As we have heard many times, on Veterans’ Day, November 11, we honor the present and former soldiers who are still with us. On Memorial Day, we honor those who have departed this world and gone on to greater glories. I find myself wishing that my fellow citizens would slow down a bit on Memorial Day and not let the three-day weekend distract them too much, because it is an especially solemn time. The nature of war and military service is one of selflessness and love of country. Military service too often is one of sacrifice, laying down your life in defense of the country. If you survive a war, you have still sacrificed much by enduring the hardships and risks of the battlefield. We remember this, as we pause and reflect on what soldiers, living and dead, have done for us.

As a combat veteran of the Vietnam War, I’m always remembering. I think that I remember too much. I remember too many comrades whose names are now carved on the polished granite of the Vietnam War Veterans Memorial in Washington.

But I have come to accept my role, my self-imposed obligation to always remember, and then tell other people to remember. Or at least not to forget. This Memorial Day, I remember an Air Force friend of mine with special poignancy. This particular friend of mine was that rarity in military service, a combat artist. 

His name was Lt. Colonel Carlin J. Kielcheski. He and I shared a bond as alumni of Colorado College and as veterans of our involvement in Vietnam. When I met Carlin, he was retired from the Air Force, but he was still going strong, painting great art and publishing a wonderful book entitled “Short Rounds: From a Sketch Pad, A Vietnam Vet’s Visual Voice.” Carlin was conscious of collateral damage caused by U.S. bombing. The “short rounds” of this title refer to the civilian deaths from miscalculated bombs, as he explains in the book. Carlin earned his Ph.D. from Arizona State University, which allowed him to continue his career as a full professor at the Air Force Academy, where he spent 20 years teaching Art and Art History. In 1968 Carlin went to war, serving as the only officially recognized U.S. Air Force combat illustrator in Vietnam with the 7th Air Force. He painted, drew and sketched almost every type of aircraft flying in the war zone and the men who piloted them.

He flew many combat missions as an observer, including overflights of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the North Vietnamese supply pipeline through Laos and Cambodia. It was very interesting to hear Carlin describing the North Vietnamese anti-aircraft guns shooting their white and green tracers at his plane as they flew over the heavily defended corridor. Carlin had a special memory of one of his students at the Academy, a promising young artist named Lance Sijan. Captain Sijan posthumously received the Medal of Honor, the only Academy graduate to be so honored.

Carlin died in 2025. I was fortunate to have known him and his gracious wife Shirley. His paintings hung on the walls of their home. Many of the art pieces are now part of the Air Force Academy’s collection. A favorite of mine is the one Carlin painted of an exhausted F4 Phantom pilot just returned from a nighttime mission, leaning heavily against the fuselage of his war machine. The dark, somber tone of this painting evokes the melancholy nature of wars and the men who fight them. Carlin had a keen perception of the human aspects of war. The remarkable thing about his art is that it has the power to pull you into the subjects depicted. In this regard, it is much more effective than photographs, video, or film. We are all fortunate to have had him here in Colorado Springs and to have his artwork available to us.  

Joe Barrera, Ph.D., is the former director of the Ethnic Studies Program at UCCS. He teaches U.S. Military History and Mexico/U.S. Border Studies. He is an infantry combat veteran of the Vietnam War.