Honoring Stories. Healing Through Art.
This striking, larger-than-life image of a veteran is more than a photograph — it’s a powerful story captured in a single frame. Every line etched in the face, every shadow, every stare, tells a story of sacrifice, survival, and the journey of service that continues long after the battlefield. It invites us to look closer — to see the person beyond the uniform and hear the story beneath the silence.
This project is a collaboration between Platoon 22 and African Americans of Excellence (AAOE) — two organizations united by a shared commitment: to honor the stories of veterans, both those still with us and those we’ve tragically lost to war or suicide. Together, they work to shine light on lives too often overlooked, reminding us that behind every face is a name, and behind every name is a legacy worth remembering.
Every portrait in this series is a voice. A voice for healing, for remembrance, and for hope.
At the heart of this initiative is the belief that storytelling — especially through art — is one of the most powerful forms of healing. For veterans, creative expression can be a lifeline. Art opens the door to processing trauma, reclaiming identity, and finding purpose after service. It allows veterans to be seen not just as soldiers, but as whole individuals with depth, dignity, and dreams.
This is more than a visual project — it’s a living tribute. A movement to elevate veteran voices, foster community healing, and ensure that no story is forgotten.
Every face has a name. Every name has a story. And every story deserves to be told.
Artist Features & Portraits
Artist: Melvin Hurwitz
Install Location: Colonial Jewelers
My parents, Russian Jews, were born in Belarus and immigrated to the United States after the turn of the century. They met and married in Baltimore Maryland, I was 1 of 4 boys, raised in a small town, Westminster, Md. My father, Benjamin was a watchmaker-jeweler that eventually evolved into jewelry stores that are now celebrating 105 years in business, going into the 4th generation.
All of the brothers served in WW2, and each one in a different branch. I was born in 1925. That makes me 100 today.
I enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps when I turned 18 years of age, In the interest of brevity, I was trained to be a Radio-Gunner on a B17, then considered the heavy bomber. At McDill Field, Florida, crews were assembled and these were the strangers that would become your new friends and wartime buddies..
We flew overseas to England (snowbound in Iceland for 9 days) and eventually to (East Anglia) Ipswich area to the 493rd Bomb Group,
We arrived in January, 1944.
My military flight record is as follows: 1 over Germany, 2 over Czechoslovakia and 2 over Royan ,France.
I flew 2 Chowhound missions, dropping food to the starving Dutch. Arrangements were made with the German government not to fire at us and we flew as low as 300 feet to drop food instead of bombs.
The war was finally over and we flew 2 missions to take French prisoners of war from Linz, Austria back home to Chantilly, France. We stripped these men of their garments, burned their clothes, de-loused them, wrapped them in blankets and took them back home.
When the war ended, again we flew back home to the United States in our wonderful B17. I went into B29 training to go into the war with Japan, but I was only there 1 week, they dropped the bomb and it was all over.
There are so many stories to be told of these experiences and hardly any time left. But for an 18 year young boy who had never been away from home, it was an exciting and memorable period of my life that I have taken with me to the end.
