Walter Reed Army Medical Center retired its ceremonial flags on Wednesday, after 102 years. The services rendered there will be transferred to two other Washington DC area facilities. This is essential and noble work - the healing and mending of our warriors returning from oversees. The members of our armed forces have been sworn to uphold the Constitution, and they have sacrificed limb, sanity, and life, to keep America safe, strong and free. It is a travesty when we as citizens, don’t uphold our sacred pledge to take care of these brave souls when they come home.

Corporal Miller on Fallujah roof top - Photo by Luis Sinco, See original LA Times video here.

We had Kasey Anderson come to our Music Fog sessions over a year ago in March at Threadgill’s. He delivered a remarkable set. Since then, he has put out another record, Heart Of A Dog, which arrived in February. A year before that he released Nowhere Nights, which had a particularly haunting tune on it called “I Was A Photograph.” Kasey dedicated it to Marine Lance Corporal James Blake Miller whose image was made famous when a his photo was published in 150 newspapers around the country in 2004. Due to Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome, his life has come apart at the seams. Where is the help for him, and where was the help for those returning from Vietnam? Who are we, that allow our tax dollars to be used for war, but don’t take care of our returning veterans. Here are Kasey Anderson, Dan Lowinger, Sean Cronin, and Julian Macdonough with “I Was A Photograph.”

-Jessie Scott