While enjoying the holiday and seeing all the Memorial Day tributes, I'm always reminded of the image of Sgt.Major Buddy Hewitt. I photographed him in his home for PD magazine in 2002. Mr. Hewitt was part of what the movie “We were Soldiers” was based on. A VietNam era veteran, Buddy lived through one the wars most notable and horrific battles, the first one, known as LZ Xray. It was my honor to meet such a man. “just doing his job”, as he was quoted in the article. We spent an afternoon going thru his memorabilia and talked of his long career. He was a lucky one. This holiday is for remembering the lost and we should honor ‘them’, and my friend Buddy.

This image was produced by projecting a slide of the Viet Nam memorial onto the Sgt. Major with the flag behind him.