Painting Called Shadows World War Two Columbus Art Mueseum
Missing Air Crew Report # 11217
Robert Jordan was a nineteen-year-former when he and his aircrew were shot down on Nov 26, 1944. Stationed at the Tibenham Royal Air Forcefulness Base near Norfolk, England, the young airman was with the 445th Group and assigned to the 703rd Squadron as the tail gunner of a Consolidated Liberator B-24J bomber aircraft. The B-24 was sometimes referred to as a "Flying Boxcar" or "Flying Coffin" considering of its big, squarish fuselage. Furthermore, bailing out was too problematic and a challenge for crewmembers to reach their corresponding hatches in club to jump out. Piloted by 2nd Lt. Daniel Snow, the plane was nicknamed "Snow Ball from Hell." Under weather conditions noted as haze with 1-tenth deject cover, the crew was in the midst of a bombing mission over Misburg, Germany, when their plane was hitting by enemy anti-aircraft fire and they had to parachute out. At approximately 12:40 pm, the plane went down near 15 miles southeast of Hanover, Federal republic of germany and all nine members of the crew were captured. That Nov 24-hour interval, four other planes from the 445th Grouping were also shot downward and a total of 45 crewmen were on board the other lost aircraft.
The Sketchbook
Hashemite kingdom of jordan recorded some of the experiences that twenty-four hour period through a series of drawings, now located in the collection of the New Hampshire Historical Society. A sketch captioned "No Trick Holes in the Sky" depicts two men wearing oxygen masks tumbling inside of the B-24 aircraft cabin. A large gaping hole in the side of the aircraft confirms i of the places they were hit. A spread of empty armament shells from the waist gunner'south position covers the floor of the shipping. In "Just Earlier Bail Out," two crew members gear up to bail out of the plane. "Watching the Boys Going Home" is a scene with Hashemite kingdom of jordan crouching on the ground in an empty field afterward parachuting to the ground. Above him in the sky is a germination of bombers from his squadron flying safely dorsum to England.
Shortly after reaching the ground, the sketches reveal that the teenage tail gunner was captured by an armed farmer and turned over to the High german government. "KAPUT!, I'd Had Information technology!" shows a sequence of events related to the squadron'due south firsthand capture such every bit U.S. airmen escorted by High german soldiers to the railroad station while local townspeople kicked, punched, and threw things at them. One of the injured servicemen was supported by two of his crewmates. Another quick sketch is of a young male child in uniform captioned "Picayune Nazi," with a side note that says, "I didn't last more than 10 minutes as a free human in Deutschland." Those few sketches are merely of his first few hours in Germany.
POW Drawings
Jordan also made sketches of his lone confinement at the Luft IV POW camp and of "The March" also known as "The Long March" or "The Death March." Under Hitler's orders, Allied POWs were forced to march hundreds of miles to escape the advancing Soviets every bit the Germans wanted to utilize the POWs as bargaining chips at the end of the war. In loose pencil marks, the drawings bear witness emaciated servicemen knocked to the basis or struggling to walk or the miserable sleeping atmospheric condition in the biting cold—the winter of 1945 was one of the coldest on record. Other sketches depict efforts to procure water from the Germans (which was sometimes impossible to become) or delousing routines to go rid of lice. Whereas Hashemite kingdom of jordan's sketches of the earlier aircraft and bail out experiences are detailed, the depictions of the POW experiences are incomplete. His memories as a Pw seemed harder to reach, every bit if pushed abroad instead of easily resurfacing through his pencil onto the paper—and justifiably so.
Accounts from other servicemen's experiences at Luft IV described their fell treatment and the deplorable living conditions of "The March." Airmen from the Luft 4 were non fed and sanitation was non-existent. Men remained in the same wear they bailed out in for the elapsing of their imprisonment and were given only i blanket to make information technology through the winter months. Jordan was "peel and bones" when liberated that spring by Allied troops. During his three-month infirmary stay in England, a Red Cross nurse gave him a sketchbook and pencils to assistance with the physical and mental healing process. The aforementioned drawings were made during his hospital recovery in 1945.
Memory Truth
After the war, Jordan received degrees from Dartmouth College and Columbia University, and became both a successful painter and art historian. In his recollection aboutNovember 1944, in a letter of the alphabet to the Museum he says, "…I withal feel some sense of ambiguity I had when I painted it, and which I felt in 1944—the sense of adventure besides as the possibility of death—the necessity of the chore besides as the madness of it all. Nothing new at that place, for men at war, just at least the necessity function was far more clear cut than today." It'southward not a coincidence that he chose to paintNovember 1944 in the 1960s during the height of the Vietnam State of war. Jordan remarked the painting was a search of his own experience, "for some occasion where men are bound tighter in a meaningful association."
Nov 1944 suggests a truthful reflection of the artist'due south experiences in WWII, rather than a painting inspired past the Corking Dutch Masters or a retentiveness-myth. Nine men in the painting are the same number of members in Hashemite kingdom of jordan's aircrew that were shot down. Painterly expressions of gaunt facial features and defeated body linguistic communication exude the notion—these men take been through hell and back. A not-detailed B-24 aircraft serves equally a backdrop for the men and is the same blazon of plane Jordan's crew flew that unforgettable 24-hour interval in November. The plane recedes into the darkness of the groundwork and is symbolic for the lost shipping. Bright yellow life vests serve as signs of hope in the otherwise solemn painting—representing the survival of the entire coiffure. Although the depicted details of this aircrew may not replicate an exact likeness to Jordan's actual crew, their faces reveal a shared expression having lived through a POW experience.November 1944 is a testament to the courage and honorable service like Robert Hashemite kingdom of jordan'south crew and others during WWII—and gives hope that life endures after unprecedented circumstances.
Robert Hashemite kingdom of jordan painting in his studio, circa 1970s.
Special thanks to the New Hampshire Historical Society for access to Robert Hashemite kingdom of jordan's sketchbook and to his widow Bobbie Hashemite kingdom of jordan for a recent interview and photo of the artist in his studio. To see more of Robert Jordan's art, run across robertjordanpainter.com.
Carolyn Russo is a museum specialist and the curator of the Fine art Collection and Trophy Collection in the aeronautics section at the National Air and Space Museum.
Source: https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/remembering-world-war-ii-through-art
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