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"THE ULTIMATUM"
ARMORED STANDOFF AT SAFWAN"
by U.S. Army Combat Artist Frank M. Thomas (LTC)
Original 36"x 60" Acrylic/Canvas Painting
found in Collection of U.S. Army Center of Military History, Washington, D.C.
Background:
ay G+5 (the day following the end of the 100 hour war), Colonel Tony Moreno, Commander of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division (Mech), was ordered to move his force north to the Iraqi border town of Safwan. They were to reinforce the airfield secured earlier that day by the 2/4 ("quarter horse") CAV Squadron. They were to further assume operational control of the 2/4 CAV and prepare the airfield as a negotiation site for the peace talks.
As Colonel Moreno's 3,000 man mechanized infantry brigade approached Safwan from the south, his lead elements detected a large force of tanks in the edge of the town. Stopping his brigade a mile back, Moreno, a "gutsy" Hawaiian-born soldier, not wanting to start the war anew, went forward in a Bradley Fighting Vehicle to confront the Iraqis. Dismounting, he walked out into an open field in front of the Iraqi tanks and demanded to talk to their senior ranking officer.
A surprised brigadier general and a government civilian came out to confer with Moreno. They thought he was lost. He explained he wasn't lost and they were to move their tanks out. The Iraqi general replied that they needed to contact Baghdad for instructions. This was the first of several unproductive conferences as the day wore on. Also, numbers of Iraqi soldiers began crossing to surrender to Colonel Moreno's small Bradley crew.
Finally, about 1500 hrs (3:00 PM) General Norman Schwarzkopf (closely monitoring the situation from his headquarters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia), tiring of the Iraqi standoff, sent the following message to the 1st Infantry Division (Mech): "Tell Tony to give them until 1600 hrs or he's going to roll over them!"
At 1530 hrs, as Colonel Tony Moreno began walking back out into the field for a final meeting with the Iraqi generals (as depicted in this painting), a battalion of his M-1A1 Abrams tanks quickly came up on-line on both sides of his Bradley Fighting Vehicle. He had solid backing when he gave them his "ultimatum." The Iraqi armored brigade was gone by 1600 hrs. (Artist Frank Thomas humorously refers to this scene as "get out of Dodge.")
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Canvas Art Print Offerings:
24" x 40" (signed by artist/rolled - ready to stretch)..........................$297.00
tube shipped.......................+$13.50
30" x 50" (signed by artist/rolled - ready to stretch)..........................$544.50
tube shipped.......................+$14.50
(NOTE: The rolled print may be stretched in most frame shops before framing.
*Please note*: Artist Frank Thomas' studio lithographic art print and giclee' canvas art print sales have now been resumed as of November 1st, 2008. He and his wife, Patreecia, have completed an eighteen month mission in the Ohio-Cleveland Mission, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at the Kirtland Historic Village Sites, Kirtland, Ohio. He was asked by LDS Church General Authorities to paint early Church history scenes of 1830's Kirtland.
He has now returned home to his art studio at 206 North 100 East, Holden, Utah 84636 and is producing LDS historical paintings and Old West paintings at that site. His art prints may be purchased online by credit card or by personal check.
Call Frank at his Studio" (435) 795-2206 or (435) 406-9526, or contact directly by email wildgoose@crystalpeaks.com.