In the Highest Tradition—WWII Medal of Honor Art: Paintings by Col Charles H. Waterhouse, USMCR (Ret)
In commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the end of WWII, our new Combat Art Gallery exhibition features the artwork of U.S. Marine artist, Col Charles H. Waterhouse. Included in the exhibition are the paintings and portraits of 39 WWII Medal of Honor recipients.
Waterhouse understood the meaning of sacrifice and service. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1943 and served with the 5th Marine Division on Iwo Jima, where he was wounded on the third day of the battle. After the war, he became a professional artist and served in Vietnam as a civilian combat artist for the U.S. Navy. In 1973, the U.S. Marine Corps commissioned Waterhouse as a major in the Reserves to create paintings that depicted Marines in the Revolutionary War. He spent the next 19 years as the Marine Corps' first official Artist-In-Residence, creating hundreds of paintings detailing the Corps' history.
After he retired from the Corps, Waterhouse embarked on a project to create a portrait and painting of every U.S. Marine and Navy Corpsman who had been awarded the Medal of Honor. His final gift to the Marine Corps would be 200 paintings and 106 miniature portraits of Marine and Navy Medal of Honor recipients. He would gift the artwork to the Museum in 2011 and 2012, shortly before his passing at the age of 89.
This exhibition features a small selection of Waterhouse's paintings and portraits. Visit our Google Arts and Culture page to view more.
