In Gil Cohen's painting we are at Hardstand 43, Thorpe Abbotts, East Anglia, England, home base of the 100th Bombardment Group. It is a damp and chilly early morning with a fog rolling in from the nearby woods. Rosie Rosenthal, in his first tour of duty, is briefing his crew on last minute details before they board their B-17, "Rosie's Riveters" of the 418th Squadron.

As the men sit there in the cold chill of the morning and listen to Rosie speak, what is going through their minds? Do they mutter a silent prayer or wonder if the mission will be scrubbed because of the weather? Will something go wrong on takeoff or will the fighters or flak have their numbers today? Above all, can they overcome the inner fear that each man faces and promise themselves, "They will not let their crew members down?"

Rosie's Crew/Thorpe Abbotts 1943 is a testament to every 8th Air Force crew who flew the deadly skies of Hitler's "Fortress Europe." May we all remember the heroism and sacrifices these men gave when the balance of liberty and freedom rested on their young shoulders.

Rosie had volunteered and completed two tours of duty and was on his third when, leading the entire Third Air Division, his plane was hit by flak over Berlin on February 3, 1945. With dead and wounded aboard, Rosie held the controls of the crippled ship a long as possible in order for his crew to bail out until, at approximately 1,000 feet, Rosie finally parachuted near the Russian lines. At that time he had completed 52 combat missions, having been shot down and wounded twice while evading capture.

Only months after Germany's surrender, Rosie, as a young attorney, was back in Germany as an assistant to the U.S. Prosecutor at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials.

Truly a "gold medal artist" Gil Gohen's exhibitions and awards are numerous. They include the National Military Park system, the Kennedy Center and the Pentagon. He has been awarded gold medals and best of shows by the American Society of Aviation Artists and has received the certificate of merit from the New York Society of Illustrators, as well as the Franklin Mint Award. Cohen is a member of the Air Force Art Program, the New York Society of Illustrators and serves as Coast Guard Illustrator. As an Artist Fellow Member of the American Society of Aviation Artists, he has held the position of Vice President and Chairman of the Exhibition Committee.

He also has a great interest in history and aviation which is reflected in much of his work. His vivid interest in the human aspects of the various wars throughout the centuries zeros in on the interactions between men, which eventually have lead to confrontations and successive warring between peoples and nations. He is continually mystified by the recurring observations that some of the most beautiful mechanisms of engineering, designed by humans, are often created by man for the purpose of war.

Cohen's creative energies are excited and stimulated by the abstract and geometric shapes of structures of all kinds. He has a keen interest in outer space and related subjects.