"Portraits help bring closure to fallen troops' loved ones." - CNN
For 12 hours a day, Michael Reagan works on portraits of fallen military personnel. So far, he's done more than 2,000. Edmonds, Washington (CNN) -- For Michael Reagan, the portraits always start the same way . "I do the eyes first so I get this connection with the face," he said. "I am pretty exhausted after a picture. Just try staring at a photograph for five hours without any distractions." Reagan, a professional artist for 40 years, is known for his vivid etchings of politicians, celebrities and athletes. Today, he has a new subject: fallen members of the military. It all started three years ago when the wife of a Navy corpsman who was killed in Iraq asked Reagan to draw her late husband. Reagan insisted on doing the portrait for free. Then he had a realization. "I looked at my wife and told her what happened and said, 'Now we need to do them all,' " Reagan remembered..." - CNN web site Link CNN web site, Full Text and Video