In the Battle
Acrylic on Canvas 45"x63"
I visited Belau (Republic of Palau) to meet my brother's wife's family during the summer of 2004. One of the people who hosted me was a guy named Su. He was a master diver who's livelihood was taking tourists out around Belau on the boat for snorkeling and diving. He told me this story about a group of American WW2 veterans who had come to visit Peleliu for the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Peleliu.
And this is how the story goes as I remember it...
Su was taking a group of WW2 veterans to visit Peleliu for the 60th Anniversary. They were all elderly gentlemen as WW2 vets would be in their 80s nowadays. When they got off the boat, Su was leading them onto the island when he noticed that someone was missing from the group. One of the men was found making his way through the jungle, clearing a path with his walking cane through the vegetation. When he dissapeared from view, Su became worried and decided to track him down in case he had fallen somewhere. He went into the jungle to search for the old man. He heard crying and found the veteran sobbing and holding onto a huge rock. Su decided to let him be for a moment as he was having an emotional experience. When the vet was done he called Su and told him, "You see this rock? This rock saved my life." The veteran then went on to tell him that during the invasion, when they came up from the shore, he had run out of bullets and hid right behind this rock, just big enough to shield one person. He could hear bullets whizzing right above his head and around the rock. He could not move from his spot or he would have been killed since he could not fire back. The vet then started to get down on his hands to clear the vegetation around the rock and told Su "Make sure no one moves this rock and always keep it clean around it, so that the jungle doesn't overtake it."
I don't know how long that guy was hiding behind the rock. I don't know who he was. I don't know how he was able to survive, I think he stayed there until reinforcements came in. It was certainly long enough for him to find the same rock that saved his life 60 years earlier. I thought that story was so awesome, I had to paint it.