Dwight Shepler (August 11, 1905 – September 2, 1974) was an American

naval officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer, or a warrant officer. However, absent context ...

and

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

. He was born in

Everett, Massachusetts Everett is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, directly north of Boston, bordering the neighborhood of Charlestown. The population was 49,075 at the time of the 2020 United States Census. Everett was the last city in the Un ...

. He graduated from Williams College in 1928, as well as studying in Boston Museum School of Fine Art. In 1942 he received a commission from the US Navy's officer-artist program and was soon sent into the South Pacific. In 1943 he went to Derry, Northern Ireland (October 1943) and England and took part in the 1944

Normandy invasion Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norma ...

as an artist. With events captured clearly in his mind and on film, Shepler went home to Massachusetts to create more details painting from his sketches and film footage. Over his entire career he observed the landings at Ormoc Bay and Lingayen Gulf and operations at Corregidor and

Bataan Bataan (), officially the Province of Bataan ( fil, Lalawigan ng Bataan ), is a province in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines. Its capital is the city of Balanga while Mariveles is the largest town in the province. Occupying the entir ...

. Again he took all the images back home to finalize the last of over 300 paintings in total. He finally retired from the service with the rank of commander and was awarded the Bronze Star. After his career he continued to paint landscapes, sports and portraits in watercolor. He remained active in his later days being an educator and the President of the

Guild of Boston Artists The Guild of Boston Artists (The Guild) was founded in 1914 by a handful of Boston artists working in the academic and realist traditions. Among the founding members were Frank Weston Benson, William McGregor Paxton and Edmund C. Tarbell, who ser ...

. He died in

Weston, Massachusetts Weston is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, about 15 miles west of Boston. At the time of the 2020 United States Census, the population of Weston was 11,851. Weston was incorporated in 1713, and protectio ...

References

* * * 20th-century American painters American male painters American war artists 1974 deaths People from Everett, Massachusetts United States Navy officers United States Navy personnel of World War II 1905 births World War II artists Military personnel from Massachusetts 20th-century American male artists {{USN-bio-stub