Remembering the dead by carving their names on a cold, stone wall seemed too impersonal to U.S. Army Cpl. Poto Leifi. Leifi, a California commercial artist-turned soldier, thought the U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan and Iraq should be remembered full of life — and in a way that celebrated their patriotism. After years of trial and error, Leifi makes posters in a vintage style that recalls the “Rosie the Riveter” and “Uncle Sam Wants You!” recruiting posters of World War II. He calls his project “Freedom's on Me” — a patriotic twist on “Drinks are on me.”

對美國陸軍下士萊菲而言，在冰冷的石牆上刻名字紀念殉國者，似乎太沒有人情味了。加州商業藝術家出身的萊菲認為，歌頌在阿富汗和伊拉克喪生的美國大兵的愛國情操，應以活潑動人的方式留在記憶中。經過多年反覆試驗，萊菲製作復古風的海報，使人想起二戰招募新兵的海報「鉚丁女工蘿西」和「山姆大叔需要你！」他稱這項計畫為「我畫自由」，典出自「我請喝酒」，帶有愛國意味的轉折。

One of his first posters commemorated Marine Cpl. Mick Bekowsky, a 21-year-old from Concord, California, killed by a car bomb Sept. 6, 2004 in Fallujah, Iraq. Bekowsky, who liked to race cars, hunt and fish, is shown bare-chested, beaming toward the sky, arm around a woman in a vintage bathing suit. The poster dubs him “American Hero.”

他第一批海報中有一張是紀念貝科斯基這位加州康科德21歲的海軍下士，他2004年9月6日死於伊拉克法魯雅的汽車炸彈。平時喜歡賽車、打獵和釣魚的貝科斯基，在海報中袒胸露背，仰天大笑，手臂摟著一個穿老式泳衣的美女。這張海報稱他為「美國英雄」。

Leifi, a stocky man with black glasses who deployed to Afghanistan in May after a tour of Iraq, launched his project in 2006. But his story begins on 9/11. When he arrived at work in southern California that day, everyone was glued to the TV. “After that experience, work kind of lost its flavor,” he said. Leifi wanted to enlist, but his colleagues at work persuaded him that at age 34 he was too old. Leifi stayed busy with his career, designing soles for Skechers, the trendy footwear company, and vintage jazz posters for an art publisher. Then in 2005, U.S. soldiers at a coffee shop told him he wasn't too old to join.

萊菲體格粗壯，戴黑框眼鏡，他先派駐伊拉克，5月才調到阿富汗，2006年展開這項計畫。但他的故事發想於（2001年）911事件，那天他到南加州上班時，每個人都盯著電視機看。他說：「經過那件事之後，工作似乎有點乏味。」萊菲想從軍，但他的同事說服他，他已經34歲，年紀太大了。萊菲繼續忙於工作，為Skechers時尚休閒鞋公司設計鞋底，並為一家藝術出版社設計復古爵士樂海報。然後在2005年，一群美國士兵在咖啡館告訴他，他想從軍還不嫌老。

Leifi visited a recruiter. A year later, at age 39, he was in basic training in Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Fired up about joining the military, Leifi searched the Internet for patriotic posters, but wasn't thrilled with what he saw. “I'm a fan of the military posters created during World War II so with the help of some friends as models, I began to make new posters with that vintage-feel,” Leifi writes on his website. He tried using the faces of fallen, and “when I did, the posters came to life in a very profound way and the project took a whole new direction.”

萊菲到一處募兵站報到。1年後，以39歲之齡接受南卡羅來納州傑克遜堡基本軍事訓練。加入軍中後，萊菲鬥志昂揚，他上網搜尋愛國海報，但對他所見未留下特別印象。萊菲在他的網站上寫道：「我是二戰軍事海報死忠粉絲，因此在一些朋友幫忙當模特兒下，我開始製作復刻版新海報。」他試圖用陣亡士兵的臉孔入畫：「當我這麼做時，海報以一種非常深刻的方式活過來了，這項計畫也有了全新的方向。」

Leifi is assigned as a multimedia illustrator to a military psychological operations unit in Kandahar province, a key front in southern Afghanistan. He designs the posters after-hours, and has completed 10, using photographs and a computer software program for illustrators. After he created the first few posters, word spread, especially through meetings of Gold Star Families, the military support organization. Other families commissioned posters, and he now has a backlog of 67 requests. His work for the military ranges from leaflets dropped to Afghans by aircraft to posters that illustrate the dangers of roadside bombs or help the public distinguish Afghan border policemen from Afghan soldiers.

萊菲奉調阿富汗南部重要軍事據點坎達哈省，擔任軍事心理作戰部隊多媒體插畫家。下哨後設計海報，至今已用照片和電腦繪圖軟體設計了10張海報。在第一批幾張海報出爐後，開始有了口碑，尤其透過軍方輔助組織「金星家庭」會議傳開。其他軍眷家庭也委託他製作海報，如今他已積壓了67張訂單。他在軍中的工作範圍從飛機空飄到阿富汗的傳單，到說明路邊炸彈危險，或幫助市民分辨阿富汗邊防警察和士兵的海報不等。

Outside Leifi's office is a poster of Airman 1st Class Elizabeth Jacobson, 21, of Riviera Beach, Florida, who died Sept. 28, 2005 in Safwan, Iraq. She is clad in a flattering, brown leather bomber jacket, her fists raised in a boxer's pose. A red flapping banner behind her says “Hit 'em hard 17th,” a reference to her unit, the 17th Security Forces Squadron. “I cherish her poster and what Freedom's on Me does for the families,” said Sondra Millman, Jacobson's grandmother. “They bring light into what is a dark moment by bringing our heroes alive. Each and every poster tells a story by just looking it and you get an idea of what that hero was all about.”

在萊菲辦公室外面有一張21歲空軍上等兵伊麗莎白．雅各布森的海報。這位來自佛州里維拉海灘的女兵2005年9月28日在伊拉克塞夫萬服役時陣亡。她穿著帥氣的飛官棕色短皮夾克，握拳擺出拳擊手架勢，後面一條飄動的紅色布幅說：「重扁他們，17中隊。」意指她服役的單位：安全部隊空軍17中隊。（圖1／美聯社）雅各布森的奶奶桑德拉．米爾曼說：「我很珍惜她的海報及『我畫自由』為軍眷做的事。藉由讓我們的英雄死而復生，他們使那黑暗的時刻重見光明。只要看著海報，每一張講一個故事，你就彷彿能理解那位英雄的一生。」

Army Spc. James Coon is drawn astride a motorcycle. Coon, 22, of Walnut Creek, California, received a Bronze Star for trying to save two victims of a roadside bombing attack in Iraq. On April 4, 2007 — 19 days after that blast — Coon was killed by sniper in Balad, Iraq. His family told Leifi that he was a good dancer and champion dart player who loved skydiving, sturgeon fishing and popping wheelies on his motorcycle. His poster exclaims: “Freedom's on me. Enjoy the ride, Jimmy. ”

22歲的陸軍專業軍士庫恩在海報中騎著摩托車，他來自加州核桃溪市，曾為了試圖搶救伊拉克炸彈攻擊時路邊兩名受害人獲頒青銅星章。2007年4月4日，炸彈攻擊後19天，庫恩在伊拉克巴拉德被狙擊手打死。他的家人告訴萊菲，他是優秀的舞者和飛鏢冠軍，酷愛跳傘、釣鱘魚和在摩托車上表演後輪平衡特技。他的海報感嘆說：「我畫自由。享受飆車快感吧，吉米。」（圖2／美聯社）