One of the many stories about the healing nature of art will be told starting today at the Southampton Cultural Center by John Melillo, who has deep family roots on the South Fork.
But from May 1970 to March 1972, he served as a military police officer in the Army. He was stationed in Long Binh, the largest military installation in Vietnam, where he was in charge of 26 men who worked 12-hour shifts on the front lines, day in and day out. Having just earned a college degree, he was called up late in the draft. His service in Vietnam lasted a total of eight months, five days, and 20 hours — “But who’s counting?” he said this week.
Those months, days, and hours were enough to cause Mr. Melillo to experience post-traumatic stress disorder, which he pushed deep inside himself for 45 years after he returned to the States.
Vietnam “was a very hostile environment. Everybody was against the war,” Mr. Melillo recalled. “You weren’t well received back home. The Army said, ‘Don’t wear anything that signifies you’re from the service.’ I came home and said, ‘Let’s put it all behind me.’ I jumped on a train and went to New York City. I already had a degree and wanted to get on with my life.”
But P.T.S.D. became too much to bear.
“I ran the business race at a New York City speed for 45 years, and I didn’t realize until I retired and slowed down that all that running was to mask some of the things I’d seen and experienced in Vietnam. I was having flashbacks. I wasn’t only having nightmares, I was having daymares.”
Mr. Melillo, who lives in Eastport and will be 76 years old next week, copes with it by painting two subjects: landscapes from Montauk to Riverhead, and scenes from his days in Vietnam based on stirring photographs he took while serving.
“You never know where life is going to lead you,” he said. “Sometimes the thing you feel that’s going to possibly do damage to you is the thing that puts you together and creates a lot of meaning. You never know. You take a step of faith. I did the best I could.”
Mr. Melillo’s work will be on display at the Cultural Center Thursdays to Sundays through Nov. 26. Accompanying it will be one in a series of films, “Life Goes On, Part 3,” produced by his daughter, Beth Melillo, and screened as part of tomorrow’s opening reception during gallery hours, which are noon to 4 p.m.
Ms. Melillo has been filming her father’s experiences for several years. The series features Mr. Melillo painting scenes from his photos from Vietnam while telling the stories behind them — the “lighter side of Vietnam,” he said, which “most people don’t realize even existed.” Part three is about Mr. Melillo’s canine companion, King, who he says helped him save lives on the front lines, and about the camaraderie and courage they shared.
Ms. Melillo said that “we enjoy creating content, but right now the most rewarding thing is we’re helping others. We love the East End, and the fact that we can do it here, and be a big voice, is great.”
Mr. Melillo advocates for fellow veterans to take advantage of the Veterans Affairs services that helped him — vets can often be hesitant, he said — and to explore art as a way to heal, as he has done. He also teaches art classes. His next one, for veterans as well as first responders, including police, firefighters, and emergency medical personnel, will take place on Wednesday from noon to 2 p.m. at The Church, the arts center in Sag Harbor.
When he’s not painting scenes from Vietnam, Mr. Melillo can be found somewhere on the South Fork, brushes and palette in hand. One of his latest paintings, of a swan at Town Pond, is on display at the Starbucks in East Hampton Village. Others can be found at Starbucks locations in Southampton, Bridgehampton, Manorville, and Hampton Bays.
His family is descended from Polish immigrants who arrived on Shelter Island in the 1890s. “My grandfather was a potato farmer for the Halsey family,” he said, “and my mother was born in Water Mill.” He recalled his youthful days fishing and catching turtles on Sagg Pond and having Tom Sawyer-like adventures with a cousin. The scenery here is “a treasure trove for an artist.”
Painting has been a lifesaver for him, he said. “I’m reminded of Vietnam with what I’m doing, but in some regards it’s the best solution. And helping others helps, too. . . . Sometimes it’s painful, but if you face it the right way, it can be a solution.”
