Clay Soldiers: One Marine’s Story of War, Art & Atomic Energy

He talked with Civil War soldiers, fought against the Japanese in WWII, and chased mushroom clouds after atomic bomb explosions.

Chuck Caldwell was always fascinated by history, so much so that as a 14-year-old boy he traveled to Gettysburg, Pa., in 1938 to meet with Civil War veterans at the last, great Civil War reunion. Besides the 75th anniversary reunion, he would go on to attend the 100th, 125th, and 150th anniversaries of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Joining the Marines at the beginning of WWII, he went on to fight in some of the most-harrowing battles of the Pacific ... Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Guam. He survived with two wounds, a Purple Heart, and malaria.

After the war, he worked for the American Museum of Atomic Energy in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and spent summers at the Nevada Test Site collecting data at Ground Zero after atomic bomb detonations, sometimes standing beneath mushroom clouds as they rose into the sky.

Through it all, Chuck had his art. He drew, painted, and sculpted miniature figures that have become sought after by collectors around the country.

Clay Soldiers is the story of a man who became part of the history of America and chronicled it through his art. It is the story of an ordinary man who has lived an extraordinary life.