AN ARTIST IN VIETNAM

Spec/5 George C. Clark in autumn 1969    Photograph

BY THE TIME I WAS DRAFTED I HAD ALREADY PUT IN A COUPLE OF YEARS AS AN ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR IN A CHICAGO AD AGENCY, AND HAND LETTERING WAS ONE OF THE THINGS I WAS GOOD AT.  AT THE TIME THIS 8 X 8 FOOT SIGN WAS THE LARGEST PAINTING I HAD EVER MADE.

INCIDENTALLY, NO ONE EVER CALLED BRAVO BATTERY "CAMP MARTIN."  I HAD BEEN STATIONED THERE OVER NINE MONTHS AND HAD NEVER HEARD THAT NAME UNTIL THE BATTERY COMMANDER ASKED ME TO PAINT IT ON THIS SIGN.

Comment:

At the left of this photo is our mess hall, the only above-ground structure in our compound.  The structures you see beyond it are blast walls, tin roofs and the several feet of layered sandbags that topped the bunkers we worked and slept in.  The actual bunkers were mostly underground.