Felis served in the U.S. Army 1964-1967, and completed a tour of duty in Vietnam.

He was selected to be on the Combat Art Team.  After serving in Vietnam, in 1966 he joined the other five members of CAT I in a quonset hut art studio at Schofield Barracks, O’ahu, Hawaii to produce scenes of their experience.

Learn more about the Vietnam Combat Artists Program

 The work is preserved in the Army Art Collection at the U.S. Army Center of Military History in Washington D.C.  One of his paintings, “Bog Down,” is published in a 2015 book of Army Art, “In the Line of Duty.”

Download PDF of In the Line of Duty

While in school at the Art Institute of Chicago, at age 21 Felis signed up for the service when he got his notice. He went on to introduce himself to the Des Moines Register in Iowa so his works could be sent to them.

Excerpt from Felis’ Journal

Aboard the ship Upshur troop transport to Vietnam

August 21, 1965

We are passing the jungles now — it is deathly still as if unable to move because of the intense heat. As the green burnishes with the sun — the red earth along the bank vibrates the same. The jungle has a stalking effect. It’s quiet, save for an occasional burst of white as one of the many water birds along the shoreline give last minute flight to give way to the gray vessel, sounding their defiance as they effortlessly thrust away in their wide arch which will bring them back.

The jungle is beautiful… like a snake — being that it would be a horrible experience to the unfamiliar. It lies quiet across the blue horizon — so quiet, as a snake waiting for its prey. But — in the same fear of the unexpected — there lies the beauty in it all. The densest jungle in the world perhaps; and yet beautiful and massive as only nature could be.

It’s night now — and the beauty does not cease. The sky has a worried look —