The combatants finally reached an agreement in July 1953. It established a demilitarized zone along the final battle line with a commission to maintain it, and allowed communist prisoners to choose to return to their original country, Taiwan, South Korea, or a neutral country. Because it did not provide for a united Korea, Syngman Rhee refused to sign the armistice, although he pledged South Korea would abide by its points. The paintings and drawings that appear in this exhibit are products of the Navy's Combat Art Program , which had been established in World War II as a way to document history as it happened. The images created more than paid for themselves with the massive public interest they created.
Artistic images have more impact than ordinary photography.
By manipulating the image, an artist can give his work an emotional message that is often clouded by unnecessary detail in photographs. Herbert C. Hahn and Hugh Cabot. At the start of the war, the Navy called many reservists into action, among them Herbert C. Hahn . Assigned to USS Boxer as a photographer, he began making drawings of ship personnel and activities during his spare time. Some of his work was sent up the chain of command until it reached the desk of the Secretary of the Navy, Francis P. Matthews.