(AFP) — In some paintings, the wounds are plain to see: an arm or leg lost to war. In others, the injuries that U.S. veterans suffered are hidden from view.
But all of the works by former president George W. Bush — painted as a tribute to the men and women he sent to war — reflect the human toll of his decisions as commander-in-chief.
Command Sergeant Major Brian Flom was wounded in the face by a rocket attack in Iraq in 2007.
“That was the easy part,” he told AFP, standing beside a painting in which he appears with fellow military personnel, one of dozens of works on display at Washington’s Kennedy Center.
“The challenging part was the TBI (traumatic brain injury) and the post-traumatic stress that accompanied a lot of time spent in a combat zone.” CONTINUE