Community Corner
Portrait of a Soldier
The Portrait of a Soldier exhibit is a traveling display of hand-sketched
portraits of fallen service members from Illinois who have been
killed since September 11, 2001 in the Global War on Terror. Artist Cameron
Schilling, of Mattoon, drew the first portrait in August 2004, after Army SPC
Charles Neeley, also of Mattoon, was killed in Iraq. Schilling gave the sketch
to SPC Neeley's parents to convey his sympathy for their loss. In October 2005,
while a student at Eastern Illinois University, Schilling decided to draw a
portrait of every Illinois service member who has fallen during the Global War
on Terror. The portraits are copies of the original, which has been given to
the fallen soldiers next of kin, and the exhibit travels throughout the state
of Illinois.