Rather than take a heritage approach to this significant date, we wanted to draw inspiration from the events of 1066 and create our own unique response. To us, a community opera seemed the perfect way for the people of our town and its environs to examine the history, culture and environment that has shaped us – and how the colliding cultures and mass migration that defined the Norman Conquest also shaped the course of the 20th century and still resonate strongly today. It was important to us that a new anthem should be created, one that projects a positive vision for the future – of optimism, hope, peace and friendship. To achieve this, we wanted a strong narrative that would be accessible and recognisable to a modern audience. Simon Gronowski’s extraordinary story did just that.
PUSH is inspired by the true story of Simon Gronowski, who was pushed off a train to Auschwitz by his mother in 1943.
It was always our intention to make the opera resonant and relevant to the local community. We wanted to deliver an inspirational and inclusive project that would encourage participation and, hopefully, instill a lifelong love of singing. Anyone was welcome to join in – not just from Battle but from across 1066 country – irrespective of ability or experience. The creative team also worked with more than 400 children from thirteen schools across the region. A further 400 were invited to a special dress rehearsal so that they too could share in the story and, perhaps, be inspired to take part in a future production.
Significantly, PUSH has provided a stimulus for new and exciting exchanges between people of different ages, backgrounds and outlooks, chiming in with some of the themes of the work. For some, this will have been a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Perhaps it will have changed a few lives. For all, It has provided the opportunity to come together to create, share, participate and celebrate. And a chance to sing their hearts out.
PUSH on Front Row BBC Radio4
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07wn407#play
PUSH on Arts Hour BBC World Service
http://bbc.in/2dLDd8P
Hastings Online Times http://hastingsonlinetimes.co.uk/arts-culture/music-sound/world-premiere-of-push#more-38176
Sussex Jewish Representative Council. http://www.sussexjewishrepresentativecouncil.org/the-inspiring-story-of-simon-gronowski/
Glyndebourne http://www.glyndebourne.com/discover/news-and-blogs/2016/september/why-hastings-is-the-home-of-community-opera/
Bexhill Observer http://www.bexhillobserver.net/news/a-big-push-for-opera-s-debut-1-7608072
Hastings Observer http://www.hastingsobserver.co.uk/news/push-for-tolerance-and-togetherness-in-landmark-opera-1-7458685
It was incredible, very moving, the singing and the intensity and emotional involvement of the performers made it unlike any opera performance I have ever seen. It was wonderful sitting in the centre of the church with it happening all around us.
No words can describe this amazing and moving Masterpiece.Well done, ten thousand times and thank you for all the emotions stirred…I keep thinking of Simon’s mum and her courage in letting him go,pushing him towards life! What a beautiful piece of history you all gifted us with!
The whole world should see this opera. What an inspiring story and what total commitment from all the performers!
It was so powerful and moving. Beautiful music by Howard Moody.
Incredibly moving, I cried on and off through the whole thing! amazing! well done Battle Festival for believing in this project!
What a fantastic performance of #PUSH last night. Standing ovation well-deserved.
This new opera deserves a greater audience and should be compulsory viewing by all adults and children, to ensure that such events must never again be allowed to happen.I urge you to try to attend, you will not be disappointed and I guarantee your life will be enriched by the story and experience you will enjoy.
That was amazing, so moving, so beautiful, so emotional. What an inspiring man.
Rye News http://www.ryenews.org.uk/culture/community-opera-true-story
HOWARD MOODY Composer/librettist/music director/conductor
Howard Moody works in many different styles of music as composer, conductor, keyboard player and librettist. Commissions as a composer include seven symphonic works for the London Symphony Orchestra, two operas for Brussels Opera at La Monnaie as well as stage, choral and instrumental works for English National Opera, La Folia, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Salisbury International Arts Festival, Southern Cathedrals Festival, 2012 Cultural Olympiad, Children’s Music Workshop, Bangladesh Festival, Station House Opera, Jack De Johnette, The National Forest Project and The Anvil.
Howard has also written a requiem with flamenco guitarist Paco Peña. Recent works include: Terrors of Red Flame, Napoleon Unbuttoned, Invictus 46664, Deeds Not Words and Vaishnava (for London Symphony Orchestra); Border Lines (for Scottish Chamber Orchestra); Song for Dover (for Cultural Olympiad); Sindbad, A Journey Through Living Flames (for Brussels Opera at La Monnaie); Eagle Music (for recorder player Piers Adams); The Old Salt Road (for Bolsterstone Male Voice Choir); In the Hand of God (Southern Cathedrals Festival); And My Heart Goes Swimming (Days Bay Opera), and Push (Glyndebourne/Battle Festival).
He is principal conductor and artistic director of La Folia and has also conducted the London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony and Concert Orchestras, the Hallé, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Sarum Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Bournemouth Orchestras, La Monnaie, Orchestra della Toscana, Wroclaw Philharmonic, Opera Factory, Icelandic Opera, West End, Netherlands Radio Choir, Romanian State Chorus, Schola Cantorum of Oxford, Salisbury Festival Chorus, Monteverdi Choir and numerous choral groups throughout Europe.
He has recorded for the BBC, Radio Netherlands, Chandos and ECM. As a keyboard player he has done recital tours with numerous international artists. He is principal keyboard player of the English Baroque Soloists and the Orchestra of St John’s and has worked extensively with jazz legend John Surman with whom he has played improvised duo concerts at many of the major international jazz festivals.
A special interest in creative projects which develop young people’s imaginative ideas into dramatic, instrumental and vocal works involves Howard as a composer and animateur for La Folia, Theatre Royal Norwich, Chichester Festival Theatre, The Anvil, Glyndebourne, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and London Symphony Orchestra where he is artistic director of the LSO On Track Next Generations project. For La Folia, Howard is especially committed to finding innovative ways of bringing live music-making of the highest calibre to people who may otherwise not have the opportunity to experience it.
SIMON IORIO Director
Simon was born and educated in London and originally trained as a singer at Trinity College of Music. Operatic roles included Sellem in The Rake’s Progress, Don Basilio and Don Curzio in Le nozze di figaro and Sultan Soliman in Zaide. He has directed Orpheus in the Underworld (Offenbach) for Trinity Laban at Blackheath Halls and Trouble in Tahiti (Bernstein) and Susanna’s Secret (Wolf Ferrari) for the Little Opera Company. He works regularly with young singers and has directed opera scenes for the Royal Academy of Music, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. As an assistant director he has worked at Glyndebourne Festival/Glyndebourne On Tour, the Royal Opera House, English Touring Opera and Opera Holland Park with directors such as Richard Jones, Sir David McVicar, Laurent Pelly and Robert Carsen. Next year he will assist Tom Cairns on Thomas Ades’ The Exterminating Angel and Keith Warner on Otello at the Royal Opera House. He will also direct L’incoronazione di Poppea for Hampstead Garden Opera at Jacksons Lane Theatre, London.
ELE SLADE Designer
Ele is a set and costume designer and a social engagement/workshop facilitator. She has designed sets, costumes and wigs for a variety of theatre and opera productions as well as installations and interactive exhibitions. Ele was awarded Best Costume Designer at the 2015 Off West End Awards for Usagi Yojimbo at Southwark Playhouse. The Blank Canvas (The King’s Head with Opera Up Close) won Best Opera Production at the same awards. As a facilitator she works with children, young people and people with special needs, using scripts, devising techniques and design-based activities. Ele’s other current work includes a community and social engagement project exploring the heritage of Campanology in Richmond, North Yorkshire; set and costume design for Theatre Centre’s schools touring production Layla’s Room; and design consultation for Curious Directive’s production in development Spindrift.
CALEB MADDEN Technical director
Caleb lives and works in the South East of the UK. He is a multi-disciplinary artist who uses sculpture, video, sound and light to create highly experiential installations and performances. He has presented artworks at various institutions including the Southbank Centre, the Roundhouse and Tate Modern. He studied sound recording at BA level and is currently completing an MA in Fine Art at the University of Brighton. Alongside his own art practice he collaborates and performs in the live AV duo Madden/Dylewski, is a founder member of sonic arts collective the Spirit of Gravity, and works as a production manager/curator/programmer at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea.
JAMES NEWBY Simon
Described as ‘musical’ (Opera Now) and ‘promising’ (The Times), baritone James Newby won the first prize at the 2016 Kathleen Ferrier Awards and was also awarded third prize and the Richard Tauber prize (for best interpretation of a Schubert Lied) at the Wigmore Hall/Kohn International Song Competition in 2015. This year he became the recipient of the Wigmore Hall/Independent Opera Voice Fellowship and is currently singing with the Glyndebourne Festival Chorus.
James enjoys a busy schedule as a recitalist. Recent performances include two recitals in the Perth International Arts Festival, Australia, including a recital of Schubert’s Die Schöne Müllerin and a performance of Schumann’s Dichterliebe in the Trinity Laban Schumann and Poulenc Project led by Eugene Asti.
Concert engagements include Mendelssohn’s Elijah (for Stafford and District Choral Society); Mozart’s Requiem and Haydn’s Nelson Mass (for the Academy of St Martin in the Fields); Bach’s St John Passion (Cheltenham Bach Choir/Corelli Orchestra) and B Minor Mass (Southern Sinfonia/Old Royal Naval College Chapel); Orff’s Carmina Burana (Trinity Laban Undergraduate choir/ensemble); Handel’s Messiah (Kingfisher Chorale/Amicable Society Baroque Orchestra); Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle (Stamford Choral and Stamford Endowed School Choirs/Peterborough Cathedral) and Faure’s Requiem (Corsley Festival Choir and Orchestra).
James’s operatic roles include the title roles in Eugene Onegin (Brent Opera) and Don Giovanni (Moon Little Opera), Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas (Trinity Laban Chamber Choir), Gobrias in Belshazzar and Apollo in Orpheus in the Underworld (Trinity Laban Opera), Papageno in Die Zauberflöte (Suffolk Opera) and Guglielmo in Così fan tutte (Everybody’s Theatre Company). His latest performances include Vaughan Williams’s A Serenade to Music at the Last Night of the Proms and creating the role of Simon in Howard Moody’s opera PUSH.
James is currently in his final year of study at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance under the tutelage of Alison Wells. He continues his studies with a scholarship place on the Master’s course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Robert Dean.
MATTHEW STIFF Guard
Matthew Stiff studied music at the University of Huddersfield where he received a BMus and MA in performance. He went on to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he took the Postgraduate Diploma in vocal training and then the Opera Studies course from which he graduated with distinction in 2011. He has received scholarships from the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, Maidment Scholarship administered by the Musicians Benevolent Fund and Wingate Scholarship Foundation. He studies with John Evans.
Operatic performances include Colline in La Bohème and Pietro in L’assedio di Calais (for English Touring Opera), Prince Gremin in Eugene Onegin, Doctor Grenvil in La Traviata, Hobson in Peter Grimes, Lord Walton in I puritani and Marquis de la Force in Dialogues des Carmélites (for Grange Park Opera), Man in Last One Out (for Scottish Opera), The Writer in Four White Walls and chorus (for Opera North), Polyphemus in Acis and Galatea (for Mid Wales Opera), Kecal in The Bartered Bride, the title role in Le nozze di Figaro and Charon in Euridice (for British Youth Opera), Ashby in La fanciulla del West and Dulcamara in L’elisir d’amore (for Opera Up-Close), King Balthazar in Amahl and The Night Visitors (for Iford Arts), Trofonio in Salieri’s La grotta di Trofonio (for Bampton Classical Opera), Don Magnifico in La Cenerentola (for Clonter Opera), Marchese d’Obigny in La Traviata (for Chelsea Opera Group), Antonio in Le nozze di Figaro (for Music Cordiale Festival), King René in Iolanta, Jailer in Dialogues des Carmélites, Togno in Spinalba, Superintendent Budd in Albert Herring and Pietro de Visantis in L’assedio di Calais (for Guildhall School of Music and Drama), and covering Masetto in Don Giovanni (for English National Opera), Garibaldo in Rodelinda and Don Magnifico (for Scottish Opera) and Surin in Queen of Spades (for Grange Park Opera)
Concert performances include Handel’s Messiah and Mozart’s Requiem at St Martin in the Fields, Haydn’s Nelson Mass and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at St Paul’s Hall, and Karl Jenkins’s Armed Man at St Albans Cathedral.
Engagements in the 2015-16 season include Leporello in Don Giovanni (for English Touring Opera), Snug in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (for Hyogo Performing Arts Center, Japan) and covering Sir Giorgio in I puritani and Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd ( for Welsh National Opera).
TEREZA GEVORGYAN Simon’s sister
Soprano Tereza Gevorgyan’s current and future engagements include Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi (for Opera North), Norina in Don Pasquale (for Glyndebourne Tour) and Diva Opera (for Gala City of London Sinfonia). She was a finalist in the prestigious Ferrier Competition in 2015, and was a member of the National Opera Studio in London in the 2014-15 season, supported by Opera North, the Amar-Frances and Foster-Jenkins Trust and Opera Les Azuriales.
She completed the Royal Academy Opera course at the Royal Academy of Music in 2014, studying with Lillian Watson and Jonathan Papp, and she completed her Master of Arts at RAM with distinction (with Diane Forlano).
Most recently she performed Musetta in La Bohème (for Nevill Holt Opera), La Fée in Cendrillon, Tatiana in Eugene Onegin, First Witch in Dido and Aeneas, Dalinda in Ariodante and Maria Bertram in Mansfield Park (for the Royal Academy of Music), The Bat/Animal in L’enfant et les sortilèges (for the Barbican Centre with BBC Symphony Orchestra), Serafina in Il campanello, Serpina in La serva padrona, Fanni in La cambiale di matrimonio (for National Opera Studio in Armenia and the Armenian opera), and Anoush (at the Tabernacle). Other studied and performed repertoire include Elvira in I puritani, Countess Adèle in Le comte Ory, Antonia in The Tales of Hoffmann and Miss Wingrave in Owen Wingrave.
Tereza recently performed concerts in Carnegie Hall and Chicago Symphony Hall, celebrating Georg Solti’s 100th birthday with the World Orchestra for Peace conducted by Valery Gergiev. She recorded an Italian song for Solti’s 100th birthday celebration CD, which was produced by Richard Bonynge. Additionally, she recently performed concerts in Florence and Naples Palace of Caserta, Bach’s Easter Oratorio at St Yeghishe Church, Brahms’ Requiem and Mendelssohn’s Hear My Prayer at the Church of St Mary the Virgin in London with the Stanmore Choral Society.
She is the winner of the Rosenblatt Recital Prize and the Edith Mary Clarke Cup for best female singer (April 2014), winner of the Pavarotti Prize (October 2013), the Les Azuriales Karaviotis Prize (August 2013), the Thelma King Singers’ Award (March 2013) and the Ludmilla Andrew Russian Song Prize (June 2011). In 2009 she was a finalist at the Belvedere Competition in Vienna. She was one of twelve young singers selected for the 2011 Georg Solti Academy in Tuscany, studying with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Sir Thomas Allen and singing concerts in Tuscany.
Howard Moody: the experience of writing and composing PUSH
PUSH is inspired by the true story of Simon Gronowski, who was pushed off a train to Auschwitz by his mother in 1943.
I met Simon Gronowski after he came to a performance of my opera Sindbad – A Journey Through Living Flames at La Monnaie, Brussels in 2014. While telling me his story, he said: ‘Ma vie n’est que miracles’ (My life is only miracles). I immediately asked him to write that down for me on a small scrap of paper and I promised him there and then that I would write my next opera about his story. I have kept and will treasure that scrap of paper.
His story haunted and enchanted me – so when Battle Festival and Glyndebourne approached me about writing a new opera, I knew what I wanted to base it on. With the first performance so close to the 950th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings, my first point of research was to read the relevant sections of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which describes William the Conqueror’s savage reign of terror against the Anglo-Saxons during the twenty years following the battle. History repeats, and this period offers a mirror of events in Europe in the 1940s.
I also discovered that William recruited his army from a Viking settlement in Normandy. This drew my attention to contemporary accounts of the ‘Jungle’ refugee camp in Calais – as well as the devastating reports from the Syrian conflict – notably the plight in the summer of 2015 of the desperate crowds trying to board trains in Budapest.
With these three strands, I began work on the libretto. I had the privilege of meeting Simon Gronowski again at the Caserne Dossin in Mechelen, where he had been imprisoned with his mother and sister – the place from which thirty-six trains went direct to Auschwitz. As we went through the archway where he had been put on the train, he pointed to an upper window and said, ‘That’s where I last saw my sister.’ This ‘Orpheus moment’ became the emotional core of my writing and composing, together with the great gift of Simon’s overriding positive message: ‘Ma vie n’est que miracles.’
Having written some choruses, I met many groups of children and adults in Hastings and Battle in January 2016. I taught them the train song and some of the Arrest scene. Their response was very emotional and I was encouraged that a dramatic structure was really in place. They then had a session with Simon Iorio, whose insight, commitment and skill in staging the piece has been amazing. He immediately started to interpret the timeless quality of the story.
The following month took me to New Zealand to conduct an opera. Each day began with the sound of the bellbird. Here I found the space to connect with the ultimate positivity of Simon Gronowski’s story and spirit. ‘Ma vie n’est que miracles… J’ai voulu vivre dans le present et l’avenir, pour l’optimisme, la joie et l’amitié.’ (My life is only miracles… I wanted to live in the present for optimism, joy and friendship.) Inspired by the bellbird’s song, together with Gandhi’s favourite song that had recently been sung to me by an Indian dancer, I started to express the positivity in the story. The bellbird’s song is something of a theme of peace in the music. Gandhi’s song (in Gujarati) is the means through which the imprisoned community come together.
On completion I went to Brussels to play the opera to Simon Gronowski. Hosted by Sarah Ehrich – who had helped to introduce me to him in 2014 – I sang and played the piece to Simon, making at least an impression of the vocal lines. This was one of the most emotional experiences of my life. There were many tears of joy and pain. I left encouraged by Simon’s response to the integrity of the piece. He had always supported my intention to make his story relevant to contemporary events, but at the core lies an acknowledgement of the pain that he still carries for his mother, sister and father – a shared pain that touches us all, survivor and victim.
For this production, the piece is for the community that sings it. It is hard to imagine a more committed process. The people of 1066 have sung for their lives, bringing a depth of response that is beyond words.
It is a great honour that Simon Gronowski was present at the first performances. The opera is dedicated to him.
PUSH is the eighth miracle of my life. It is marvellous for opera and music lovers and it is helpful for the young generation who oppose barbarity for a better world of peace, democracy, tolerance and friendship between people.
PUSH is authentic and moving. I love the libretto: it is real poetry and I can hear the music in it. It was fabulous to hear Howard play it for me privately at the piano in Brussels in May this year. And now it will be shared!
Howard was touched by my mother’s gesture, and with this emotion he has composed PUSH.
The deportees thought they were going off to work; they did not know they were going to die. My mother pushed me to save my life and give me freedom, to give me a new life. She continued her journey towards her death in order to save her little boy.
To be able to attend this opera in my lifetime is most incredible and moving. It would be fabulous to be able to hear PUSH one day in Brussels. It would be good for the cultural and philosophical life in Belgium – especially because what happened to me happened in Brussels.
Simon Gronowski
What is it that triggers somebody’s need to start piecing together fragments of memory that are so painful? What drives you to face questions from your history that have been necessary to suppress in order to live your life? What parts of our history lead us to seek redemption? These are the questions we have asked when exploring the character of a man called Simon. From early childhood to his later life, this man is on a journey that will see the worst and the best of humanity, and that ultimately ends in forgiveness.
This extraordinary story has been presented in a new work that puts our ‘community’ at the heart of Simon’s journey. Throughout history, our stories have been told aurally, passed on from generation to generation, and this production seeks to explore the repeated, all too familiar mistakes of mankind – from 1066 and the Norman invasion, through to today, spanning different eras and cultures. The story unfolds as Simon pieces together his history. Through his eyes, we gradually see him coming to terms with the past, allowing him to move towards a place of forgiveness.
There is no perfect ‘theatre’ for any one piece, but upon visiting the De La Warr Pavilion for the first time, I was fortunate enough to find a space that is dynamic and full of possibilities. Initially in our design, there was no aesthetic distinction between audience and performers. They merge. The characters in this story could be any of us, at any time in history. By surrounding the performance space with the audience, we are able to tell our story to the maximum amount of people from every angle.
Howard has written a piece that allows all our performers and audience to engage on a personal level. It is both accessible and dramatically challenging. The structure of the piece needed to be digestible for all ages, both thematically and musically. The result is a powerful and emotive piece of music, brought to life by a hugely energetic and talented group of performers.
For me, there have been two processes running in parallel to create this performance. The first is working with three fantastic young soloists. Their interpretive skills and sense of play has been refreshing and necessary when tackling a story as intense as this one. Perhaps even more moving and exciting for me has been the process of engaging with the community choirs, singing groups and local children, some of whom have never sung or performed in this way. They have illuminated and breathed life into the heart of this story.
ELE SLADE – DESIGNER
How could we engage with the community who are making this piece with us, and how can my design process be inclusive? On most projects, although I am collaborating with people, I mostly work in isolation to research and develop designs, bringing ideas back for discussion. For PUSH, the foundation of my process was opened up to others and I needed to structure my work to allow others’ ideas to flesh out my own, informing and inspiring both my design process and decisions.
The opera leads us to think about the cyclical nature of war and suffering, reflected in the lines that the chorus sing: ‘History repeats over thousands of years’ and ‘Mirrors of the past’. So I wanted to keep the starting inspiration wide, to be inspired by many periods and cultures rather than focusing on only those directly associated with the narrative. I researched the current and historical social/political contexts, identifying ten specific periods and cultures between 1066 and 2016 to research further.
Research is one of the most liberating parts of the design process for me, and there was a lot to explore. Nine A-level textile students at Rye Studio School joined me in my design process, taking on one research period each. It was interesting for me to guide others in finding the type of research I wanted to be working from, yet allow them to also express themselves in their work, and in turn allow their approaches to influence me. The students collated all their research into five distinct mood boards of aesthetic, style, pattern, colour and texture (gathered regardless of period and culture) and these became one of the essential backbones of the designs.
Period research is always adapted somehow to fit the world of a production. One of the most exciting and challenging aspects of this project was how to be infused with such a huge range of rich period research, yet remain contemporary in the final design of the costumes. We wanted the opera to be as much about today as the past, and the chorus is a huge part of that.
Members of the chorus wear their own ‘normal clothes’ so that at the start of the opera, theatricality is reduced providing less opportunity for the audience to view the story as happening to ‘someone else’, ‘somewhere else’. The extra garment the chorus members wear categorises and strips them of their personal identity. The design for this garment went through many variations and drafts before reaching the final design.
The historical research was vital to provide a background and structure for the choices I made, yet it was important to remain contemporary in the final design. Specific influences include: tunic shapes of Anglo-Saxon clothing (researched by Ametx); material with slight stiffness, inspired by historical Korean clothing (researched by Chloe); the semi transparent look of the fabric (inspired by Poppy and India’s mood board). The biggest influence came from Brooke’s research on the Tasmanian Aboriginals and the Native Americans. Her research highlighted people using what was available, practical and natural for them, and the rawness of the clothing. This encouraged me to find what I felt the guard characters would have used – the easiest way to minimally dress, categorise, and culturally suppress these chorus characters – meaning that they should not be over-designed or too theatrical. With so many people onstage too, simplicity was key. The colours and symbols of the spray paint markings on the lab coats are specifically designed from the five aesthetic mood boards the Rye students created.
Influences for the guards came from border guards, police, guards in refugee camps, tactical and protective clothing of army and riot police, medieval armour shapes, militia groups.
The sister’s costume bridges the two clearest periods in the narrative. It takes inspiration from girls’ dresses and women’s work overalls during the Second World War (thanks to the research of Emilie from Rye) as well as contemporary styles of teenage girls today. The colours of the dress reference all the colours of the chorus’s spray-paint markings.
Hoodies, jackets, backpacks lined with hi-vis link in colour and material to the guards’ uniforms, but have a different type of uniformity. Inspiration came from medieval armour, 1970s gangs in the Bronx, civilian militia groups and the self-decorated helmets of American Vietnam War soldiers.
