dadoughkids: WE REMEMBER MICHAEL ALLEN NOETH

Thursday, September 10, 2009

WE REMEMBER MICHAEL ALLEN NOETH

I am honored to be a part of his project again. Please be sure to visit Project 2,996 to read about so many others that lost their lives on September 11, 2001.

Michael Allen Noeth

Michael Noeth, 30, from Jackson Heights, NY. Was a petty officer second class in the United States Navy. He was an illustrator and draftsman. He died on September 11, 2001 when a hijacked plane crashed into the Pentagon.

At the time of the attack, Noeth was working on his project of painting portraits of all the chiefs of naval operations, the Los Angeles Times reported. "He was so proud of himself when he received those orders," said Petty Officer First Class Saundra Harris. "He thought it to be a great honor to be asked to paint portraits of the former CNOs."

Noeth joined the Navy as a deck seaman in 1994 because he wasn't making any money as an artist. A year later he drew a cover for "All Hands," a Navy magazine, where he worked for a short while.

He was stationed on the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp in Norfolk last year when he had a showing of his paintings at the Montserrat Gallery in his native New York City.

"I was so nervous," he was quoted as saying in the Navy Wire Service. "I felt that I would be either successful or I would bomb." Noeth sold five paintings at the showing.

"I paint sailors to show the world that we don't just ride ships to see some really cool foreign countries," Noeth had told the Navy News Service. "I want people to realize that their freedom and protection comes from the sweat of the sailors on board."

The USS Russell's crew honored their former shipmate by dedicating the crew's training room to him. The Noeth Training Room displays one of his paintings entitled "The FOD Walkdown." It is displayed next to a picture of Noeth on the forecastle of Russell.

Awards and Decorations: National Defense Service Medal, Navy "E" Ribbon (3),