Tango in the Park

prints of the original oil painting by Ken Dahl

In 1974, a friend and I traveled to France on a weekend trip from our army base in Aschaffenburg Germany. It seemed like everywhere we went in Paris we kept running into people who were quite unfriendly. On our last day there we arrived at the famous Eiffel Tower. The observation deck at the top was closed for maintenance, but about a third of the way up there’s a restaurant. We decided to buy a beer and a sandwich. Just as we were about to sit down an old man with a wooden leg and cane spotted us and said, “Are you young men American soldiers?” He insisted on buying us lunch and wine and told us stories about how he fought with the Americans in WW2. The tower was amazing, but not as special as the love, camaraderie and respect of an old soldier.

The entire time we were there I had a camera hanging from my neck, and never once thought to photograph that wonderful man. To him we were simply fellow soldiers, no division or separation whatsoever. I added the dancers in the foreground because I thought such a festive location deserved it.