Will Smith Born New Orleans, Louisiana, 1949 Served in Vietnam, Army, 2d Battalion, 22d Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, Tay Ninh Province, radio operator, 1968-69
				Silhouettes of Soul, 1996, collage, cotton fabric, and photographs, 31 x 57 in.
		I still recollect Vietnam anniversary dates, sometimes once a month, sometimes once a year. I will always remember January 14, 1969, when the soldiers of the 25th Infantry Division, Charlie Company, were ambushed in Tay Ninh Province by a North Vietnamese column a mile long. The firefight lasted six hours and we lost Lieutenant John L. Warren and Captain Farrell of Bravo Company, who was killed by a sniper round while going for a radio. These memories of fellow veterans, brothers—black, white, blood or soul—I served with in Vietnam, will live with me forever. Some say it haunts you, some say it bothers you that people are in the state they are in about Vietnam War, because they don't know. They don't have the right to have the feelings that a Vietnam veteran shares in combat. This is a feeling special to vets. Extinguishing anger was a big part of being back in the World. Their wives may forget them, their sisters and brothers, but their memory lives on with a fellow brother who you were with in combat. Afro-Americans played a very significant part in Vietnam. They participated in a very difficult war when their heroes, such as Muhammad Ali, refused to go to Vietnam. I remember other brothers who were even injured and killed because they believed in not fighting the "white man's war." Because the Little Man [the Viet Cong] always had his stuff together. We had a saying: Sir Charles would hang your best s*** up. So you always keep your stuff wired tight. The Vietnam War experience is one that I treasure and will take to the next life, because I love my fellow Vietnam veterans, Afro-Americans, blood, soul. The art work is three American flags: one large, representing the whole United States, all of America, white, black, what have you; the second is the flag of the Vietnam veteran—a flag for all who served there; the third is the Afro-American flag, and represents the brothers who served there. The photograph in the center is of my comrades. I think we were on ambush at the time. These are the guys I would give my life to.