Snapshots for Servicemembers
Portraits capture the essence and personality of a person and can instantly transport us back to another time causing us to recall cherished memories. My family does not have formal portraits of my father from later in his life; me being a photographer, my heart aches wishing we would have made this more of a priority before he passed. Not wanting another family to share my regret, I started Snapshots for Servicemembers as a way of honoring my military family and showing my gratitude to other veterans for their selfless sacrifices in service to our great country.
The Reason
My name is Nick Fuller and I am a photographer based in Roanoke, Virginia. I come from a long line of military history with my great grandfather serving in World War I, my grandfather serving in World War II, my father serving in Viet Nam, and my younger brother serving in Iraq. Snapshots for Servicemembers is a photography project in honor of their service.
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My grandfather, William Albert Line served in World War II as a gunner on a B24 Liberator named "Guess Who's Here". His crew was part of the 787th Bomb Squadron in the 466th Bomber Group, flying out of Attlebridge Airfield in England. The crew flew 32 combat missions in 1944. He would often share stories with me, beaming with pride for bravely serving the country that he loved.
My father joined the United States Army in 1967, volunteering at seventeen years old with his parents providing consent. He was deployed to Viet Nam in January of 1968 and served two combat tours, returning home in June of 1970. I find it remarkable that he was fighting in Viet Nam at the age of seventeen, returning home as a combat veteran at the young age of twenty. After Viet Nam, my father worked as an aircraft mechanic, eventually moving into logistics and writing software for the US Army. After twenty years of service, he retired as a Master Sergeant. A year later, he returned to the Army, working as a civil servant for eighteen years. Later in his life he began to show signs of dementia, which were the beginning symptoms stemming from exposure to Agent Orange, ultimately leading to his death in 2010. Passing on Mother's Day, he had just turned sixty. He was laid to rest at Albert G. Horton Jr. Memorial Cemetery in Suffolk, Virginia with full military honors.
The Mission
I photograph any combat veteran that wishes to participate in the project, regardless of their branch of service, theatre of combat, active duty or retired. All veterans receive two prints along with digital images as a gift. There is never any cost to the veterans.
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In addition to being photographed, veterans are invited to share their stories. you may share as little or as much as you wish, or nothing at all; it is entirely up to you. With this being a gratitude project, it is my desire to share your stories with others in our great nation and around the world, especially the younger generations. One way we can do this is to share the portraits and stories on my social media platforms. This would only be done with your permission, and it is not required to participate. As Ronald Reagan once said "Freedom is never more than one generation from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children's children what it was once like to be free". We must remember and pass it on so that cost of our freedom is never forgotten.
