My dad use to pick on my uncle with this story at every family gathering until my Uncle Lou died of cancer in 1972.
My Uncle Lou was a very talented commercial artist who washed out of pilot training early in the war. While stationed on the Island of Tinian he was one of the artists who painted custom designs on the side of the bombers based there. After completing one of his works of art, he backed up on the scaffold to admire his work and fell off and hurt his back. During his time in the hospital, without his knowledge, he was awarded a purple heart. After the war, when he made the mistake of letting this fact be known to my dad, the seed for years of torment was planted. My dad had been wounded twice during the war by German shrapnel. He died with that souvenir still in his back. Both times he refused his purple heart, he never felt his wounds justified the award.

Fast forward to every family gathering we had as young kids growing up. Inevitably my dad would always ask him to tell the story about how he got his purple heart. My Uncle was always an outgoing loudmouth kind of guy, but this exchange between 2 brothers always would shut him up. They always would wind up laughing about it and poking fun at each other. My uncle was such a great man who died way too young. My aunt passed away earlier this year at 95, she was buried next to the man she had loved and missed for so many years. It made me remember my Uncle Lou and that special bond he had with my dad and how they poked good natured fun at each other all the time.

For my own information, any one out there who can give me a clue as to how to track down who the individual artists were that drew this artwork on these planes, I would like to know. I can find tons of individual artwork, but absolutely nothing that points me to some of the work my uncle may have done. I find it hard to believe that these records are not kept somewhere.