The Artist and the Engineer
The photographs my father left behind from his days as a Lieutenant in the Ghost Army transport us to a world of devastation and desperation. The images are stark. From fear and longing to utter exhaustion, the human emotions are raw.
Yet there is something else in these photographs, something subtle and infinitely layered. While the war rages in the foreground, the images whisper to us in the background. They tell us about ordinary people thrown together to fight in the most ironic and improbable way imaginable.
Click on any image in the gallery to see it larger.
Most of the men in my father’s platoon were artists. The army had actively recruited them to apply their collective creative talent to perfect what I would call the art of illusion. From their understanding of proportion and perspective, color and depth, sound and perception, symbols and recognition, sprang imaginary battalions that confused and misled the Germans – and saved thousands of Allied lives in battle.
Their chief weapon was their artistic talent. Yet one platoon leader was a 24-year-old engineer with no artistic talent, no patience for the strong, rule-breaking instincts of an artist, no interest in their freewheeling attitude toward authority and order. He was all spit and polish. They saw life in messy splashes of primary colors.
How did this come to be?
The Ghost Army was one of the most secretive and effective strategies deployed by the Allies in the war. Could it be that someone in the Army realized that the war effort required releasing the creative power of artists, but that their crea tivity could be focused and successful only if they were led by a non-artist with technical, engineering expertise? Remember, this is the Army we’re talking about. Were they really this clever?
Read “The Artist’s Perspective” — A first-person account”
A few years ago, I spoke with former Private First Class Ed Biow about his experience in the 603rd Camouflage Battalion and his tense relationship with his analytical, by-the-book platoon commander (my father). Read his story here.
Read more about the Ghost Army
In my Ghost Army Gallery, you will find much more discussion about the Ghost Army. You will also see the paintings that were inspired by these black-and-white photographs and many others.
