PHOTO BY AL CHANG
This Pulitzer-nominated photo, taken by Al Chang when he was with the Army Signal Corps, appeared in the 1955 book "Family of Man," by Edward Steichen.
Son of Korean War vet
pays innovative tributeA 1950 photograph provides inspiration
for airbrush artwork of combat's cruel toll
Mark Nozzolillo rides with a constant reminder of the horrors of war.
Airbrushed on the gas tank of his Honda Shadow motorcycle is a picture of his father being comforted on a Korean battlefield.
The Aug. 28, 1950, photo, taken by veteran combat photographer Al Chang, of Honolulu, shows a grief-stricken American infantryman as he is comforted by a soldier after his buddy was killed in action. In the background of the Pulitzer-nominated photo, a corpsman methodically fills out casualty tags.
The grieving soldier is Nozzolillo's dad, Vincent, who was 20 at the time and a member of the 5th Regimental Combat Team's Company A.
Vince Nozzolillo, 73, said he "cracked up" after learning that a buddy who had taken his place as a radio operator had been killed. "I think I was out for three days. ... I slept for three days before I returned to my company."
"The day before," said the elder Nozzolillo, who now lives in Auburn, Mass., "I had been ordered by my company commander to go up the hill to bring back another soldier who had said he wouldn't come down until I rescued him. I took him to another company that was behind us and was told to spend the night there because it was getting dark.
PHOTO COURTESY OF MARK NOZZOLILLO
Vincent Nozzolillo is the subject of this photo, which was copied onto a motorcycle at the request of his son Mark.
"When I went back the next morning, I saw where the explosion had taken place. ... I think the photographer took the picture right after they had brought the body down. I just went nuts when I saw the body and realized what had happened."
Nozzolillo said the soldier comforting him was the first sergeant of his company.
Nozzolillo said he believes people still do not realize what war is really like, and that upsets him. "It gets me mad. All these young kids got killed. People just don't realize what these kids did and what they sacrificed."
Nozzolillo was stationed at Schofield Barracks from 1949 to 1950 until he was sent to Korea. "I have never been back," he added. "I would love to go but I could never afford it."
His son said the first time he remembers seeing Chang's photo was when he found an aging newspaper clipping in a box of his dad's things. "That was a while back, I guess somewhere in the 1980s."
It was not until the 50th anniversary of the Korean War that he decided to pay some sort of tribute to his father. "At first I though about a tattoo, but that was too complicated."
Later, at a bikers meeting in upstate New York, he ran into several commercial airbrush artists who quoted him prices up to $1,500.
"I couldn't afford spending that much," said Mark Nozzolillo, who works as a respiratory therapist in Sturbridge, Mass., 40 miles west of Boston. Finally, he had a friend do the job for $250.
Mark Nozzolillo, 43, said his father "broke down and cried" when he saw the tribute that his son paid to him.
Mark Nozzolillo said that for several years he tried to find out who took the picture. But he did not learn the photographer's identity until he read an April 13 starbulletin.com story that detailed Chang's achievements as a combat photographer in World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars.
"I was shocked to learn that this picture was nominated for the Pulitzer prize," he said.
With the help of the Star-Bulletin, Nozzolillo was able to reach Chang's wife, Jacqueline, by phone and relay his gratitude. Chang was unable to talk to him since he is still recuperating from two strokes and a triple bypass surgery at the Spark Matsunaga Center for the Aging at Tripler Army Medical Center.
"He was so grateful," Jacqueline Chang said after talking with Mark Nozzolillo on Friday. "He has always wanted to thank Al but didn't know who the photographer was.
"I told him there is a plaque with that same photo at a war memorial in Long Island (New York) ... and he should take his father there," she said.
"It was really something for something like this to occur just on Memorial Day weekend," added Ishmael Stagner, a longtime Chang family friend who organized a series of recognition events for the photographer that included Mayor Jeremy Harris' proclamation of April 11 as "Al Chang Day" and an appearance at the state Senate.
Today, Chang will again be honored by Harris as he pays tribute to the nation's veterans at the annual Memorial Day ceremony at the National Cemetery of the Pacific.
