Conscription Mug Shot
There is No difference from being arrested and being drafted. My service number really was US52966666
laser print 14x11 1967
Ultimate weapon 
Fort Dix trained us to be ultimate weapons, soldiers with rifle and bayonet.
Photos of me are from our Basic Training yearbook.
On my very first mission as a forward observer we moved Montagnard villagers to a “safe” camp.
We burned their village to create a “free fire zone”
We were attacked! Pfc Jerry McFalls was killed by friendly fire from a Huey gunship.
silver composite 28X33 1995You're not welcome
Vietnam topographic map of Chu Pa mountain battle. My forward observer logbook with defensive targets plotted on map.
First stanza of my "You're not welcome" poem letterpress printed on map
First stanza of my "You're not welcome" poem letterpress printed on map
Mixed, topo map, letterpress text, Forward Observer logbook
29X24 2022
You're not welcome
Don't thank me for my service
don't ask me what I did
My country made me do it
and I was just a kid
One step forward, raise your hand
Swear you will obey
You just joined their big game
and threw your life away.
I never was a hero
Though that's what people say
What's so damn heroic
about blowing a family away?
No matter where the battle
in spite of suffering and pain
Even noble warriors
eventually die in vain.
Raise that flag up the staff
lower it down the pole
take your ribbons and medals
and bury them in a hole
Don't thank me for my service
You haven't got a clue
you don't have any idea
what my country made me do
Twilight in the gulf
The Gulf of Tonkin “incident” was used as justification for escalating the Vietnam war.
We don't want to go to war
To our credit they lie to get us to accept war.
To our fault, we believe the lie.
Digital photo 16X40 2012
Atlas Project Russia
We are witnessing a brutal war in real time and are powerless to stop it.
Soldiers are sent to pillage, destroy and be slaughtered. We watch as whole towns and cities are decimated. Soldiers commit atrocities while other young men flee their country before they are conscripted and forced to fight an illegal war in a foreign country. I was conscripted and forced to fight an illegal war in a foreign country.
Altered 100 year old atlas pages 30X20 2023
Plasticville parade
Still setup image from 16mm stop motion animation film. Plasticville is a model train community.
The parade includes firework tanks and guns.
silver photograph 24X35 1986
Big Picture parade animation
Stop motion parade film loop of Plasticville TrainTown with firework weapons
Video from 16mm film animation Zenith TV 1987
The Big Picture
The Big Picture was a Saturday morning TV show produced by the Army Signal Corps that featured war footage and propaganda documentaries that indoctrinated young minds, like mine.
silver photograph 38X48 1987
I Love a Parade
"You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye-
Who cheer when soldier lads march by-
Sneak home and pray you'll never know-
The hell where youth and laughter go"
Siegfreid Sassoon -WWI poet
There's a big black car carrying Gold Star Mothers who have lost a child in war.
Who cheer when soldier lads march by-
Sneak home and pray you'll never know-
The hell where youth and laughter go"
Siegfreid Sassoon -WWI poet
There's a big black car carrying Gold Star Mothers who have lost a child in war.
silver photograph 41X70 1987
Auto Magic Picture Gun
Pull the trigger and “shoot” the cartoon filmstrip in the projector gun on your bedroom wall. These bullets have my name and service number on them.
Guns are fun! Guns are entertainment!
digital illustration 39x29 2014
Sharp Shooter
Learning to write is part of growing up
Learning to shoot is another.
A bullet pencil sharpener and potato (spud) gun
Digital Illustration 39X29 2014World Wars- Big Beautiful Bomb -
We are under constant threat of destruction, by ourselves.
National boundaries are as arbitrary as pieces in a puzzle. We are forever threatened by Big Beautiful Weapons.
National boundaries are as arbitrary as pieces in a puzzle. We are forever threatened by Big Beautiful Weapons.
Drafting table, WWII world map puzzle, USAF practice bomb 2025
Sacrament
The nurses in WWI were called Trench Angels
Digital photo 29X39 2021
Armistice
Armistice means fighting has stopped, not that the war is over.
Armistice day, November 11th, was celebrating the signing of treaties,ending WWI.
The day has been changed to Veterans day, honouring the warriors, not the peace.
Armistice day, November 11th, was celebrating the signing of treaties,ending WWI.
The day has been changed to Veterans day, honouring the warriors, not the peace.
digital photo 29X39
All quiet on the front
The soldier we kill is just another mother's son doing what his country told him to do.
digital photo 29X39 2021
On the Beach
My unit's medics were all conscientious objectors. They went into combat without weapons. Cpl Thomas Bennett was a medic who was killed on the Chu Pa mountain. He was killed while saving wounded soldiers. He is the second conscientious objector to receive the congressional medal of honour. I helped carry his body off that mountain.
Digital photo 29X39 2017
Illumination
The artillery brings illumination to the target
The photographer brings light to the suffering
WWI soldiers had their portraits taken while in the trenches, in case they didn't survive.
Digital photo 29X39 2017
Guns and Vegetables
Church windows and artillery shells, gothic, powerful and dangerous.
Cluster rounds full of hate and destruction, I fired them.
I grew up fascinated by WWI and its big guns and observation balloons.
Choose for yourself – guns or vegetables?
Look closely and see the men from Oswego that went to WWII there are some with stars, they didn’t come home alive.
Cluster rounds full of hate and destruction, I fired them.
I grew up fascinated by WWI and its big guns and observation balloons.
Choose for yourself – guns or vegetables?
Look closely and see the men from Oswego that went to WWII there are some with stars, they didn’t come home alive.
Stone Lithograph 33X23 1982
Domino theory
In Vietnam we were told we were saving Australia and the world from communism. One country after another, action and reaction. Artifacts of chance and traps superimposed over a map of Vietnam. Ration card indicating I bought my first 35mm camera.
Made from 16 mm movie film strips printed as a mosaic in a 4X5 enlarger on mural paper.
silver photograph 52x42 2014
Night Deposit
Put your money in a rocket-ship bank, it ends up buying weapons or shot into space.
Silver photo 52X42 2015
Proof through the night
Proof through the night that our war is still here. In the darkness there is mystery and fear. The illumination artillery round I fire lights up the sky and reveals whether there is safety or danger. Enemy or tiger- which is more feared? Who is there, who do we fear, who or what have we killed. The flash of light reveals the truth and also exposes my film. In the dark it makes this print. In government it reveals the truth, or at least it is supposed to reveal the truth.
Printed with sandwiched 4X5 negatives on mural paper.
silver photograph 52X42 2013
Cost of an Egg
There are consequences for actions. Some people have to pay for them others act with impunity, whether their actions are illegal, unconstitutional, or immoral.
Patriotic grocery bag from Gulf War
2025
Fire Works
Everyone loves fireworks except dogs and combat veterans.
George Grosz, Guernica and Bob Dobbs images
The matches, like Grosz’s soldiers are fit for active duty.
29X24 2006
Enviromate sack
Paper or Plastic series: First Gulf war – American flag printed on a plastic bag made from oil declaring P&C salutes our Armed Forces.
This was a cover image for the Syracuse Peace Newsletter.
House of Magic- War trophy
I found this Russian Mosin–Nagant rifle in a cave while our unit was doing bomb damage assessment.
The rifle was booby-trapped with C-4 explosive inside the cartridges it was loaded with. I did not test fire it. I registered it with the South Vietnamese government and brought it home as a war trophy
Digital Photo 26X47 2011
Heir wars
My childhood BB Gun with homemade stock
The group counselings room at the Vet Center.
Fathers were exempt from the draft, now we deploy mothers and fathers sometimes together.
This room has toys for the children
Digital photo 26X47 2009
Spirit of the Bayonet
The spirit of the Bayonet is “Kill, Kill, Kill”
The ultimate weapon is an infantry soldier with a rifle and bayonet.
The VA hospital has a special family friendly room for the kids.
digital photo 26X47 2013
Shiny black shoes
Government issued dress shoes with my name sewn inside, still worn for weddings and funerals.
silver photograph 31X27 1980
Smile Shoes and Style Shoes
The Boy Scouts gave me advice on how to live a good patriotic life.
I also learned to wear sensible shoes.
My father is wearing his Uncle Frank's army boots from WWI.
During WWII he marched on Main St Buffalo with his National Guard unit.
Stone Lithograph 25X21 1983
Sneakers
A feeble attempt to bury all that military war baggage.
silver photograph 31X27 1989
Open House at the Governors mansion
Mother's day open house.
I documented the day of southern hospitality
Hand colored silver gelatin print 11x14 1987
An enlarged version of Tacky Florida Postcard- hand coloured
Governor Bob Grahm was making an announcement at his Mother's day open house.. He had executed a prisoner the previous week.
I added an electric chair to his mantle.
This piece lead me to a writer working on a death row story.
I accompanied him to Florida State Prison to photograph the Death House and the two inmates he was interviewing.
Governor Bob Grahm was making an announcement at his Mother's day open house.. He had executed a prisoner the previous week.
I added an electric chair to his mantle.
This piece lead me to a writer working on a death row story.
I accompanied him to Florida State Prison to photograph the Death House and the two inmates he was interviewing.
Hand colored silver gelatin print 16X20 1987
View from witness chairs
Death chamber, Florida State Prison, Starke, FL
silver photograph 24X34 1987
James McCray
Sentence commuted to life imprisonment
Silver photographs 16X21 1987
Willie Jasper Darden
Death row inmate. Florida governor Bob Graham signed Darden's first death warrant in 1979.
He was execution March 15, 1988
Silver photographs 16X20
Execution Information
Execution Information
Old Sparky
Electric chair at Florida State Prison, Strarke, FL
silver photograph 48X30 1987
Win a ten speed bike grenade toss
This is inspired by a real Marine recruiters carnival attraction.We recruit (indoctrinate) the young with games
The targets are my father and me as children dressed in uniforms
Relief/Screenprint 31X27 1982
UCMJ Uniform Code of Military Justice
2025
2025
The uniforms are the same, the soldiers are diverse, for now.
Army uniforms with Dry Cleaner Bags-
NFS
Paul W. Pearce
portrait by Bob Gates 2012