When Terry Coffey shared his thoughts on Caitlyn Jenner, his Facebook post quickly went viral and was shared thousands of times. But the true story behind the photo, is what prompted Coffey to write a second Facebook post explaining what he learned about the photo.
On Monday, June 1, 2015, Coffey shared a photo of what he believed was a photo of a wounded World War II soldier firing his gun at the enemy while he was being carried to safety. Coffey added a caption to the photo:
"As I see post after post about Bruce Jenner's transition to a woman, and I hear words like, bravery, heroism and courage, just thought I'd remind all of us what real American courage, heroism and bravery looks like!"
The post has been shared more than 770,000 times.
However, several commenters quickly identified the irony in the photo Coffey shared.
The image is credited to Mark Hogancamp, who created the photo as part of an exercise to manage his pain after he was nearly beaten to death by five men in New York, 15 years ago, because he was crossdressing. He suffered serious brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder, which he combats by creating World War II narratives in one-sixth scale using dolls.
A day after sharing the viral photo, Coffey posted a follow-up to his original post:
"This is the photo I shared yesterday in the spirit of spotlighting "true bravery."
This photo that accompanied my words, was chosen from a quick image search. Just wanted something to fit my words. I wanted to find out who the photographer was, so I could credit his work.
In an ironic twist, I have discovered that the photo is part of a documentary created by a man who was beaten nearly to death outside of a bar in 2000. After spending 9 days in a coma, suffering severe brain damage and being unable to walk or talk for a year, he chose to try and cope with his pain from the tragic event, by creating a world of stories and characters and photos set in WWII. The image I chose, was one of those created for an upcoming documentary. Why was he nearly beaten to death by 5 strangers?
I could have chosen one of hundreds of other photos. But I didn't, I chose this one. Do I think it was an accident? I don't.
What happened to this man was wrong, cruel, and unforgivable.
Hate helps nothing.
Love wounds no one.
and God heals all.
(and irony makes us think)"
