"To the Burial Ground" Alexander P. Russo

Specialist First Class Alexander Russo studied art and enlisted in the US Naval Reserve in 1942. He first worked as a graphic artist for the recruiting bureau and covered several invasions. He then transferred to the Navy Combat Art program and received a Guggenheim Fellowship for his combat art.
Russo's painting, "To the Burial Ground," is combat art from D-Day in Normandy. The dead were buried on a hill behind the beach after the landing on June 6, 1944, with a great American cost.

"To the Burial Ground" is a scene from after the invasion when the dead are being taken to their graves. One focal point of the painting is the two soldiers carrying their dead comrade to his grave with heavy hearts. Other fallen soldiers wait on the right side of the painting to be taken to their graves as the few that remain alive look on mourning their death. In the distant background lies rows upon rows of crosses that mark the graves of other soldiers lost. The crosses are against a light light sky to show that they did not die in vain and died an honorable death.

The second, possibly more prominent, focal point is the mourning soldier sitting the left-hand corner. His back is turned and on the fallen soldiers because he cannot look anymore. Painted in dark, depressing colors, he is staring down and the lines in his face tell his pain. To the right, the handle of a shovel leans close to him as a reminder-as if he needed one.

In the background, the sky is dark and troubled to represent the fighting. The light is spreading across the sky and pushing out the darkness because the invasion is over. Now, the hope is spreading as the day goes on and eventually victory comes. On top of the hill stands a half destroyed building representing Hitler's empire or power with a large shell hole in the back. The thick dictatorship has been greatly damaged like the building and can easily be completely destroyed. Positioned on a hill, it gives hope the the dictator's empire is being destroyed.