Latino American Painter, Carlos Aguilar has already spent more than three years painting the faces of Latino veterans who died in World War II and Iraq, on a wall along the side of a grocery store, 906 E. Washington Ave, in Santa Ana, Orange County, California.
The artist explains to NBC how the story has started:
I met this World War II veteran and I was so fascinated by his story, that left a seed inside my brain,” Aguilar said. ‘It grew and grew and, I should paint a World War II memorial,’ and it grew from that. You can imagine some that of these guys were 19, 18 years old,” he said.
On the wall, below each face he puts the names: Rodriguez, Gomez, Martinez to name a few. Carlos Aguilar says:
I wanted to put them on a higher pedestal, to say ‘hey, they were dying alongside you guys on the battlefield
Neighbor Vanessa Salamanca poses for a photo with Santa Ana artist Carlos Aguilar at his mural.
This guy, artist Carlos Aguilar, is literally a Hero among Heroes!
See below the astonishing video, with Carlos Aguilar, made by By Stacy Owen for NBC:
