“Wounded in Action" art exhibition

Traveling art exhibition honors wounded troops

Jul 9, 2011 - Allen Eckman hadn’t even graduated from high school when he joined the Marines in 1965. For the next four years, he dragged hundreds of dead and injured troops from battle in Vietnam. He still has nightmares.

Today, Eckman is dealing with his painful past through art. One piece, an 18-inch cast paper sculpture of a radio operator carrying a wounded warrior, is part of an exhibition honoring injured troops and the orthopedic surgeons who treat them. The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons organized the project.

“I can’t watch anything about Vietnam,” Eckman said in a statement. “I try to think about other things when memories persist.”

Titled “Wounded in Action,” the juried show of 107 works — from lithographs and pencil drawings to photographs and quilts — is on display at the Chicago Cultural Center and will tour the country through early next year. About three-quarters of the 77 artists are either wounded warriors, family members of troops or orthopedic surgeons. read more>>>

Wounded in Action home site