“My Quest to Find Out More”
By Guest Blog Author, Gail Blalock Iddings
It all began on May 31, 2021, Memorial Day, when Gail Blalock Iddings posted on Facebook:
“My Dad, Ben Blalock. A charcoal drawing dated June 20, 1944. The artist was Elizabeth Black with the American Red Cross. The paper it’s on has deteriorated over time, but what our soldiers in uniform have done has NOT!”
My cousin, Phillip Tyson posted this comment: “I watched a show just the other day about Elizabeth Black. It was very interesting. He was lucky to have been chosen to pose for her. Do you know where he was when it was drawn?”
I responded: “I didn’t look up the artist. I had no idea she was well known. Someone wanted to know where it was done so I’ll have to see if I can research that.”
Elizabeth Black, Sketch of Ben Blalock, June 20, 1944; charcoal on paper
And so it began with my quest to find out more information.
Lt. U. B. Blalock, Jr, Wadesboro, NC
853rd Ordinance Battalion
June 8: I emailed Jon Carfagno, Executive Director, at HMA, concerning my Facebook post and my cousin’s comment. I offered to come to the museum and show him the sketch and the photo I had of my dad in his dress uniform.
July 1: My husband and I met with Jon and showed him the sketch and photo. Jon had watched the documentary that morning, and we talked about our shared emotions when we saw the soldiers (some of them so young) and how much they enjoyed watching Elizabeth sketch. We also discussed what to do with the sketch, and I offered to donate it to the museum if they would like to add it to their collection. I knew it would need to be preserved, because it was on fragile paper, some of it torn and some missing at the lower edge. Wax paper had been put over it, and then it was sandwiched between cardboard and taped together.
Jon emailed me the names of some conservators he knew about, and my husband and I decided to contact the closest one in Taylorsville. We didn’t want to trust it to shipping.
I emailed the company and they said that due to the pandemic, they didn’t have time for the work. They recommended that I only use someone who was a member of the American Institute for Conservation.
A Google search found the name of Don Etherington, a Fellow in the AIC, who lives in Greensboro, less than 100 miles away! We spoke with Don and made a date, July 16, to take the sketch to him so see if he could do the work. Little did we know how interesting that trip would be! When we told Don about Elizabeth Black being a portrait artist and having worked for the Melon family he commented that he knew the family well because he had done work for them. He was from England and was asked to go to Florence, Italy, to help with preservation after the flood of 1965. His work history took him to the US Library of Congress, to the University of Texas and then to a company in Greensboro. He and his wife have a book binding and conservation business.
Two weeks later, we picked up the preserved sketch. It was expertly done (backed on Japanese rice paper).
After looking at the WQED documentary about Elizabeth Black, “Portraits for the Home Front”, I was really curious to find out if my father had signed her journal. I decided to call WQED after getting discouraged at finding an email address to use. I spoke to Serena who said she was sure David Solomon, the producer of the two documentaries, would be interested in talking to me, and she forwarded an email I sent to her to David, with attachments of the sketch and a photo of my father in his dress uniform.
David Solomon got back to me right away, with his personal phone information, and asked me to call him when I had time to talk. My husband and I spent about 40 minutes talking to him. He told us about the footlocker that had eventually ended up with Elizabeth’s son, John, and John’s quest to find out more about his mother’s wartime travels with the American Red Cross.
When I mentioned that I wanted to find out if my father had written in EB’s journal, he said, “Just a minute and I’ll look right now. Here it is, June 20, 1944. Wow, his “J” (for Jr.) is REALLY big! Your father wrote, ‘For a Yankee, you’re really alright - Thanks a lot!’ “ When we received a copy of the journal page we found that he had also written his name “Lt. U B Blalock, Jr, Wadesboro, NC and his company, “853rd Ordinance Battalion”. With that information, my husband found that the battalion was stationed in England at that time.
At the time of the journal entry, June 20, 1944, my father was 29 years old. Prior to being drafted, he had completed college and was working in Wadesboro, NC. I had been born in April 1944, and he returned to the US when I was about 2 years old.
(A little history on my parents prior to my father being station overseas) In 1942, my parents had planned a wedding in Georgetown, SC. However, my dad’s leave was cancelled. It was decided that my mom, along with my grandmother and one of my mother’s sisters, would drive to Colorado Springs, CO, for my parents to be married. Gas was rationed at the time and we were never able to find out how they got the gasoline to drive across country. My grandfather was in the lumber business and sold pilings for piers in New York, so perhaps that’s how they got the gas ration cards.
After picking up the preserved sketch from Don Etherington, we took it to a framer and had it framed the way Etherington had recommended, with UVA Plexiglas over the sketch. We selected a frame that reminded us of the strapping used on my Dad’s Army footlocker., and perhaps the footlocker that Elizabeth Black used while with the Red Cross.
September 14, my sister, Susie Jackson, and I gave HMA the framed sketch, along with the photo of my father in his dress uniform. We also had several pictures taken of him and some friends during the war, and a copy of the journal entry. I hope more people will watch the two documentaries – they’re well done, and no commercials! The American Red Cross, and the women on the Club Mobiles, did so much to boost morale among the troops. The actual footage of wartime and the Club Mobiles is so moving. There were many sacrifices made by our brave soldiers and those serving with the Red Cross.
Hickory Museum of Art in Hickory, NC, has accepted the portrait into its Permanent Collection. In a letter to me they wrote, “We are excited to add this incredible artwork with not only a compelling local tie but also by an artist with an educational and endearing story we can’t wait to share.” Coincidentally, Hickory Museum of Art was founded in 1944, the same year that Elizabeth Black sketched my dad’s portrait.
The portrait is currently on view in the “collectHMA: Story Portraits” exhibition located in Hickory Museum of Art’s Whitener gallery. The exhibit runs May 7th, 2022 - September 11th, 2022.