Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Sappers

Watercolor Windowpane Collage
Elizabeth Roth, 2016

This collage is a watercolor painting of the British Army, 8th Company, during WWII in Cairo.  It pictures my father (hat-less) astride an Italian Jeep on a training maneuver to discover land mines.  This group of soldiers was comprised of British, New Zealanders, South Africans and United States Army personnel.  My father did not talk much about the war, but he once told me that he rather got on well with the New Zealanders and thought them a friendly bunch.  Where are these men now?  I do not know if they each made it home after the war.  My father did, after spending four years serving our country as a radio specialist on the front lines.  These men are strangers to me, but familiar just the same as I feel a kinship and gratitude to them for giving what they did to my freedom.  Especially I feel that my father, who I loved more than life itself, was brave and should be remembered as a hero.  He was my hero, anyway.



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