​In honor of my granddaddy, Raymond Lee Humphrey, on the Centennial of the Armistice and end of the Great War... I painted this French landscape.

My goal was to paint this scene of the Croix Rouge Farm (Red Cross Farm) set in Aisne, France (1918) in a peaceful manner. One where the viewer is drawn in by the beautiful country side, architecture, and the tranquil solitude. It was also my way of capturing on canvas, a scene that has significant historical value to my family. 

Today marks the centennial of the cease fire and ending of World War I on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, 1918. Granddaddy Raymond was there. In fact... his regiment... the 167th of the famed 42nd "Rainbow" Division... was the furthermost allied unit in German territory when the Armistice was called at 11:00 AM.

The family significance of the Croix Rouge Farm also dates back 100 years and marks the spot where Raymond took part in the fiercest fighting he and his regiment encountered during the Great War.  Raymond survived the Battle of the Croix Rouge Farm but 162 of his comrades were killed taking it from the Germans in July of 1918. 

On July 26, 1918, the 42nd Division and the 167th Regiment regained in two consecutive battles the Croix Rouge Farm in Aisne, France.

Douglas MacArthur wrote of the battle...

July 26, 1918
“…the 167th Alabama assisted by the left flank of the 168th Iowa had stormed and captured the Croix Rouge Farm in a manner which for its gallantry I do not believe has been surpassed in military history. It was one of the few occasions on which the bayonet was decisively used.”

The Official “Rainbow” Division History says, “The capture of the Croix Rouge Farm and clearing belongs to that list of military exploits which cannot fail to excite the admiration of those who hear the tale, because of the determination and gallantry displayed.”

Historian and Author, Edward Lengel, writes...

The U.S. 42d “Rainbow” Division—the third National Guard formation to arrive at the front—was one of the more colorful units in the A.E.F.. It was an amalgam of National Guard units from twenty-six states plus the District of Columbia. Douglas MacArthur, who eventually commanded the division’s 84th Brigade, supposedly said that “The 42nd Division stretches like a Rainbow from one end of America to the other.”

The division’s four regiments all had storied histories. They were the 165th (originally New York’s Fighting 69th); the 166th (the 4th Ohio); the 167th (4th Alabama); and the 168th (3rd Iowa). Though proud of their origins, the Rainbow men believed that General Pershing and his officers disliked them because they were National Guard. They had a lot to prove.

On July 25-26, the American I Corps pulled out all three of its frontline divisions, including the American 26th and 28th, and replaced them with one: the Rainbow Division. The 84th Brigade (167th and 168th Regiments) led the attack on July 26 against German-held Croix Rouge (Red Cross) Farm, which was a well-prepared position bristling with well-sited machine guns. In their first attack, the green American troops clumped together in thick lines and took heavy casualties. They were beaten back.
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Later that evening, though, the Doughboys spread out thinly and used combined arms tactics, wielding grenades, machine guns, and one-pounder light cannon as they advanced. Engaging the Germans in close quarters combat, they captured the farm. MacArthur remembered that, “we reverted to tactics I had seen so often in the Indian wars of my frontier days. Crawling forward in twos and threes against each stubborn nest of enemy guns, we closed in with the bayonet and the hand grenade. It was savage and there was no quarter asked or given.” Red Cross Farm cost over 1,000 American casualties. 162 battle deaths in the 167th alone.

A short time later, MacArthur was promoted to brigadier general and placed in command of the 84th Brigade. He later remembered his first visit to the front, writing, “I will never forget that trip. The dead were so thick in spots we tumbled over them. There must have been at least 2,000 of those sprawled bodies. . . . The stench was suffocating. Not a tree was standing. The moans and cries of wounded men sounded everywhere. Sniper bullets sung like the buzzing of a hive of angry bees.”
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SOURCE:
Enter Douglas MacArthur: the Rainbow Division at Croix Rouge Farm, 1918

​Great Grandfather
Raymond Lee Humphrey (1892~1970)
167th Regiment, 42nd US Infantry (Rainbow) Division,
World War I
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Activated: August 1917 (National Guard Division, the components of which were drawn from 26 States and the District of Columbia).
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Overseas: November 1917.
.
Major Operations: Champagne-Marne, St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne.
.
Days of Combat: 264.
.
Casualties: Total 14,683 (KIA-2,058; WIA-12,625).
.
Commanders: Maj. Gen. W. A. Mann (5 September 1917), Maj. Gen. Charles T. Menoher (19 December 1917), Brig. Gen. Douglas MacArthur (10 November 1918), Maj. Gen. C. A. F. Flagler (22 November 1918).
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Raymond was a proud veteran and always celebrated Armistice Day (as he always referred to it) while he was alive. Here he is pictured with a cake for such a celebration... notice the Rainbow Division rainbows. His regiment was the furthermost allied unit in German territory when the Armistice was called at 11:00 AM on the 11th day of the 11th month, 1918. The honor gave his regiment head of column as they headed toward Germany. While marching into Belgium... being the first friendly liberators the Belgians saw in their county in years... the 167th regimental band struck up the tune "Dixie" as they entered the first town.

​A special thank you to all the veterans who have served under the flags of this country!
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Here is a special tribute to all my children's grandfathers on Veteran's Day... oddly enough... two of their grandfathers fought against each other at the Battle of Cold Harbor during the War Between the States. Let us always remember the sacrifices our grandfathers and ALL veterans have made...

​G-G-G-G-Great Grandfather
Pvt Dudley Lee (1759~1815)
6th Maryland, Continental Line
1st Maryland, Continental Line
The American Revolution
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On 6 June 1778 Dudley Lee passed in the vicinity of Taneytown, Frederick Co, MD, as a draft substitute in Colonel Otho Holland William's Regiment, the 6th Maryland. That unit served in New Jersey and New York as part of Washington's army. Dudley continued to re-enlist for the remainder of the war. In August of 1780 he mustered in the 1st Maryland Regiment. This was essentially the same regiment, having been reorganized. By this time, the 1st Maryland was in the Carolinas, under the command of General Nathanial Greene. The regiment took part in most of the major actions of Greene's Southern Campaign.
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General George Washington relied heavily upon the Marylanders as one of the few reliable fighting units in the early Continental Army. For this reason, Maryland is sometimes known as "The Old Line State."
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Campaigns:
Battle of Brandywine,
Battle of Germantown,
Battle of Monmouth,
Battle of Camden and the
Battle of Guilford Court House.

​G-G-G-Great Grandfather
Pvt Nicolas Lee (1803~1888)
Company H, 3rd Maryland Potomac Home Brigade, US Army Volunteers, War Between the States
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Enlisted at the age of 59 and fought throughout the war. Was captured by Stonewall Jackson at Harper's Ferry and released on a prisoners exchange. Fought in several skirmishes and battles... the most famous being the Battle of Monocacy.

​G-G-G-Great Grandfather
Pvt Lewis Everette Humphrey (1828~1890)
Company K, 61st North Carolina Infantry, CSA, War Between the States.
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The Tarheels of the Old North State, including over 1300 men from Onslow County, have earned their page in history with their deeds of valor, contributions, and dedication to the Confederate Cause of 1861 - 1865. Among those 1300+ was private Lewis E. Humphrey, Company K, 61st North Carolina Infantry. Lewis enlisted in April 1862 at the age of 34 in the Confederate army. He left behind no slaves... only a wife and five small children to tend the family farm. New Bern (30 miles from his home) had just fallen to Union forces and rumors of an Conscription Act forced him to leave the world he knew and embark on a journey that would eventually bring him back home 2 1/2 years later via a discharge for disability after the Battle of the Crater (late 1864).
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Campaigns:
Kinston
Defense of Charleston
Battery Wagner
Drewy's Bluff
Cold Harbor
Petersburg
The Crater

G-G-Great Grandfather
Capt Christopher Columbus (CC) Lee (1840~1932)
Company A, 7th West Virginia Infantry, 2nd Army Corps, The Gibraltar Brigade, Army of the Potomac, US Army Veteran Volunteers, War Between the States
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Mustered in as a private and moved up the ranks mustering out as Captain of Company A. The 7th West Virginia suffered such heavy casualties that it was reduced from a regiment of ten companies to a battalion of four companies by wars end. CC was wounded on May 3, 1863 at the Battle of Chancellorsville. As Sargent... he was urging his men forward when a ball struck him in the face and exited through his open mouth... He wore a beard from that point on. He was furloughed home and missed the Battle of Gettysburg. CC was present for every major campaign with the exception of some of the Wilderness Campaign when he was hospitalized in Washington with malaria and almost died.
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Campaigns:
From Romney to Appomattox... engaged in every major battle that the Army of the Potomac participated in... detailed list HERE.

​G-Great Grandfather
Raymond Lee Humphrey (1892~1970)
167th Regiment, 42nd US Infantry (Rainbow) Division,
World War I
.
Activated: August 1917 (National Guard Division, the components of which were drawn from 26 States and the District of Columbia).
.
Overseas: November 1917.
.
Major Operations: Champagne-Marne, St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne.
.
Days of Combat: 264.
.
Casualties: Total 14,683 (KIA-2,058; WIA-12,625).
.
Commanders: Maj. Gen. W. A. Mann (5 September 1917), Maj. Gen. Charles T. Menoher (19 December 1917), Brig. Gen. Douglas MacArthur (10 November 1918), Maj. Gen. C. A. F. Flagler (22 November 1918).
.
Raymond was a proud veteran and always celebrated Armistice Day (as he always referred to it)while he was alive. Here he is pictured with a cake for such a celebration... notice the Rainbow Division rainbows. His regiment was the furthermost allied unit in German territory when the Armistice was called at 11:00 AM on the 11th day of the 11th month, 1918. The honor gave his regiment head of column as they headed toward Germany. While marching into Belgium... being the first friendly liberators the Belgians saw in their county in years... the 167th regimental band struck up the tune "Dixie" as they entered the first town.

​Great Grandfather
Oscar Harvey Lee (1895~1973)
Seaman Second Class, U.S. Navy, World War I
(Pictured on the far left)
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Oscar Lee was the recipient of the Navy Cross of Valor for service in World War I. The medal was presented by Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, for the president, on November 11, 1920, for services during the war as set forth in the following letter:
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Lee, Oscar H.
Seaman Second Class, U.S. Navy
U.S.S. Wanderer
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Date Of Action: April 17, 1918
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Citation:
. 

The Navy Cross is awarded to Seaman Second Class Oscar H. Lee, U.S. Navy, for extraordinary heroism as a member of the crew of boats sent out from the U.S.S. Wanderer to the rescue of men from the SS Florence H, which vessel, loaded with explosives, was burned in the harbor of Quiberon on the night of the 17th of April, 1918. Almost immediately after the outbreak of fire the water in the vicinity of Florence H was covered with burning powder boxes, many of which exploded, scattering flames throughout the wreckage. The crews of the Wanderer's boats drove their boats into the burning mass without thought of danger to themselves and, assisted by boats from the other ships present in the harbor, succeeded in saving the lives of many men who, but for the help so promptly and heroically extended, must have perished in the wreckage.
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Oscar Lee's name is in the Hall of Fame in Washington for his naval activities, and his image is in bronze in the Maryland State Hall of Fame.

Great Grandfather
Joseph Robert Humphrey (1920~1946)
32nd Regiment, 7th US Infantry Division, World War II. Pacific Theater.
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Campaigns:
Aleutian Islands, Attu & Kiska
Eastern Mandates, Kwajalein
Philippines, Leyte
Ryukyu Islands, Okinawa
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Wounded in the Battle of Okinawa... see report below...
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The attack against Okinawa was launched on Easter Sunday, April 1, 1945. Nobody suspected at the time that it was to be the last beachhead, indeed the last campaign, of World War II.
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The 7th, assigned to XXIV Corps, pivoted at the east coast and started on the drive south. Soon it experienced the heaviest Japanese artillery fire of the Pacific war, absorbing more than 40,000 rounds of high explosive in two weeks. The 32d Infantry was on the Division's left on the Nakagusuku Wan (later Buckner Bay); the 184th Infantry under Colonel Roy A. Greene was on the right. Colonel Frank Pachler's 17th Infantry soldiers were in close support. Finn's 32nd Soldiers met a strong Japanese force on Skyline Ridge, which became the scene of bitter conflict. In assessing the Division's accomplishments in the Okinawa campaign, the staff reckoned that the Hourglass men had killed between 25,000 and 28,000 Japanese soldiers, and had taken 4,584 prisoners--more than half of them soldiers of the Japanese regular army, including more than a hundred officers up to the rank of major. The Division suffered 1,116 killed, and nearly 6,000 wounded, to make the total of its World War II casualties 8,135.
​

Grandfather
Cpl Bernard V. Rosage (1938~___)
Headquarters Battery, 3rd Battalion, 10th Marines, 2nd Marine Division,United States Marine Corps, 1958-1962

I find this very interesting since the original Slavic spelling of my name was Rosic... perhaps Paco is a distant relative. 
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Bernie's Ramblings: Shepherd's Battery... Fort Fisher... Living History/Plein Air Demo
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Fellow artist and dear friend, Jeremy Sams, and I recently completed the first mural in the Downtown Jacksonville, NC Mural Project.

Click HERE to read the article featured in the Jacksonville Daily News about the mural project. Awesome photo John Althouse!

In the span of one month, I was honored and humbled to be awarded "Best of Show" in the Council for the Arts Spring Juried Art Show and 2nd place in the 5th annual Art Block Plein Air Paint Out.