By: Craig Shelburne on cmt.com
You can always count on Charlie Daniels to do right by veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces.
Daniels’ non-profit The Journey Home Project (TJHP), which helps find funding for veteran organizations, is now supporting a new art exhibit at the Pentagon in Washington. The exhibit, titled The Alliance Collection, is a gallery of combat and civilian photographs taken by veterans and their families. TJHP partnered with the Rich Poverty organization to assemble the exhibit.
“It’s a great thing to be associated with anything that has to do with our veterans, our military people,” Daniels tells CMT Hot 20 Countdown.
Including photos from more than 50 artists from around the world, The Alliance Collection’s purpose is to highlight veterans in the arts. Much like the coalitions of overseas deployment, The Alliance Collection includes imagery from international partners.
Photographers hailing from Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Canada and more are prominently featured. The collection includes photos taken during various conflicts throughout history, ranging from WWII through present day.
“My respect for anybody that puts that uniform on knows no bounds and I pay gratitude to those people,” Daniels says. “Our veterans and the people on active duty and our reserve and our national guard and especially to our Gold Star Families. … I wrote a letter to a Gold Star Family today and it’s like, what do you say? What kind of words do you say when they’ve lost a son or daughter? One who dies a hero – of course, as they all do. But what do you say to them that’s not been said before? Something the commanding officer has not said to them in their letter they send?”
Daniels continues, “I just sat down and said, ‘In my heart, thank you for raising a patriot, and there’s so many of us that appreciate what he did and what you do, and what you’re going through. I can’t possibly know what you’re going through, but I certainly sit back here and have sympathy and feel for you.’ The Gold Star Families probably pay the biggest price. I see quite a few of them when they come to shows and they know we support our veterans.”
The exhibit will be on display through March 2020 and is free to the public for viewing while touring the Pentagon.
“For The Journey Home Project to step up and partner with us for an exhibit in the Pentagon means the world to us,” notes Rich Poverty founder Tim Wallace. “The Alliance Collection is proud to get the backing of legendary musician and consummate veterans advocate Charlie Daniels in helping us showcase our world class photography. Our artists are sharing more than just stories of their wartime missions. This is the full journey through the eyes of the veteran.”
“Now retired, Tim Wallace is a 26 year Army Ranger that has witnessed a lot of what we are sharing in the exhibit,” adds TJHP co-founder David Corlew. “We met during a Ranger leadership course and realized that the concept of providing veteran photographers the opportunity to tell their personal story through the exhibit is a form of healing. And that’s the business we’re in.”