Roger's
Purple Heart
by
Ross Rice
Still,
for a brief time people can see the work first hand, in Thomas Bull
Memorial Park, 55 miles northwest of New York City, in Orange County.
Says Baker, “What’s really cool is that people come
out and look at it at ground level and say, ‘I don’t
like it, I can’t see it very well.’ Those same people
will go back home, and they’ll see it in the paper, and they’ll
tell their friends, ‘Oh, it was so cool....I walked on that!’”
Roger
Baker doesn’t come off at all like a political guy, he makes
no profit off of this project (other than publicity), and his feelings
about the Purple Heart are genuine. “He’s a really talented
artist, with vision, with compassion and emotion about what we stood
for,” said Anita Pidala, executive director at the Purple
Heart Hall of Honor. Baker: “I just thought about the veterans....that’s
forever, that’s timeless. I mean, you get ill, you get injured
or killed, it didn’t matter when, where, you’re out
there doing your job, whether you agree with it or not. A lot of
‘em didn’t make it back. I’m not making a point
or a statement, just honoring those guys.” Asked whether he
was inspired at all by the War in Iraq, and he replies no, not particularly.
It’s more about respecting the sacrifice of all who serve.
“I’ve always avoided things associated with loss and
tragedy, war and all that.....[this project] forced me to take a
look at it.” And share it with the world.
Editor’s
note: The cutting of the Purple Heart by Roger Baker was in concert
with National Purple Heart Day celebrations in Tarrytown on August
7. Not only was it the 75th anniversary of the Purple Heart, but
also the 225th anniversary of the Badge of Merit. The field project
has also forged a new relationship between the Hall of Honor folks
and the Orange County folks. According to Anita Pidala, the O.C.
pro movers are maintaining the image at Thomas Bull Park. And Nyles
Reed did finally get his medal, thanks to his Senator.
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