“The 2000 Yard Stare” by artist/war correspondent Thomas Lea depicts a nameless real-life U.S. Marine at the Battle of Peleliu in 1944.
The two-thousand-yard stare is a phrase used to describe the blank, unfocused gaze of combatants who have become emotionally detached from the horrors around them. The phrase was popularized after LIFE magazine published this painting as “Marines Call It That 2,000 Yard Stare.”
Lea wrote the following about the Marine in his painting:
“He left the States 31 months ago.
He was wounded in his first campaign.
He has had tropical diseases.
He half-sleeps at night
and gouges Japs out of holes all day.
Two-thirds of his company has been killed or wounded.
He will return to attack this morning.
How much can a human being endure?”
