Artist captures the spirit of fallen soldiers

EDMONDS, Wash. -- The images capture tender moments shattered by the brutality of war. Each one is a comfort to those left behind.\nIn Tennessee, a grandmother says good morning to the portrait of her smiling grandson.\nIn Virginia, a mother reflects over a sketch of her young son holding the daughter he never met, and never will.\nThe images were created as gifts by artist Michael Reagan, who has penciled more than 160 portraits of soldiers who died in Iraq. As part of his Fallen Heroes Project, he hopes to draw all the soldiers killed in Iraq, Afghanistan or any other conflict he considers a "war on terror."\nBy early this month, according to an Associated Press count, more than 1,940 U.S. service members had died in Iraq alone. Reagan is undeterred.\n"I'm not going to stop until I'm done, or when I can't do it any longer," he said while taking a break at his home north of Seattle.\nMost of the images are portraits of individual soldiers, but there is the rare special request.\nSandra Rhodes remembers how her son worried whether he would be a good father to his unborn child.\nHe would never know.\nMarine Pfc. Michael M. Carey, 20, died May, 18, 2004, after falling into a canal -- 13 days after little Mia was born.\n"He wanted to be a father more than anything in this world," Rhodes says, recalling how she sent Reagan several photos, including one of Carey holding Mia's older half sister and another of Mia at 3 months. Both were used to create an image that could never be realized.\nIn the portrait, Carey is wearing glasses and a Superman cap, and his cheek appears to brush against Mia's head as she giggles and grasps her bib.\n"I wanted that portrait for my granddaughter when she gets older ... when she can realize everything and understand what has happened," Rhodes said from her home in Amelia, Va.\nFamilies learn of Reagan's project -- mostly through word-of-mouth or e-mail groups -- and send along their precious photos. Many are hoping to recapture what they've lost.\nAmong Reagan's latest portraits is a drawing of 1st Lt. David Giaimo, a 24-year-old from Waukegan, Ill., killed Aug. 12 when his Humvee struck a land mine in Tikrit, Iraq. Another is of the daughter of Marine Staff Sgt. Aaron Dean White, 27, who died in Shatt Al Hillah Canal, Iraq, when the helicopter he was riding in crashed.\nWhite's wife, Michelle Linn, of Oceanside, Calif., sent only a photo of their daughter, Brie, at her father's graveside. The little girl, wearing a pink sweatshirt, is nearly dwarfed by the gravestone, her chubby little hand reaching toward her father's name on the cold white stone with black etching that reads: Feb. 29, 1976 -- May 19, 2003.\nThat drawing was particularly difficult, Reagan said, casting his eyes to the floor and shaking his head.\nOn his kitchen counter sit three gold-colored photo albums filled with copies of his portraits, as well as hundreds of thank-you notes and letters from families.\nReagan, 58, began drawing 40 years ago after breaking his left arm in a high school football game.\nIn Vietnam, drawing helped fill the long lulls between fighting. He would hunker down in trenches to sketch pictures of his comrades' girlfriends or mothers.\nAfter the war, he studied at Burnley School for Professional Art, now the Art Institute of Seattle, developing the skill that helped him mentally escape the horrors of battle.\nIn the past 30 years, he said, his lifelike drawings of celebrities such as Audrey Hepburn, baseball Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson, and former President George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, have helped him raise millions of dollars for cancer research and charities such as the March of Dimes and the Boys and Girls Club. Three years ago, a portrait of Seattle Mariners star Ichiro Suzuki sold at auction for $8,000.\n"(But) none of that's as important as what I'm doing right now," said Reagan, who supports himself by selling portraits unrelated to the Fallen Heroes Project. "If I can spend a couple hours of my time ... and I can help somebody start healing, even just a little bit, I don't have a choice."\nShirley Stark, of Huntingdon, Tenn., recalls trembling when she received the portrait of her 20-year-old grandson, Spc. Michael J. Wiesemann. Looking at the portrait now she draws comfort -- and peace -- from it.\n"The likeness of our grandson is so real that I feel his presence and love flow from it," she said. "This wonderful man not only gave me comfort with his portrait but took time to help me deal with our grandson's death."\nWiesemann, of North Judson, Ind., joined the Army in 2002 after graduating high school and was assigned to the Army's 2nd Infantry Division out of Fort Lewis, Wash. He died May 29, 2004, at Quyarrah Air Base, Iraq, of non-combat-related injuries. More than a year after his death, the Army has not released details, other than to say his death is still under investigation.\nAt his drawing table, Reagan relates to Stark's pain as he recalls memories of Vietnam and the friends he watched die. Then he grasps a turquoise pencil and turns back to the unfinished work before him, tracing a graphite path along Giaimo's jawline.