11/10/11

The UNKNOWN VETERANS




From what I can determine, Camp Pike was located in Arkansas. You can see photos of the camp here, here, and here.

To see more photos like the one above with the flag go here, here, here, here, and here. (SOURCE: 3rd Division Photos)

We're just a few years away from the anniversary of the start of World War I. Doesn't seem that we've progressed very much since then towards resolving conflicts peacefully. One current presidential candidate has even said that should he be elected we can expect to go to war with another country. Odd how politicians are always so cavalier about war. They love to get their photos taken in front of flags. So both patriots and cowards like to use the flag for their own purpose. It's up to us to determine which sort of person they are.

This is my contribution for the Sepia Saturday post for its 100th anniversary.

18 comments:

  1. Wouldn't it be neat if one of their relatives saw this photograph and identified them for us?

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  2. A simple picture that says it all; brothers? friends? brothers-in-arms? We will never know but they were obviously very close.

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  3. Great photo! I guess they are First World War but do you think it would be an official army photo or was it a commercial studio?

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  4. I knew I forgot to complete this post. I've added the back of the RPPC. As you can see it's an official shot.

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  5. The photos are so much more interesting with the flag than they would be without it. I wonder what the small striped square is.

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  6. I'm imagining the small flag is company colors, but I might be wrong.

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  7. Did they come home? Don't you wonder if this was taken before, during, or after the war, and whether they survived or not? I sure do. I think this is an interesting "official" photo. You'd think the Army would have wanted photos of individuals. It's good to see these two together, they seem so close.

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  8. It is poignant to look at them and wonder what became of them.

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  9. The man on the right looks scared to me. I wonder if they were friends or related to each other. I am glad they no longer have a draft. I just don't know how mothers handle it when their sons leave for war. Bless them all.

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  10. I just hope tht they did not join the legion of 'unknown soldiers.'

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  11. Can't help but hope, when you see a picture of soldiers, that they made it through safely...

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  12. Anonymous11/13/2011

    I think the man on the right looks scared too. I hope they both came home safely. Jo

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  13. Here here! about politicians who want to get us into war.
    Let's hope that these handsome guys returned safely and weren't turned into fodder by the politicians and military powers.
    Nancy Javier

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  14. Such handsome young fellows. Whenever I see pictures like that I wonder how their mothers must have felt seeing those fresh-faced boys going off to war.

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  15. A fine photograph (as always) and a fitting one for this weekend. Thank you for being such a loyal and informative participant in Sepia Saturday, your posts are always quite fascinating.

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  16. It was always my opinion that when a leader of state declares war unto another, that the two of them should be locked into a room and fight it off instead of sacrificing the soldiers and civilians...

    May the best man win!!
    They might think twice before declaring war if their very own life is at stakes...
    :/~
    HUGZ

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  17. My opinion is that, although Ewing inc. styled themselves as "Official Photographers," I suspect they were not employed by the military, but rather were commercial studio photographers who perhaps obtained "official" permission to enter the military camp to take photographs, which would then have been purchased by the soldiers themselves. However, they may well also have been contracted to take the much larger format formal group portraits of companies etc.

    Whatever its origin, it's a very appropriate and most appreciated posting for Sepia Saturday's centeniall, thank you.

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  18. The Great War fascinates me, because it was such a turning point in European and American culture. Every few years I read Soldiers Home by Hemingway again, and I understand it better each time. Beautiful photo, a fitting post.

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