The outbreak of the Second World War led Ward and his close friend Jehan Daley to join up. During his six years in the Royal Engineers, Ward sketched the lives of soldiers and civilians.
Jehan and I both kept paper and inks and waercolours and the men were avid to be drawn. I loved drawing them asleep, when even the toughest face relaxed between snores, revealing the face of the man as a child... There were children to draw too; the first, a child killed by gunfire, but the face unscarred. Since there was no camera to hand I was asked to make a drawing. It was the only possible record. To draw the children was a happy gesture when we were billeted in farmers’ barns. In Holland I drew an entire family in exchange for half a dozen eggs.
WAR
The outbreak of the Second World War led Ward and his close friend Jehan Daley to join up. During his six years in the Royal Engineers, Ward sketched the lives of soldiers and civilians.
"Jehan and I both kept paper and inks and watercolours and the men were avid to be drawn. I loved drawing them asleep, when even the toughest face relaxed between snores, revealing the face of the man as a child... There were children to draw too; the first, a child killed by gunfire, but the face unscarred. Since there was no camera to hand I was asked to make a drawing. It was the only possible record. To draw the children was a happy gesture when we were billeted in farmers’ barns. In Holland I drew an entire family in exchange for half a dozen eggs."
