thedrifter
05-05-08, 08:23 AM
Former JMU Student Honored In Ohio Art
Posted 2008-05-05
City Marine Killed In Action In Iraq
By Tom Mitchell
Through the brush of an artist, the family and friends of Marine Lance Cpl. Jourdan Grez of Harrisonburg will have one more lasting image of him.
Grez, who attended James Madison University from 1999 until 2004, shortly before he enlisted, was killed in Iraq in May 2005. He and his comrades in arms are now memorialized in eight oil paintings by Anita Miller, an artist who lives just outside Columbus, Ohio.
Miller said her life-size paintings of the fallen troops will be shown at the Ohio Statehouse rotunda in Columbus from May 24 through Nov. 10 before being displayed in Cincinnati. Miller's display will feature the 22 Marines and a U.S. Navy Corpsman who died in combat between May and August 2005.
Miller, 47, said she was moved to create the paintings by a dream she had in October 2005, after Lima Company, the Marine company to which Grez was assigned in Iraq, sustained heavy casualties. Miller's vision of portraits displayed at the statehouse returned, convincing her that she should do the project.
After committing to the project, Miller made several phone calls to Lima Company, a reserve unit out of Columbus deployed to Iraq from Feb. 28 through Sept. 30, 2005. Lima Company personnel soon put Miller in touch with family and friends of the men whose portrait she wanted to paint.
"I had no connections to the Marines, but two of my sons lost friends at a young age," Miller said. "I was sensitized to the grief of a parent losing a child."
Honored Marine
Grez, 24, and three other Marines died May 11, 2005, in Al Karabilah, when their assault vehicle ran over a roadside bomb.
A member of the U.S. Marine Forces Reserves 4th Combat Engineer Battalion, 4th Marine Division in Roanoke, Grez was buried at Arlington National Cemetery three days before Memorial Day in 2005.
Along with receiving the Purple Heart, Grez was posthumously awarded the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal with Combat V for Valor, said his father, Armand Grez, of Charleston, W.Va.
Once known as "Lucky Lima" for its knack for avoiding casualties, Lima Company was part of the 25th Marine Regiment deployed in western Iraq. While most of the men killed in Lima Company that day were from Ohio, others, including Grez, represented seven states, Miller said.
The project, which Miller said she and her husband funded themselves, will cost about $200,000. Miller began the paintings in January 2007 and finished three weeks ago.
While she is not refusing donations, Miller vowed to complete the paintings regardless of the cost. The project, she said, has been "an amazing, incredible experience."
‘A Wonderful Job'
Soon after deciding to do the paintings, Miller contacted families of the fallen men for information about them. Armand Grez said that he and his wife, Andrea, met with Miller and the couple left impressed.
"She has done a wonderful job," said Armand Grez. "It is a great thing."
Lael Lowell, Grez's girlfriend and the mother of his 4-year-old son, Colin, said she was "really excited" to learn of Miller's project.
Lowell recently moved with her son to College Station, Texas, where she grew up. Grez will always hold a special place in her heart - and in their son's, as well, Lowell says. She plans to make sure her boy knows all about his dad and what he did in the service of his country. Miller's paintings, said Lowell, 25, will make that task easier.
"Colin already understands that his dad went to war, and got killed, and that he loved Colin," she said. "I hope the paintings will help the public appreciate the sacrifices that men and women like Jourdan made for their country. Anything tangible we can have is comforting."
For more information about the paintings, log on to Miller's Web site at www.theartistsroost.com.
Contact Tom Mitchell at 574-6275 or mitchell@dnronline.com
Ellie
Posted 2008-05-05
City Marine Killed In Action In Iraq
By Tom Mitchell
Through the brush of an artist, the family and friends of Marine Lance Cpl. Jourdan Grez of Harrisonburg will have one more lasting image of him.
Grez, who attended James Madison University from 1999 until 2004, shortly before he enlisted, was killed in Iraq in May 2005. He and his comrades in arms are now memorialized in eight oil paintings by Anita Miller, an artist who lives just outside Columbus, Ohio.
Miller said her life-size paintings of the fallen troops will be shown at the Ohio Statehouse rotunda in Columbus from May 24 through Nov. 10 before being displayed in Cincinnati. Miller's display will feature the 22 Marines and a U.S. Navy Corpsman who died in combat between May and August 2005.
Miller, 47, said she was moved to create the paintings by a dream she had in October 2005, after Lima Company, the Marine company to which Grez was assigned in Iraq, sustained heavy casualties. Miller's vision of portraits displayed at the statehouse returned, convincing her that she should do the project.
After committing to the project, Miller made several phone calls to Lima Company, a reserve unit out of Columbus deployed to Iraq from Feb. 28 through Sept. 30, 2005. Lima Company personnel soon put Miller in touch with family and friends of the men whose portrait she wanted to paint.
"I had no connections to the Marines, but two of my sons lost friends at a young age," Miller said. "I was sensitized to the grief of a parent losing a child."
Honored Marine
Grez, 24, and three other Marines died May 11, 2005, in Al Karabilah, when their assault vehicle ran over a roadside bomb.
A member of the U.S. Marine Forces Reserves 4th Combat Engineer Battalion, 4th Marine Division in Roanoke, Grez was buried at Arlington National Cemetery three days before Memorial Day in 2005.
Along with receiving the Purple Heart, Grez was posthumously awarded the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal with Combat V for Valor, said his father, Armand Grez, of Charleston, W.Va.
Once known as "Lucky Lima" for its knack for avoiding casualties, Lima Company was part of the 25th Marine Regiment deployed in western Iraq. While most of the men killed in Lima Company that day were from Ohio, others, including Grez, represented seven states, Miller said.
The project, which Miller said she and her husband funded themselves, will cost about $200,000. Miller began the paintings in January 2007 and finished three weeks ago.
While she is not refusing donations, Miller vowed to complete the paintings regardless of the cost. The project, she said, has been "an amazing, incredible experience."
‘A Wonderful Job'
Soon after deciding to do the paintings, Miller contacted families of the fallen men for information about them. Armand Grez said that he and his wife, Andrea, met with Miller and the couple left impressed.
"She has done a wonderful job," said Armand Grez. "It is a great thing."
Lael Lowell, Grez's girlfriend and the mother of his 4-year-old son, Colin, said she was "really excited" to learn of Miller's project.
Lowell recently moved with her son to College Station, Texas, where she grew up. Grez will always hold a special place in her heart - and in their son's, as well, Lowell says. She plans to make sure her boy knows all about his dad and what he did in the service of his country. Miller's paintings, said Lowell, 25, will make that task easier.
"Colin already understands that his dad went to war, and got killed, and that he loved Colin," she said. "I hope the paintings will help the public appreciate the sacrifices that men and women like Jourdan made for their country. Anything tangible we can have is comforting."
For more information about the paintings, log on to Miller's Web site at www.theartistsroost.com.
Contact Tom Mitchell at 574-6275 or mitchell@dnronline.com
Ellie