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  • WWII veteran's son seeks to return portraits of soldiers his father drew
  • Navy veteran Ira Dube discovered portraits of 17 servicemen his father served with during World War II
  • Dube said his father, Stanley, drew the portraits of these men during their service with the 27th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army National Guard
  • His father served in the 108th Infantry Regiment, but Dube believes the men shown served in the 105th Infantry Regiment
  • Three of the portraits have signatures, but only two of them have been identified
  • Dube was able to reunite portraits of Joe “Solid Jackson” Orbe and Joseph “Joner” Kratky to the veterans’ families
  • Dube believes many of the servicemen hail from New York or New Jersey, the area where his father deployed from
  • Dube’s father continued to create artwork into his 80s, before he died at 90 years old in 2009
  • Dube believes the portraits “had to have a meaning to them” because his father kept them all these years
  • Somehow, Dube said, the portraits of his father’s comrades stayed with him throughout his many moves in life
  • The photos now sit in the New York State Military Museum, which is aiding in the search to identify these soldiers
  • The veteran said he’s been using the internet to match up the portraits with photos of veterans from the 27th Infantry Division
  • Dube, who found the portraits in January 2017, is eager to give these portraits to their respective families
  • Those with information on the artwork can contact Ira Dube on Facebook
  • Anyone with information could could also contact Jim Gandy, of the New York State Military Museum’s research center, at 518-581-5109
  • A special thanks to Ira Dube, and his sister Lois Dube Moore, who discovered the photos
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