Pentagon shuts down portrait exhibit of US troops killed in Iraq

Canada IFP
Jun. 11, 2007

The US Department of Defence has abruptly shut down Faces of the Fallen, an exhibition of 1,319 portraits of American military killed in Afghanistan and Iraq on the pretext of sending the portraits "home to the families of the troops to serve as a lasting tribute to their service."

But Pentagon has refused to allocate the $32,500 need to de-install the exhibit which has been housed at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial since March 2005, and send the portraits home, forcing the Faces of the Fallen Foundation to ask for public donations.

“Sadly, our exhibition portrays less than half the number of brave men and women who have lost their lives in America’s latest war," Annette Polan, the founder of Faces of the Fallen said. "It captures a mere snapshot in time, yet it recognizes and memorializes the sacrifice of all these fallen heroes."

“I don’t wake up in the morning wondering why my son died; I know why he died,” Commons said. “He performed the ultimate community service; he gave his life trying to save the life of someone else. Of that I can’t be more proud. These paintings, these carvings, these etchings, these faces of the fallen, pay tribute to another generation of young men and women who have answered the nation’s call.”

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine Gen. Peter Pace, the man who was instrumental in disbanding the exhibition, justified his actions saying the picture remind him of a photo he keeps on his desk of Marine Lance Cpl. Guido Farinaro, the first Marine under Pace’s command to die in Vietnam.

“I know how much his picture means to me," he said. "I know how much these portraits mean to the families."

Polan said that before the orders to take down the portraits came, viewers asked if the exhibit will travel around the country so that Americans and visitors who cannot come to Arlington also have an opportunity "to remember, to honor and to mourn."