War Department - His Bunkie - 1918 v2 - T-Shirt

A lone infantryman stands bowed beside a wooden grave cross and a fallen steel helmet in this second 1918 version of His Bunkie.

Visual Elements & Composition

The soft, tonal rendering is built from parchment cream, khaki, olive and grey, with earth browns and warm highlights on the helmet and the broken ground. The soldier occupies the centre of a broad, pale field, his helmet and brimmed profile turned down and his rifle held close across his body. The squared cross and the helmet resting on its low mound sit grouped to the lower right, with grass and small green plants at the edge of the earth. Nothing else enters the scene. The only lettering is the title, the artist's signature and the date, so the eye stays on the figure and the gesture.

Meaning & Symbolism

A helmet set on a grave was a common way of marking a fallen comrade in the field, and here it carries the weight of the loss. The title names a bunkmate or close friend, so the grief is personal, while the lone figure stands in for the many men who lost companions. The lowered head and the rifle held close turn the image from action into mourning. W. J. Aylward, attached to the American Expeditionary Forces in France, drew this version in 1918, repeating the composition of an earlier sheet of the same subject.

Worn as a Quiet Tribute

A single upright figure with a grave marker at the lower right gives the front of this tee a clear focal point, with the eye landing on the soldier first and then dropping to the cross and helmet. The pale field lets the khaki and olive tones read cleanly across the shirt, and the stillness of the scene suits a piece worn as a memorial gesture rather than a loud statement.