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REQUIEM

Below are the two final essays to be posted on Allegiance and Duty Betrayed. The first one is written by a friend -- screen name 'Euro-American Scum' -- who, over the past four years, has been the most faithful essayist here. He has written about everything from his pilgrimage to Normandy in 2004 to take part in the 60th–year commemoration of the invasion, to his memories of his tour in Vietnam. His dedication to America’s founding principles ... and those who have sacrificed to preserve them over the past 200+ years ... is unequaled. Thank you, E-A-S. It has been a privilege to include your writing here, and it is a privilege to call you my friend.

The second essay is my own farewell. And with it I thank all of the many regular visitors, and those who may have only dropped in occasionally, for coming here. I hope you learned something. I hope a seed or two was planted. But, even if not, I thank you for stopping by ... 25 March, 2010

7/01/2007

Memorializing Our Fallen Heroes and
Comforting Those They've Left Behind

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Utah artist Kaziah Hancock is so touched by the sacrifices of American soldiers in Iraq that she is determined to pay tribute to each one of those who lost their lives, and to offer a kind of eternal comfort to their grieving families in the process.

Kaziah Hancock lives alone (if you don’t count her hundred goats and handful of chickens) on a ranch at the base of a mountain in Utah.

To understand this independent, middle-aged woman who is devoting her extraordinary gifts to repay our fallen heroes, and to witness the indescribable effect that her love and patriotism have on the families that our heroes leave behind, have a look at this five and a half minutes that you won’t soon forget.

Four years ago, at the request of his family, a tearful Kaziah painted a portrait of Utah’s first fallen soldier in the war in Iraq. Since then, the requests have been pouring in, which has caused Kaziah to create ‘Project Compassion’ – a non-profit artistic organization which provides gallery-quality oil portraits of fallen Americans in uniform to their next of kin at no cost. Because of the overwhelming demand for her portraits, Kaziah has recruited five other renowned professional portraitists to help her keep up with the requests.

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Project Compassion provides one gallery-quality, 18”x 24” original oil portrait of every American in uniform who has passed away on active duty since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, to their families. Kaziah’s organization is now endorsed and in partnership with the Department of Defense and all branches of the armed services.

When each painting is finished, Kaziah Hancock sends them home – beautifully framed, packed and shipped, with a handwritten note in each one, expressing her feelings about the subject she has immortalized on canvas and her undying appreciation for his selfless sacrifice. Her portrait mailings currently number in the hundreds, with no end in sight.

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Kaziah and her organization will accept not one cent from a soldier’s family. And, even when asked, she refuses to discuss the income she has forfeited by painting America’s sons and daughters instead of the landscapes that she normally sells for thousands of dollars. The painting of those landscapes has been put on indefinite hold.

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After stepping back and looking at one of her most recently completed portraits, Kaziah quietly and tearfully reflected, ‘He should have been a daddy. He should have been a husband ‘til he was eighty years old …that would have been good … I would have so loved not to have painted him (as her voice breaks and tears begin to flow).’

Kindness is a virtue. And Kaziah Hancock is combining that virtue with a God-given gift in order to eternally memorialize our modern American heroes, and to comfort the loved ones they have left behind.

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If you would like to contribute to Projection Compassion in order to offset the cost of materials and shipping, please click here.

~ joanie

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

My monitor is blurry after reading this. What a wonderful lady! I'm going to send her what I can.

Anonymous said...

Just when I think the whole world is going to hell in a hand basket, this lady shows up and gives me some hope.

Contribution is on the way.

Anonymous said...

If I were'n half a continent away from Utah, I'd court this lady. There's no one even remotely like her around here (or anywhere else for that matter). ;)

Anonymous said...

The money she's forfeiting is one thing, but it takes forever to paint a portrait like these. She's a real patriot who puts her money and time and love where her mouth is.

Anonymous said...

God bless Kaziah Hancock.

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful story to read over my morning coffee!

Anonymous said...

Awesome! I will send her a contribution in the next week.

Anonymous said...

Check's in the mail.

Anonymous said...

I'm all choked up reading about this lady. I'll send a modest contribution sometime next week.

Thanks Joanie.

Anonymous said...

I just checked out their web site top to bottom. What a great organization! I'll be sending a donation in the next day or two.

joanie said...

Thanks to all who have indicated that they intend to contribute to this wonderful cause!

Rick and I decided to stop contributing to the RNC quite a while ago, and now, with part of that money, we are instead sending monthly packages over to a couple of individual soldiers in Iraq. We hadn’t yet earmarked where the rest of the former RNC money will go ... until I read about Kaziah. How much better is supporting organizations like hers than supporting political candidates who turn on you? It’s the people 'in the trenches' who need to be remembered.

Again, many thanks for the wonderful generosity expressed here!

Anonymous said...

Thank you Kaziah, and thank you Joanie for posting this.

Anonymous said...

"we are instead sending monthly packages over to a couple of individual soldiers in Iraq."

Tell more about how that is done.

joanie said...

Anonymous,

We send a monthly box of items to specific servicemen stationed in Iraq. We received their names and addresses from a friend who is an organizer of Proud Patriots.

I don’t believe the organization normally distributes servicemen’s names and addresses (the only way we were able to receive ours resulted from the fact that we know one of the organizers personally, and I wanted to do it this way). They are hesitant to have people do one-on-one package mailing to the soldiers, simply because other organizations that have attempted to do that have had problems with infiltrators who claim to want to send items to the troops and then they wound up sending anti-war material, etc. to them instead. So Proud Patriots has found that, unless they know the person very well, it is best that the organization itself handle the package mailing.

This is a wonderful organization, and you may donate monetarily, or by furnishing specific items that are needed. Their website is self-explanatory:

http://www.proudpatriots.org

I hope this helps.

~ joanie

Anonymous said...

Joanie, here's another packages-to-soldiers group. I don't know much about them but they seem on the up and up.

http://soldiersangels.org

Anonymous said...

I did some research on Ms. Hancock after you wrote this. She's quite a lady. I LOVE this picture of her! Could you add it to your essay?

http://www.utahands.com/artists/hancock/hancock.jpg

Anonymous said...

Your essay is very good C.W., but the video is unbelievable. I feel like I know this lady already, and she's about as honest and down to earth as anyone I've ever met. God bless her and make her work flourish!

Anonymous said...

They are hesitant to have people do one-on-one package mailing to the soldiers, simply because other organizations that have attempted to do that have had problems with infiltrators who claim to want to send items to the troops and then they wound up sending anti-war material, etc. to them instead.

Scum.

Anonymous said...

d_o'connor said...
They are hesitant to have people do one-on-one package mailing to the soldiers, simply because other organizations that have attempted to do that have had problems with infiltrators who claim to want to send items to the troops and then they wound up sending anti-war material, etc. to them instead.

Scum.
__________________________________

I can think of stronger words.

Luis said...

Amazing generous lady.

Thanks for bringing this to your readers' attention Joanie...