MI2QWK4U
09-22-2006, 04:23 PM
Check out the link. The web report is nowhere as touching as the actual story that ran on the NBC nightly news tonight. Anyway, I found it moving and proud to be an American, what do you think?
Sketching America's "Fallen Heros" (http://dailynightly.msnbc.com/2006/09/sketching_ameri.html#below-fold)
http://www.fallenheroesproject.org/
In case the link doesn't work...It is well worth the read. It is also worth the 5 minutes it took to email a kind word to this man and thank him for his efforts.
Sketching America's "fallen heroes"Posted by Mike Mosher, NBC News Producer, Burbank, Calif. (10:10 am ET, 09/22/06)
"He captures their eyes." That's what family members say when they look at the portraits Michael Reagan sketches of their loved ones who have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Reagan is a Vietnam War veteran who took up drawing as a hobby during the war. It later became his profession. His home studio in Edmonds, Wash., is stacked with signed drawings of some of the 1,500 celebrities, athletes and presidents he's drawn.
Two years ago, Reagan drew a portrait of a serviceman killed in Iraq and presented it to the man's wife. Her reaction was so powerful and positive that Reagan realized he wanted to close his art studio, retire and draw for the families of all the fallen heroes.
http://dailynightly.msnbc.com/images/seq_iraq_blog_drawings3_jpg.jp g
Photo caption: Pfc. Sam Williams Huff, 18, of Tucson, Ariz., died on April 18, 2005, from inuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near her vehicle in Baghdad. Drawing courtesy of Michael Reagan.
Reagan begins work each day at 2:00 am and usually completes two portraits a day; each one takes him about five hours. When NBC cameraman Geoff Nelson arrived to shoot the story that will air on tonight's broadcast, he could see Reagan through the window, alone, sketching in the pre-dawn light. Reagan talked to us as he drew, and in his way he communicated with the pictures he was drawing, showing his tremendous respect for the veterans of this war.
Reagan's wife Cheryl has made scrapbooks of all the cards received from family members of the fallen soldiers. She read for us from one card: "Dear Mr. Reagan, I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the incredible drawing of my husband, the resemblance is very striking and the drawing has so much life in it, you captured the life in my husband's eyes so much I actually talk to the drawing, like I was talking to him."
There are hundreds of such notes. And there are more than 430 sketches of the fallen in Reagan's beautiful scrapbooks.
Michael Reagan's story is one of goodness, sadness and love. He respects and honors soldiers and their families more than anyone I've ever met. And he's committed.
"Any family that contacts me and wants a portrait, they'll get it," Regan told me. "Free of charge. All they have to do is get me the photograph. I'm paying the postage. We're covering the cost of everything that's associated with this because they've given up enough."
Visit his Web site for more about the fallen heroes project and a gallery of images and click here to e-mail Michael Reagan directly: mikier@comcast.net (mikier@comcast.net)
http://dailynightly.msnbc.com/images/lcpl_jeremiah_savage.jpg
Photo caption: Lance Cpl. Jeremiah Savage, Tenn., killed in action on May 12, 2004. Drawing courtesy of Michael Reagan.
Then I found this link:
VIDEO (http://www.komotv.com/news/qtmovie_clip.asp?ID=32210)
Portraits From The Heart
July 16, 2004
By John Sharify
KOMO 4 NEWS
A local artist is helping families who've lost loved ones in Iraq; he's painting the soldiers' portraits.
SEATTLE - Mike Reagan figures he's drawn 10,000 portraits over the years.
On this day it's a portrait of a President. President Reagan, no relation. "He's actually the first President that I did and I've done six since then," says Reagan.
A President one day, a celebrity the next.
"Everybody loves this piece," he says while he shows KOMO 4 News a portrait he did of Tom Cruise.
http://www.komotv.com/news/images/colgan_portrait_071504.jpg
Just the other day, he drew a portrait of a soldier. Joe Colgan's son Ben.
"Ben, Benny, Benjamin. I call him everything, " Joe Colgan laughs as he says it.
"I draw every day," says Reagan.
Reagan lives to draw. It's like breathing. His survival depends on it. "Everytime I do a drawing I'm actually giving somebody a piece of my life," he says.
He tells us the story of a mom named Ruth, someone he talked to just once. And hopes he will never talk to again.
"Ruth called me and said 'My son is fighting in the war. In Fallujah.'" Reagan prayed for his survival and then told the mom plain and simple. "I said I will say a prayer that I will never have to talk to you again," Reagan told her.
You see, Reagan offers to do portraits of soldiers who will never come home.
Ben Colgan. 30 years old. A father of three.
"Everybody loved Ben," says Joe Colgan, his father. Joe stares at the portrait, which he's just hung up on the wall and says "Unbelievable."
These portraits are a labor of love, helping families heal. When Reagan draws the portraits, it's because "I really believe they're dying for me," he says.
And when he drew Cody Calavan's portrait he was saying to Cody's Dad and Mom in Lake Stevens "Thank you."
"She said in a conversation this morning, she wakes up with her son smiling at her instead of waking up to the horror of the reality that their son is gone," he says.
We learned something about Mike Reagan. He's determined to help families heal because he is still healing himself.
"I say a prayer," he says. "First thing that comes to mind is Vietnam. The first thing that comes to mind is the guys I held when they die and didn't want to die".
It's for the guys he held, who never made it home. The portraits that come from the heart.
If you'd like to contact Michael Reagan about the portraits you can reach him at www.michaelgreaganartist.com
Sketching America's "Fallen Heros" (http://dailynightly.msnbc.com/2006/09/sketching_ameri.html#below-fold)
http://www.fallenheroesproject.org/
In case the link doesn't work...It is well worth the read. It is also worth the 5 minutes it took to email a kind word to this man and thank him for his efforts.
Sketching America's "fallen heroes"Posted by Mike Mosher, NBC News Producer, Burbank, Calif. (10:10 am ET, 09/22/06)
"He captures their eyes." That's what family members say when they look at the portraits Michael Reagan sketches of their loved ones who have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Reagan is a Vietnam War veteran who took up drawing as a hobby during the war. It later became his profession. His home studio in Edmonds, Wash., is stacked with signed drawings of some of the 1,500 celebrities, athletes and presidents he's drawn.
Two years ago, Reagan drew a portrait of a serviceman killed in Iraq and presented it to the man's wife. Her reaction was so powerful and positive that Reagan realized he wanted to close his art studio, retire and draw for the families of all the fallen heroes.
http://dailynightly.msnbc.com/images/seq_iraq_blog_drawings3_jpg.jp g
Photo caption: Pfc. Sam Williams Huff, 18, of Tucson, Ariz., died on April 18, 2005, from inuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near her vehicle in Baghdad. Drawing courtesy of Michael Reagan.
Reagan begins work each day at 2:00 am and usually completes two portraits a day; each one takes him about five hours. When NBC cameraman Geoff Nelson arrived to shoot the story that will air on tonight's broadcast, he could see Reagan through the window, alone, sketching in the pre-dawn light. Reagan talked to us as he drew, and in his way he communicated with the pictures he was drawing, showing his tremendous respect for the veterans of this war.
Reagan's wife Cheryl has made scrapbooks of all the cards received from family members of the fallen soldiers. She read for us from one card: "Dear Mr. Reagan, I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the incredible drawing of my husband, the resemblance is very striking and the drawing has so much life in it, you captured the life in my husband's eyes so much I actually talk to the drawing, like I was talking to him."
There are hundreds of such notes. And there are more than 430 sketches of the fallen in Reagan's beautiful scrapbooks.
Michael Reagan's story is one of goodness, sadness and love. He respects and honors soldiers and their families more than anyone I've ever met. And he's committed.
"Any family that contacts me and wants a portrait, they'll get it," Regan told me. "Free of charge. All they have to do is get me the photograph. I'm paying the postage. We're covering the cost of everything that's associated with this because they've given up enough."
Visit his Web site for more about the fallen heroes project and a gallery of images and click here to e-mail Michael Reagan directly: mikier@comcast.net (mikier@comcast.net)
http://dailynightly.msnbc.com/images/lcpl_jeremiah_savage.jpg
Photo caption: Lance Cpl. Jeremiah Savage, Tenn., killed in action on May 12, 2004. Drawing courtesy of Michael Reagan.
Then I found this link:
VIDEO (http://www.komotv.com/news/qtmovie_clip.asp?ID=32210)
Portraits From The Heart
July 16, 2004
By John Sharify
KOMO 4 NEWS
A local artist is helping families who've lost loved ones in Iraq; he's painting the soldiers' portraits.
SEATTLE - Mike Reagan figures he's drawn 10,000 portraits over the years.
On this day it's a portrait of a President. President Reagan, no relation. "He's actually the first President that I did and I've done six since then," says Reagan.
A President one day, a celebrity the next.
"Everybody loves this piece," he says while he shows KOMO 4 News a portrait he did of Tom Cruise.
http://www.komotv.com/news/images/colgan_portrait_071504.jpg
Just the other day, he drew a portrait of a soldier. Joe Colgan's son Ben.
"Ben, Benny, Benjamin. I call him everything, " Joe Colgan laughs as he says it.
"I draw every day," says Reagan.
Reagan lives to draw. It's like breathing. His survival depends on it. "Everytime I do a drawing I'm actually giving somebody a piece of my life," he says.
He tells us the story of a mom named Ruth, someone he talked to just once. And hopes he will never talk to again.
"Ruth called me and said 'My son is fighting in the war. In Fallujah.'" Reagan prayed for his survival and then told the mom plain and simple. "I said I will say a prayer that I will never have to talk to you again," Reagan told her.
You see, Reagan offers to do portraits of soldiers who will never come home.
Ben Colgan. 30 years old. A father of three.
"Everybody loved Ben," says Joe Colgan, his father. Joe stares at the portrait, which he's just hung up on the wall and says "Unbelievable."
These portraits are a labor of love, helping families heal. When Reagan draws the portraits, it's because "I really believe they're dying for me," he says.
And when he drew Cody Calavan's portrait he was saying to Cody's Dad and Mom in Lake Stevens "Thank you."
"She said in a conversation this morning, she wakes up with her son smiling at her instead of waking up to the horror of the reality that their son is gone," he says.
We learned something about Mike Reagan. He's determined to help families heal because he is still healing himself.
"I say a prayer," he says. "First thing that comes to mind is Vietnam. The first thing that comes to mind is the guys I held when they die and didn't want to die".
It's for the guys he held, who never made it home. The portraits that come from the heart.
If you'd like to contact Michael Reagan about the portraits you can reach him at www.michaelgreaganartist.com