Local Life

Scene Around: A Fair Haven Author & Her Honor

May 4, 2022 Elaine Van Develde

Write on!

That’s the literal sentiment around the Rumson-Fair Haven towns and far beyond concerning Fair Havenite Jane Waterhouse’s recent honor for her legacy memoir Valor in Action. The book spotlights the artwork of her father, U.S. Marine Colonel Charles Waterhouse, who, in his final years, illustrated the valorous moments of hundreds of American heroes in wartime.

“On Saturday, I was honored with the 2022 Col. Joseph Alexander award for best biography/memoir by the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation. The event took place at the National Museum of the Marine Corps and I was able to share the experience with family and some very dear friends. It was evening I’ll always remember.”
Jane Waterhouse, author

In the memoir/biography about her father’s artistic chronicling, Jane, an accomplished, award-winning playwright, script writer and novelist, penned the true stories to accompany his paintings that captured the in-the-moment heroic actions of U.S. Navy and Marine corpsmen, each of whom had had been awarded the coveted Medal of Honor. In his action oil paintings and still portraits, Charles Waterhouse memorialized the combat heroics of 332 soldiers from the battlefields of the Civil to Afghanistan wars.

While art was Col. Waterhouse’s signature talent and career, the unique aspect of his endeavor with this book’s collection of USMC and Navy Medal of Honor recipients is that he embarked on this particular mission of artistry and honor at the age of 82. He continued until his death in 2013 at 89.

The posthumous father-daughter endeavor was Jane’s way to, in turn, honor her father in the collaborative work. And that she did. The book is all about just that — honor. The full title is Valor in Action: The Medal of Honor Paintings of Col. Charles Waterhouse. It comprises “the most comprehensive collection of Medal of Honor paintings ever created by a single artist,” a description of the book says.

Col. Waterhouse, who was the first and only artist-in-residence of the U.S. Marine Corps, was a “teacher and spent (the next) 28 years building a reputation as an illustrator for publications such as Outdoor Life, Reader’s Digest, Rutgers Press and the Boy Scouts … On Feb. 19, 1945, Col. Waterhouse was seriously wounded during the first wave at Iwo Jima. Nerve damage resulted in him losing the feeling in most of his left hand, but there was no damage to the hand that would become his painting hand,” his obituary said. Read more about his extraordinary life in his obituary (click here).

His legacy thrives through this book authored by his daughter and published by Schiffer Military. It is being sold on Amazon. Click here for more information.

Congratulations, Jane!

Take a look at the above photo gallery, courtesy of Jane Waterhouse, for a glimpse into the event at which the honor was bestowed. (Click on one photo to enlarge and scroll.)