Stephen Sutherland Memorial art

A simple painting I did to commemorate the service of a friend of mine who died on 12NOV05 at 0200 in Iraq (which is 1400 11NOV05 Alaska time [GMT-9]). Every Veterans day the last few years I've gone out to the 172nd Stryker Brigade Memorial on Ft. Wainwright here in Alaska. This year I left this behind on Stephen Sutherland's Memorial Stone.

The panel is acrylic on wood board. The Tartan is that of the Sutherland Clan, while Stephen and I might not be related by blood (as Scottish Clans were rather large, and not always related...), we bear the same name from the Old World.

In the middle is the Sutherland Clan Crest with the words "Sans Peur" meaning "Without Fear" which is our Clan's motto.

The top three pictures (printed on matte photo paper and glued on like the Clan Crest) are from L to R the 172nd SBCT Patch, the Crossed Sabers Cavalry Branch Symbol, and the 14th Cavalry Regimental Crest. Stephen and I were deployed with the 172nd SBCT. He was part of 4th Squadron, 14th Cavalry assigned to the 172nd.

The bottom two pictures are from the Knights of Columbus. On the L is the the Knights of Columbus organizational crest, and on the R is the KofC 4th Degree crest. I ran into Stephen as we were both going through our 4th Degree prior to our deployment to Iraq. The Knights were a big influence on his conversion to the Catholic faith.