When Johnny Comes Marching Home

by Susan Duda

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Price

$3,000

Dimensions

20.000 x 24.000 x 1.000 inches

Title

When Johnny Comes Marching Home

Artist

Susan Duda

Medium

Painting - Oil On Canvas

Description

This is a painting of my first husband in Chu Lai, Vietnam in 1969. He sent me the photo while he was there I cherish it because it has his wedding band in it, he lost his ring in Vietnam along with his ring finger and both of his legs because he stepped on a landmine 9 months into his tour of duty. He landed in Vietnam July 21 when Man landed on the Moon and the saying that rang around the world that year was "One small step for man... one giant leap for mankind". That saying has always had special meaning for me because he was landing on a type of moon that same day.
I painted this while reading a book called "Women who run with the wolves" by Clarissa Pinkola Estes. In chapter 12 called, Marking Territory: The Boundaries of Rage and Forgiveness.

My response to this chapter was ..." I had a pretty happy childhood. Lots of love and fun and friends.
I married young and had lots of dreams. Then one morning I was woke up by my parents carrying a telegram down the hallway to me as I lay in a feigned sleep state because I overheard their suppressed whispers as to what the telegram meant and I did not want the reality of it interrupting my life .
This was the beginning of rage for me. The painting is of my first husband while he was stationed in Vietnam. He stepped on the land mine in Vietnam and what happened to us as a result of it was the beginning of a most terrible rage that wanders on even today.
I couldn't talk about what happened for a long time because the rage and pain were so intertwined in this event.
After the September 11 attacks it was as though I was right back there in that time of Vietnam once again. But with therapy and love I have come to forgive and have moved on" Johnny is still battling demons and maybe will finally go to counseling and therapy none was ever offered through the VA. Hopefully he will find victory at last. I'm still waiting.

Uploaded

August 23rd, 2010

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