Monticello’s barber/photographer, Thomas Brusveen, posed for this 1944 photo while serving as a private in the 31st Chemical Company somewhere in Europe during World War II. 

The men are having dinner and Brusveen is the soldier facing the camera with eyeglasses. Later, Brusveen said: “Food. Uh, never complained too much about that. We had C-rations. C-rations, of course, were the ones for the compact, existing subsistence type of food. The food wasn’t too bad ...” Visit monticellohistoricalsociety.org.