David A Given
with Arturo Alonzo Sandoval
Born Columbus, Ohio, 1947
Served in Vietnam, U.S.M.C.
3d Battalion, 1st Marine Division
3d Battalion, 26th Marine Regiment, 3d Marine Division
Phu Bai, Chu Lai, Dong Ha, Con Thien, and Khe Sanh
Medic, 1966-67
From the Artist:
From a gallery announcement, 1988:
Fallen Timbers: Ohio to Vietnam
In Ohio's history the Battle of Fallen Timbers was one of nature's making and man's making. In 1794, several days before "Mad" Anthony Wayne's battle with the Indians near Toledo, where 1,300 Indians and British were felled, a tornado ripped through the area, felling hundreds of trees. Life, whether it be man or tree, when cut down is a loss....
For me, the Vietnam Memorial wall in Washington, D.C., has two sides: an American side, which we can see, and a Vietnamese side, which we don't see. I was a medical corpsman in Vietnam, first with the 1st Division, 3d Battalion, later with the 3d Division, 3d Battalion, 26th Marines. I saw a lot of fallen timber on both sides of the wall. In that my primary job was to preserve life and not take it, I was able, by the grace of God and the blood of Jesus Christ, to preserve my sense of compassion and aesthetics, which can easily change to cynicism and pragmatism, as it can change scenery to terrain, and human beings to body counts or the enemy. Fallen Timbers is an attempt to express the beauty and the loss on both sides of the wall....A tree that falls is still a tree, no matter on which side of the wall it falls. To the best of my knowledge, I am the only tree from my combat company left standing in Columbus, Ohio. Six others fell. The Accounting of the Columbus Six: Larry V. Flora, Richard L. Holycross, Albert M. Butsko, Leuco Allen Jr., Hugh C. Goins, Samuel L. Parker.
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