silently as we passed the long line of dead Marines under the tarpaulins. He left the States 31 months ago. He was wounded in his first campaign. He has had tropical diseases. He half-sleeps at night and gouges Japs out of holes all day. Two-thirds of his company has been killed or wounded. He will return to attack this morning. How much can a human being endure?” Life Collection of Art WWII, U.S. Army Center of Military History, Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

 

The Face of War

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The Dutch Marines, known as the Korps Mariniers  is the marine corps and amphibious infantry component of the Royal Netherlands Navy and has been such since 1665– predating the USMC by a tad more than a century. They have been known for being salty sea dogs and hard fighters for over three hundred years in dozens of wars. The Japanese found out as much in the Pacific in World War Two.

Slate has an interesting article about a photo essay of 20 Dutch devil-dogs showing a close-up face shot of them before, during, and after a 12-month stint in Afghanistan.

I think the ‘during‘ is the most telling.