Look Inside the Sketchbook of a World War II Soldier

Even with news of the Second World War congesting airwaves in 1942, 19-year-old Victor Lundy was optimistic about his future. He was studying at New York University to become an architect and he planned to use his skills to help rebuild Europe after the war, according to Mashable. Lundy enlisted in the Army Specialized Training Program with this goal in mind, but leading up to D-Day in 1944, the Army decided he would be more useful in the infantry.

He survived his years in combat without losing his artist’s eye. While serving in the military, he filled several 3-inch-by-5-inch sketchbooks with images from his daily life. A quick pencil drawing from his training days in Fort Jackson, South Carolina shows soldiers resting after a forced march. "...they're at rest, because you know, when you're on a forced march there's no way I can draw," Lundy once recalled, according to the Library of Congress. "So the other guys would be snoozing, sleeping, and I'd be sketching."

Other sketches depict his fellow infantrymen traveling to France, playing games at the camp, and lying wounded on the battlefield. "For me, drawing is sort of synonymous with thinking," Lundy said.

When the war ended, he returned to the U.S. to complete his degree at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. He then went on to open his own architecture firm in Florida, become a fellow of the American Institute of Architects, and design such famous structures as the U.S. Tax Court in Washington D.C.

In 2009, Lundy donated eight sketchbooks from his time in the Army to the Library of Congress. You can view some highlights from the collection below.

[h/t Mashable]

All images: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, World War Two sketches by Victor Lundy