Alicia Christy ’77 Honors Fallen Soldiers By Painting Their Portraits and Telling Their Stories

Not far from the stages and dance floors of this year’s Reunions, under a quiet tent in Hamilton courtyard, a display of five painted portraits and biographies paid tribute to members of the Class of 1966 who lost their lives in military service during the Vietnam War era. The exhibit, “Remembrance: Vietnam Faces of the Fallen,” was a collaborative effort by the 60^th reunion class and Alicia Christy ’77, a retired Army colonel and physician who wanted to bring the work of the veterans’ art nonprofit Uniting US to Princeton’s campus. 

Though Vietnam predates Christy’s years of service, she feels a special commitment to those who served during the era, including nurses who were colleagues later in their careers. “The veterans from that war were so poorly treated,” she says. “It’s important to honor these veterans now because they weren’t honored when they came home.”

Christy painted four of the five portraits on display; the fifth was created by fellow Uniting US artist Pat Dowden. Recent graduate Emma Tsoglin ’26 compiled life stories from the five alumni — Joseph Greenleaf ’66, Brooke Halsey ’66, Robert Purrington ’66, Warren Brundage Jr. ’66, and Edwin Keeble Jr. ’66 — as part of a Princeton Internships in Civic Service project. At Reunions in 2027, a second Uniting US exhibit will honor the nine Princetonians across all graduating classes who died in action in Vietnam. 

An exhibit in Hamilton courtyard features portraits of the five Class of ’66 alumni who died in military service during the Vietnam War era.

Kevin Birch

Memorializing fallen soldiers is a “special duty,” says Christy, who began painting 20 years ago because she found the hobby therapeutic. She joined Uniting US in 2023 after completing her civilian career in medicine. As a doctor in the Army and the Department of Veterans Affairs, she treated active-duty and veteran patients, so the sacrifices of military members and their families resonate with her. Uniting US aims to promote healing and unity through arts and wellness workshops as well as public art exhibits like the one at Reunions. 

Before Christy paints a portrait, she reads about the soldier’s life and sometimes speaks with loved ones or those who served with the deceased. Details matter, she says. One subject was always smiling, to the point that it was hard for a photographer to capture his official, unsmiling military portrait, so Christy turned to personal photos instead and painted him with a smile. For another painting, she chose a reference photo of the soldier in camo fatigues, his face smeared with dirt and his hair disheveled, because it fit the description given by those who knew him best.

Christy says that while she’s grateful for the chance to create meaningful art that “feeds my soul,” it’s also emotionally challenging. “Sometimes I cry when I’m painting.”

Ultimately, the process is rewarding because it provides opportunities to lift up the stories of people she admires, such as Lt. Col. Karen Wagner, Christy’s company commander during her service at Walter Reed Hospital. Wagner was killed in the Pentagon on Sept. 11, and Christy’s portrait of her was featured in an exhibit at the Library of Congress in 2022. 

After two decades of painting, Christy remains modest about her labor of love, joking that after her name, “I always sign my artwork ‘M.D.’ to lower expectations.” In her projects for Uniting US, she keeps the focus is on those whose matter most: the fallen soldiers whose stories live on through their portraits.