Gripping Photos of Fallen Soldiers’ Bedrooms
A photographer's images of domestic tranquility pay tribute to U.S. service members
- By T.A. Frail
- Smithsonian magazine, May 2012
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(© Ashley Gilbertson / VII)
Marine Cpl. Nicholas G. Xiarhos
The bedroom of Marine Cpl. Nicholas G. Xiarhos of Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts. Xiarhos died at age 21 in Afghanistan in 2009. Ashley Gilbertson has photographed 43 such rooms, in the United States and other NATO nations, and he is seeking more. "It's a way of connecting with who they were," says Gilbertson, who covered the Iraq war as a photojournalist for six years. His project is a kind of continual Memorial Day observance. For the parents, especially, he says, "it's important that their son or daughter is not forgotten."
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Comments (17)
Amazing photographs of outstanding individuals: this collection moved me to tears. However, interpreting these rooms as anti-war propaganda is an over-simplification (at best) of what is captured by these photos. The rooms are themselves works of art: the items on display in the rooms were chosen by their loved ones intentionally, and are private artworks in the purest sense of the word "art." The rooms serve not only to preserve and memorialize the interests and loves while each was alive, but the "best selves" of these young men and women and what they believed in. These rooms are somewhat like the private altars that families create for Dia de los Muertos celebrations: the rooms testify who the dead were, what their sacrifices meant, and most of all, the expression of their families' enduring grief and timeless love for their heroes (and now, hopefully, heroes to the viewer -- I know each of them is a hero to me). These rooms no longer house lives, but memories. Sadly, we will all die someday, and most of us, for no more noble purpose than old age or accidents. These young people died in service of their country, something they clearly cared about and believed in. The photos simultaneously made me feel patriotic, but also regretful that war exists. On a more personal note, I sending a prayer up as I write this for the departed and their families, to my friends currently deployed, and to my friends and family members who are veterans of foreign war, who nurse wounds both visible and invisible. And, thank you to the families and T.A. Frail for these photos.
Posted by Heather Straub on November 27,2012 | 05:25 PM
Brilliant approach by T.A. Frail to humanize these losses. The artifacts left behind so clearly speak to lives but barely begun. And ditto to the wise words from Kay Samaripa, below: "they should be a deterrent to war. Not the collateral damage". Thank you.
Posted by Djuna Ivereigh on October 12,2012 | 07:25 AM
My son is finishing up boot camp in parris island, SC. I can only hope that he will not be a victim of war. What a terrible tragedy it must be for the parents to live with an empty bedroom. Gone but not forgotten. Thank you for the photographs, Ashley.
Posted by john bogdanich on May 28,2012 | 05:54 AM
Seeing these intimate photos makes their loss even more heart wrenching. This reminds me that these are sons and daughters who will forever be loved and missed dearly. My condolences to their families for offering to share a piece of their world with us. God Bless them.
Posted by Michelle Brown on May 25,2012 | 08:13 PM
I am 67 now - a child of a WWII Army/Air Corps enlisted man. Raised as a "dependant" in the Air Force until I graduated from High School. Old enough to have objected loudly to the Vietnam War and, most recently, the travesty of ongoing war in the middle east. I honor the fallen and respect the misguided commitment of current military men and women in the most recent "war". We should all grieve for the loved ones left behind as demonstrated by these photographs. We should be grateful for the DEFENDERS of our nation who serve in the military. But, they should be a deterrent to war. Not the collateral damage.
Posted by Kay Samaripa on May 9,2012 | 03:56 PM
I am 67 now - a child of a WWII Army/Air Corps enlisted man. Raised as a "dependant" in the Air Force until I graduated from High School. Old enough to have objected loudly to the Vietnam War and, most recently, the travesty of ongoing war in the middle east. I honor the fallen and respect the misguided commitment of current military men and women in the most recent "war". We should all grieve for the loved ones left behind as demonstrated by these photographs. We should be grateful for the DEFENDERS of our nation who serve in the military. But, they should be a deterrent to war. Not the collateral damage.
Posted by Kay Samaripa on May 9,2012 | 03:56 PM
The photos were very moving. Makes one heart ache to know we are sending our young people, who have not had a chance to experience life as young adults, off to battle. My father was in the Army during world war II as were his three brothers...one in Marines and two in the Navy. Fortunately they all came home. Our mainstream media does very little in providing the true picture of what is going on and the public only hears what the media shares. My heart goes out to the families who have lost one of their loved ones and those who come home damaged. As Americans, we need to do better. My daughter, age 43, works for an aerospace company and is in Afghanistan as a support contractor. She is exposed to the day to day operations and often tells me that on her base they had another "fallen angel". My prayers go out to all our millitary personnel and their families. No one can imagine the feeling of loosing ones child, no matter their age, and the families they leave behind. Thank you Ashley Gilbertson for sharing these photos and paying tribute to all of our fallen service members.
Posted by Sarann Graham on May 6,2012 | 09:16 PM
This is a very poignant and moving collection, I wish all Americans could see it. We have such a huge debt of gratitude to our service people. Thank you for showing the pictures.
Posted by Mary on May 4,2012 | 02:37 PM
This is a very poignant and moving collection, I wish all Americans could see it. We have such a huge debt of gratitude to our service people. Thank you for showing the pictures.
Posted by Mary on May 4,2012 | 02:37 PM
As are we...
Posted by Karol Bradford on May 4,2012 | 01:44 PM
Thanks you for posting these pictures....they almost made me cry. I reminds us all that these are just kids, going out there to die (and for what, exactly?!!)
Posted by Lisa on May 3,2012 | 04:36 PM
I was in during Korea and have seen the waste of young lives. Will it ever stop. Not as long as big money dictates.Thank you for posting these pictures.
Posted by James Hansen on April 26,2012 | 11:00 AM
Thank you to T.A. Frail and the Smithsonian for showing these pictures. These are real people, real families...paying the ultimate for all of us. Thank you..
Posted by Maureen Huffman on April 24,2012 | 10:58 PM
The pictures are very touching and bring closer to home the heart ache of war. I appreciate the families who allowed the photographs to be taken of the empty bedrooms. Such visuals are stronger than words. I thank them for sharing. May God bless them.
Posted by Chris Frieseke on April 23,2012 | 02:16 PM
Thank you for this feature. The public tends to think of fallen military personnel as symbols - we see them in photos wearing uniforms, we empathize with their family's heartbreak by inserting our own children into the place where the their dead one's name appears. To see these bedrooms is to understand that these men and women were individuals. Their quirks and interests are on full display. Their heads rested on those well-worn pillows. And their parents guard those frozen-in-time rooms with, I'm sure, the fierce dedication that only they can understand. My husband and I are Marine Corps veterans. Our son is currently an active-duty Marine. I have spent some nights recently on his bed (because of my bad back), perusing his guitars and book collection from a sideways perspective. I know him beyond the hard-won Marine Corps facade, replaying home movies in my mind of him as a sweet toddler and a floppy-haired teenager, hearing his super-dry, sarcastic humor in my ears. We miss him every day, but we know he is still out there walking, talking, sleeping, and brushing his teeth. The parents of deceased troops have only memories, pictures, and empty bedrooms. My still-intact heart aches for their broken ones.
Posted by Sherry on April 23,2012 | 02:02 PM
My heart aches for these families. To have a room just how your child left it and know that child will never return is heartbreaking. I knew a family who lost a child in another way who kept their room too. I suppose we just don't know how we would handle a death like this unless it hits home. Thank you for the ULTIMATE sacrifice.
Posted by L. M. Wagner on April 23,2012 | 01:30 PM
This article just reminds me that we are not sending Men and Women into harms way. We are sending Boys and Girls into harms way. And however they return, alive or deceased, they are forever changed for it.
Posted by Gary Nabozny on April 22,2012 | 08:54 AM