Sergeant Charles Blair of Vero Beach, Fla., sharpens the edge of his combat knife.

About two years ago, the Indianapolis Art Center hosted an exhibit of photographs, drawings and paintings of the Vietnam war. Some of the photographers and artists were present to speak about their military assignments. We learned from them how seriously they took their work to document the full scope of military operations. Sgt. Bushemi died during the Eniwetok Island invasion on Feb. 19, 1944. Only his photographs, commentaries and letters, and recollections of family and his colleagues remain for us to piece together the commitment he felt to be in the front line of action.

To bring operations from the point of view of those involved in them to both military personnel stationed elsewhere and to civilians back home, Bushemi made awesome judgments to show bravery by others and took risks necessary to carry out his job — win this all-encompassing war with his weapons at hand: cameras. From the rigors of training camps to the relentless engagements in the South Pacific, Bushemi’s photographs pull viewers into the activity and the human connection with it.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, Bushemi’s equally generate another thousand thoughts. He’s along there with Robert Capa in documenting war as a human experience — it’s about people preparing to kill other people, killing, being killed, surviving to kill, spurring others to kill.

The book is enhanced by James H. Madison’s contextual analysis of World War II. Ray E. Boomhower’s accessible style of writing brings Bushemi’s zest for life to the fore. The simple, somber exhibit leaves you reverential. Death as still life makes you disdain war all the more. Yet both the book and the exhibit are uplifting because Bushemi aimed his camera to capture the soul, the life spark, in every human being, even the enemy.

The exhibit runs through August. Call 232-1882.