beautilation:

Zippo lighters from American soldiers who fought in the Vietnam war.

This is really powerful and thoughtful, though (and perhaps because) it is very upsetting. It captures the different personalities of soldiers, yet it’s united through not just the theme and medium but by the omnipresent sense of someone trying to outwardly accept a premature death. Some men accept it with anger, others with humor, a facade of ambivalence, some with tragic romance, some very emotionlessly. It’s a horrifying, simple way of representing the psychology of a Vietnam soldier; even if he physically survives the war, some light, some flame within him is killed the minute he enters combat.