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Historic WWII murals arrive in Honolulu from Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge
khon2 ^ | July 10, 2013

Posted on 07/13/2013 6:31:01 AM PDT by NYer

Photo: Joseph Van Os

Six wall-sized original paintings that formerly hung in a World War II-era theater on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge arrived by ship in Honolulu on Wednesday.

The murals will be on loan for at least four years to the Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor, preserving and making them available for the general public to enjoy for the first time in their history.

“Being a Navy veteran myself, I am excited they will be in a venue at Pearl Harbor that tells the story of World War II in the Pacific. Now, thousands of people will be able to enjoy the murals each year,” Refuge manager Sue Schulmeister said.

The 8×12-foot murals depict scenes symbolic of U.S. involvement in World War II and covered the walls in the theater on the island.

They were painted by Victor Nels Solander, 123rd U.S. Naval Construction Battalion, whose Seabee unit was stationed on Midway from June 1, 1944 to Dec. 16, 1945. Solander was awarded a $100 war-bond and his work received many accolades at the time.

“As I watched the increasing deterioration of the theater walls and ceiling in the few years that I have lived here — I knew we would soon lose these beautiful paintings if we could not relocate them to a more stable environment,” Schulmeister said. “Extracting the eight by twelve-foot murals from the walls of the theater was a herculean effort on a remote island with few resources. To carefully preserve the original artwork took a year of research and planning with input from Service historians, engineers and the few staff at hand.”

“The history of World War II is written not just in words but in images. And that includes artwork that was painted in the far-flung outposts of the war. These need to be preserved for future generations,” Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor curator Burl Burlingame said.

The murals will enhance the museum’s current Battle of Midway exhibits and be readied as soon as possible for viewing by the public.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; US: Hawaii
KEYWORDS: murals; wwii

1 posted on 07/13/2013 6:31:01 AM PDT by NYer
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To: SunkenCiv

Ping!


2 posted on 07/13/2013 6:31:25 AM PDT by NYer ( "Run from places of sin as from the plague."--St John Climacus)
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To: NYer

I seriously doubt that the PT 109 was painted before 1960. I glanced at the article via the link and do not see that anything was painted after 1945.


3 posted on 07/13/2013 6:43:33 AM PDT by Vaquero (Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: Vaquero

My question too: When painted?


4 posted on 07/13/2013 6:45:15 AM PDT by kenavi (Debunk THIS!)
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To: kenavi; Vaquero

According to this they were painted in 1944

http://www.fws.gov/midway/whatsnew.html

Just more revisionism...either in the art or the story.


5 posted on 07/13/2013 6:58:24 AM PDT by Roccus
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To: Roccus

I bet someone painted PT 109 on the boat after 1961


6 posted on 07/13/2013 7:01:08 AM PDT by stockpirate (If conservatives in America were committed to liberty they would Cairo DC!)
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To: NYer

Actually the PT boat looks like it may have been by a different person.


7 posted on 07/13/2013 7:02:10 AM PDT by stockpirate (If conservatives in America were committed to liberty they would Cairo DC!)
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To: stockpirate

My thought also, but the gov’t. is more than willing to pass these off as “Historic” with no note of the revision.

The bastards just keep chippin’ away.....


8 posted on 07/13/2013 7:07:50 AM PDT by Roccus
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To: kenavi

old Joe Kennedy was ‘kind of known’ as he was ambassador to England until he fawned over the Nazis too much...

I doubt the artist knew of him or his son, unless he was a Boston Dhimmicrat himself....and even then I doubt it.


9 posted on 07/13/2013 7:10:23 AM PDT by Vaquero (Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: stockpirate

Different style, different subject matter, different color palate.

More bright and sunny when JFK came on the scene.


10 posted on 07/13/2013 7:10:32 AM PDT by Scrambler Bob ( Concerning bo -- that refers to the president. If I capitalize it, I mean the dog.)
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To: NYer

In a few years it will be Obama leading the GLBT assault team out of the landing craft.


11 posted on 07/13/2013 7:16:25 AM PDT by Darteaus94025
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To: NYer

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=hawaii&hl=en&ll=28.210052,-177.378673&spn=0.003919,0.006968&sll=57.306389,-134.088056&sspn=0.611963,1.783905&t=h&hnear=Hawaii&z=18&layer=c&cbll=28.210052,-177.378673&panoid=AO3f6Vrgy2k1MZFVN-26vg&cbp=12,33.82,,0,-16.91

Midway Atoll is on Google street view. Take a tour and check out the gooney birds.


12 posted on 07/13/2013 7:39:11 AM PDT by Snickering Hound
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To: stockpirate

I think the boat looks like it was by the same artist, but the PT109 is definitely added on. The perspective is all wrong for the letters and none of the other murals show any kind of id markings.


13 posted on 07/13/2013 8:04:34 AM PDT by Kirkwood (Zombie Hunter)
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To: Kirkwood
I'd tend to agree with you. My Dad was a World War II veteran and even painted a few things when things got boring between actions by his ship (Philippines, Guam, Saipan, Iwo Jima, Okinawa and other hot spots).

The prevailing mentality among artists at the time was to leave identification markings off, not only to avoid relaying possible information to the enemy, but also because the team mentality was to get everyone to think that could be their ship, their plane, or even their Quonset hut.

Yeah, I know it is hard to comprehend in today's environment that it is all about me, me, me.

14 posted on 07/13/2013 8:32:41 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (Obama: Fake black man. Fake Messiah. Fake American. How many fakes can you fit in one Zer0?)
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To: Roccus

The “PT 109” numbers could have been added to an existing painting at another date.


15 posted on 07/13/2013 11:20:09 AM PDT by Forward the Light Brigade (Into the Jaws of H*ll)
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