John Plunkett Born Oceanside, New York, 1948 Served in Vietnam, Army, 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, Cu Chi, Tay Ninh Province, mud, rifleman, 1969-70
				Bunkers at Night, 1981, graphite on canvas, 40 x 54 in.
				Ambush Behind a Thin Wood Line, 1981, graphite on canvas, 40 x 54 in.
		From a letter, ca. 1983: Our home base sat at the foot of the only mountain range for about a hundred miles. It consisted of two mountains: Nui Ba Den and Nui Ba Ra. These paintings are from a diary that was written in my brain and in the brains of thousands of others, on a daily basis, in Vietnam. Some of the situations did happen to me; others were bad dreams, fear of what might happen, hallucinations; images that seemed to appear out of nowhere, for no reason. It is through painting that Vietnam is now giving me and many others a new life. It is through art that we fight back, and it is through the eyes and hands of veterans that the truth is told.