“Ira Hayes, Dogwood, North Carolina” © Stu Jenks 2021, 58 inches tall.
Price: $150, shipping included. Simply contact me via my email address at stujenks@gmail.com or Facebook message me, if you would like to purchase one of my pieces. Payments can be made with Paypal, Venmo or credit card with Square. All pieces are signed with its title, and can be hung from the wall. Love y'all, Stu.
Ira Hayes was a Pima Native American man. He was one of the flag raisers on Iwo Jima during World War II. He died young at age 32. They say he died drunk from exposure in a ditch near his reservation in Arizona, but now there are some doubts about that. He probably died in a bar fight and his body was then dumped in that ditch. No autopsy was ever done.
I'm very moved by Ira's story. I'm also from Arizona and I am also an alcoholic, but I had the luck and good grace to get sober in 1985. From what we know, Ira had terrible PTSD after the war, and drank to deal with his pain.
And back in the day, I could have easily died in a bar fight, in a traffic accident, or from my own hand. I never fought in a war, except for the war inside my own head, mostly prior to 1985, and a few days since.
I'm only sober because of a "daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition." And also because of the love, tolerance and help from a lot of good people. Thanks, guys.
Rest in peace Ira. Love you, brother. You are family to me, in a sad and unusual way.
By the way, Johnny Cash wrote a song about you. I think you would have liked it.
#irahayes, #stujennks, #extendedfamilyseries
All images by Stu Jenks, except for the sunset image of the Washington Monument. That one is an image capture of a 1950's postcard, found in my mother's stuff after her death.
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