Golfers are getting in their final swings at Deere Run before the pros come in for the John Deere Classic Tournament in two weeks. 

 

But recently, there's been another visitor to the 16th hole, practicing a stroke of his own. Tonight we introduce you to an artist and Vietnam Veteran, whose paintings tell only part of his story.

It is often referred to as the most scenic hole on Deere run, and to the eyes of a life-long artist who's painted scenes from the beautiful to the brutal, it's even more so.

 

David Anderson was one of just a handful of Vietnam Veterans tasked with an unusual assignment. A trained and equipped Marine, proudly so, but one of just five combat artists. He says, "When I say I was a Marine Combat Artist they look at me like I'm nuts."

 

He says people he meets can't believe it-a tough U.S. Marine, hacking through the jungles of Vietnam-with an easel? He says, "There was combat I was part of, and later tried to capture that on film or canvas."

 

David, a draftee and a young art major, was honored to spend his year of deployment painting what he saw and documenting history. He tells us, "What the Marine Corp wanted to do is to tell a story of what the Marine was doing in that particular time. What was always amazing to me is there was no direction, no censorship. We were free to do anything we wanted, we had freedom to go anywhere in the country."

 

But when David's time eventually came to put down his "combat paint brush" and come home, like so many Vietnam Veterans he quickly realized much of the country was fed up with the war and didn't care to see his art or recognize his service. David says, "When I came back I literally had to hide. I had to take off my uniform, I had to pretend I wasn't in military. They had a military parade they had to cancel because of protesters and that hurt. Yeah. Sorry. It's a different world right now."

 

40 years have passed since then. The pain is still there, but the time to hide is long gone. Today, his war paintings sit in the Marine Corps Museum in Virginia, on display for all. And on a sunny afternoon on Deere Run, the old combat artist still loves to document what's in front of him, and hear the sweet words, "Job well done".

 

David's painting of the 16th hole will be auctioned at this year's "Charity Chairmen's Dinner".
All proceeds will support the "Birdies for Charity Fund".