Bethpage-Tribune_1985-05-23

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BETHP/GE
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Island Trees Plainedge
also serving
Seaford Old Bethpage Plainview
VOL. 20 NO. 7 Week of May 23 - 29,1985 20 cents per copy
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Statue
by Hope Delane
"I found that being involved in photographing this statue,
'Three Fightingmen,' resulted in a deep, moving experience
for me," says Dan Rosenheck, owner of Sunshine Photo­graphic
Studios in Plainview, Long Island, New York. Long
known as an expert photographer,' with a special knack for
capturing the essence and beauty of sculpture on film,
Rosenheck was approached by the Joel Meisner Foundry in
Plainview, which was casting in bronze the sculpture created
by Washington sculptor Frederick E. Hart. Hart's work,
which depicts three soldiers in Vietnam—a white, a Hispanic
and a black—was completed in November 1984 and sche­duled
for shipment to the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial
park-within-a-park, located in Washington, D.C., between
the Lincoln and Washington Memorials.
"There was only One chance to photograph it under studio
conditions after the bronze casting was completed," explains
Rosenheck, "so they called me in." Rosenheck, with the aid
of one assistant, arrived at three o'clock that afternoon and
proceeded to set upcomplex and subtle lighting—designed
to do justice to the statue of the three, seven-foot fighting
men—as normal operations proceeded all around him in the
active foundry. It took- twelve hours until. Rfisenhieck was-^
certain that he had photographed the sculpture as effectively
as possible. -
"Three Fightingmen" was finished with a unique and
rarely-used process called "patina," Which gave the uniforms
a drab, olive shade, the men's skin a rich bronze color and
the hair, eyes, buttons and military equipment a highly-polished
finish. Rosenheck took careful steps and calculated
how best to create a photo which would be certain to capture
these significant subleties on film.
Rosenheck's invotvement in the veteran's project touched
him emotionally far more than he ever expected. Originally,
he was simply impressed with how the idea for the statue was
originally conceived. "Jan Scruggs, the head of the Vietnam
Veterans' Memorial Fund (WMF) and himself a veteran,
decided that something should be done to honor the living
veterans," Rosenheck recalls. "When he tried to get the-government
to take action on it, they wouldn't, so he organ­ized
a movement himself and collected several million dol­lar*
in funds from veterans' organizations. The statue was
commissioned and given to the government to dedicate.
Nothing had ever been done before to honor the Vietnam
veterans who survived the war," Rosenheck laments.
Rosenheck became involved in a further effort concerning
the sculpture, deciding to create a poster to.serve as a con­tinuing
testimonial to the bravery of the Vietnam veterajns.
The poster is an item that people can purchase, knowing that
20% of the proceeds wilt go to th^ WMF.
The statue was dedicated on November 11, 1984 by Presi­dent
Reagan, in a ceremony welUattended by thousands of
Vietnam veterans and their families. Set on a rise, the "Three
Fightingmen" appear to be emerging from a stand of trees,
looking far into the distance. It faces the shiny, black-granite
wall, which is approximately 150' away, on which the
names of over 58,000 dead Vietnam veterans are carved, in
chronological order of their deaths. Rosenheck was pro­foundly
moved by the groups of people waiting in long lines
for a face-to-face confrontation with the imrnensity of the
war's tragedy.
When Rosenheck planned the poster, he wanted to
enhance the sculpture and heighten its impact even further,
so he photographed an American flag to serve as a back­ground
on which he strategically placed" the "Three
Fightingmen."
"Only five stars on the flag are completely visible," he
explains, "and they symbolize the five branches of the
service-=~Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast
Guard—all of which were actively involved.
(Continued on Page 4)
Statue Dedication. Washington Die. November H. 1984
FREDERICK E. HART, Sculptor
EL MEISNER & CO., INC., Foundry
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