Mural honors dead soldier
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Curtis Blanton can't take all the credit for a recent tailgate mural he painted of Marine Lance Cpl. William D. Spencer, who was killed in Fallujah on Dec. 28, 2006.
Blanton stared at a small photograph of Spencer for 18 hours as he sat alone in his Middletown business, Jocur Grafix.
Extras
As he painted the larger-than-life portrait of Spencer, Blanton said the faces of "everybody fighting over there" flashed through his mind. He closed his shop, cleared his mind, and began airbrushing.
With a little help.
"God took the brush," said Blanton, who described himself as a "religious" man who doesn't go to church regularly. "There was something else helping me paint that. I've been painting for more than 25 years, and to be honest with you, that's my best."
Spencer's father, David Spencer, of Madison Twp., agreed. Spencer received the mural painted on the tailgate of his 1998 GMC Sierra pickup truck on April 26, coincidentally his 48th birthday.
When Blanton pulled off the tarp and revealed the mural, Spencer dropped to his knees.
"I was overwhelmed," he said.
Blanton said Spencer and his wife, Dawn, looked like they had "brought their boy back to life" momentarily.
Blanton described the mural as "one of the more meaningful" he has painted during his career.
"It was sad, but at the same time, meaningful," Blanton said.
He also refused to charge Spencer, a good friend.
"It came from the heart," Blanton said. "You can't put a price on that."
The mural shows 20-year-old Spencer wearing his dress Marine uniform. Inside a waving American flag, reads the scripture, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
Below the picture, is the word "worm," a nickname Billy Spencer earned as a child. His father said when they went fishing, Billy, only 8 or 9 at the time, only wanted to bait the hook.
And the nickname caught on.
Contact this columnist at (513) 705-2842 or rmccrabb@coxohio.com.
