This homeless veteran referred to himself as “Dog.” When I asked what the city was called he said “Dogtown.” He invited us to his rather impressive tent to show us a grand painting he was quite proud of.
Tag Archives: vet
A Welcoming Smile
Dennis
Within a stonesthrow of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis is a collective of homeless people congregated on the shores of the Mississippi River.
Dennis is a homeless veteran living on the St. Louis shore of the Mississippi river. He was busy constructing a method to transport his tent should the river rise above flood stage. The whole setup was quite elaborate. Dennis said that he had been living there for quite a few years. It was clear that he is quite an intelligent and industrious man.
Reggie
Drew and I spoke with Reggie for a good while about the neighborhood. He has been an East St. Louis resident for 48 years and has military experience.
We got the impression that he knew everyone in the neighborhood. Passers by took their time to wave or say hello to him. He was all for us photographing the neighborhood.
Reggie also hit us with an astounding statistic: There have been 15 fires in East St. Louis in the last 10 days. (Notice the burned out home behind him.)