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November 9, 2001/Cheshvan 23, 5762, Vol. 54, No. 9
Paintings recall time in Ghost Army
LEISAH NAMM
Assistant Editor
During World War II, Harold A. Laynor, a member of the 603rd Camouflage Battalion - called the "Ghost Army" - captured images of the war in watercolor.
Even while serving overseas, he always carried art supplies with him, says his widow, Gloria Laynor of Scottsdale.
After he completed each painting, he sent them home to his wife in New York City, after they passed inspection by censors. When he returned home after a year and a half, he painted more war images, using oil paints.
Painting was his therapy, Gloria Laynor explains. He started when he was 12, after trading his stamp collection for an oil painting set.
"The Harold A. Laynor World War II Collection" will be on display Nov. 10-25 at the Arizona Military Museum, 52nd Street and E. McDowell Road, Phoenix.
The exhibit includes approximately 50 paintings from 1942-1948 by the artist, who died in 1991.
"It's history and art together," says Gloria Laynor.
The Ghost Army was an outfit of the 603rd U.S. Army Division composed of artists and architects. Among them were artists Olin Dows and Elsworth Kelly, fashion designer Bill Blass, Hollywood set designer George Deistel and fashion photographer Art Kane. Its purpose was to deceive the German army.
Following its mission to serve as a decoy army, the Ghost Army probably saved about 40,000 British and American troops between 1944 and 1945, says Marvin Freeman, a member of the Laynor Foundation Museum's board of directors.
"It was necessary to maintain secrecy - and this meant total secrecy - so you didn't start hearing about the Ghost Army until about 1985," he adds.
"They also say the Ghost Army shortened the war by several years," Freeman notes. By forcing the enemy to believe they were surrounded - producing fake air raids and explosions - the Ghost Army froze the Nazi troops' position and allowed the real armies to come in and do their job, he says. "They probably saved an incredible number of lives and shortened the war considerably."
"This unit of 1,100 men impersonated at one time or another the 5th Armored Division and many other fighting units and participated in more engagements than virtually any other unit," according to The Laynor Foundation's Web site. "Their artillery, tanks and other vehicles were made of rubber, inflated by silent compressors. Arm patches, blank shells, amplified recordings of troop movements and tanks were created for the sake of deception."
During his time with the Ghost Army, Laynor was injured during the Battle of the Bulge and admitted into an army hospital near Paris with shrapnel wounds. Artist Pablo Picasso was visiting soldiers in the hospital and after noting Laynor's interest in his work, he invited the young soldier to his studio.
After the encounter, Laynor wrote in a letter to his wife: "I found Picasso wonderful and it's not difficult to see why he's the top figure in the art world today. My visit to his studio and working with him greatly inspires me to continue with my painting."
On Nov. 8, military and civilian dignitaries, as well as Valley resident and Ghost Army veteran Grant Hess, attended an opening reception for the Phoenix exhibit.
Gloria Laynor says she is offering the entire exhibit for $150,000 but requests that it be donated to a museum, rather than for personal use. "It would bother me to have it sit in someone's home," she explains.
The collection is valued at more than $500,000.
The money would be used for scholarships from The Laynor Foundation Museum, which Gloria Laynor established after her husband's death. The nonprofit organization is dedicated to addressing community needs through intergenerational education to the visual arts. Since its inception in 1992, the foundation has awarded more than 20 scholarships to art students at Arizona State University and Millersville University in Millersville, Penn., where Harold Laynor was a professor for 25 years.
"Hal always worried about students who couldn't go to school because they didn't have money to do it," Gloria Laynor says.
For more information, visit www.laynor.org
Details
What: "The Harold A. Laynor World War II Collection"
Who: The Laynor Foundation Museum
When: Nov. 10-25
Where: Arizona Military Museum, 52nd Street and McDowell Road, Phoenix
Call: 480-348-3277
Web site: www.laynor.org
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