FALLEN SOLDIER PAINTINGS
Shelly Slater reports
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FRISCO - A Frisco father is using canvas and paint to ensure the sacrifices made by fallen soldiers won't be taken for granted nor forgotten.
Using his talent with a brush, Phillip Taylor tells the stories of fallen soldiers in black and white.
Private 1st Class DJ Bentz, a Jersey native who was killed in January 2007; Lt. Peter Burks, who was killed in November 2007 and Lt. Frank Hand III, who was killed in 1968 - have all been memorialized on canvas by Taylor's hands.
"I will always know something very important about that soldier," he said. "I have to. That's my duty. I owe that to them and their families to connect at that level. If I don't, I don't deserve the right to pick up that brush."
Dozens of hours are dedicated to turning pictures of soldiers into paintings.
"They can see the details, see the freckles, the moles, see the creases [and] see everything there," Taylor said of his paintings. "Whether it's a scar from a tricycle crash at three years old, I make sure it's all there for them."
Captain Blake H. Russell was killed overseas at 35. Blake was Ron Russell's son and Taylor's friend. Blake was also the first fallen soldier Taylor painted. He created the portrait as a gift for Blake's father.
"It took my breath away," Russell said of the painting of his son. "That's him. It's like he's there."
When Russell's thank you came in the mail, it became an inspiration to start the American Fallen Soldier's Project.
"It's such an honor for Blake to be a part of what Phillip is doing," Russell said.
Taylor said the project has given his life purpose.
"I used to cry at every portrait," he said.
With each portrait, Russell said he learns a new story of bravery.
"The last act in his life was checking on his men, and that's how he died," he said of Burks.
The American Fallen Soldiers Project relies on fundraisers and private donations to pay for the portraits. Often, Taylor picks up the tab.
