Take Me Home Huey: Honoring American Heroes Through Art

By Steve Maloney and Clare NolanThe arts can be a bridge to healing, as multimedia artist Steve Maloney discovered when he conceived a sculpture to honor the 2.7 million Americans who served during the Vietnam War. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, Maloney transformed the fuselage of a boneyard Medevac helicopter, to create what has become the multimedia project, Take Me Home Huey. The progression of Maloney’s brainchild, from artistic concept to a cross-country mission of healing for veterans living with post-traumatic stress, has now been captured in a stunning book. TAKE ME HOME HUEY: Honoring American Heroes Through Art by Steve Maloney and Clare Nolan will be released on National Vietnam War Veterans Day—March 29, 2021.

STEVE MALONEYThe book follows Maloney’s artistic journey as he, aided by his team of veteran advisors, volunteer mechanics and art assistants, deftly molded the wreckage and reimagined the aircraft that became a therapeutic tool for Vietnam veterans still living with ravages of post-traumatic stress. TAKE ME HOME HUEY documents, through the artist’s narrative and captivating photographs, the story of the chopper, dubbed Huey #174, and originally conceived as an artistic tribute, helped veterans open up, tell their stories and begin the healing process. The cross-country tour of Huey #174 inspired a song and an Emmy Award-winning documentary. All the elements stand alone, but combined they create a powerful message.

Maloney, a widely recognized artist and Vietnam-era National Guard veteran, is justifiably proud of what his sculpture has accomplished. “Once an artist releases a work into the public sphere, it can take on a new purpose. I had initially conceived Take Me Home Huey as a thank you and a welcome home for my contemporaries. But in their eyes, the sculpture became something more — a public acknowledgement that some of them, while physically at home, were mentally and emotionally still on the battlefield. I could not be more proud of what this project has accomplished and the reception it received. It is the proudest thing I’ve ever done.”

TAKE ME HOME HUEYBy Steve Maloney and Clare NolanTake Me Home Huey Publishing; March 29, 202145.00; 216 pagesISBN: 978-0-692-11780-4

takemehomehuey.org/take-me-home-huey

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