Hosea Rood: Our First Custodian
On May 30th, 1845, Marianna Rood (nee Thorngate) and her husband Charles Persons Rood gave birth to their first child, Hosea Whitford Rood. Later that year, the family moved from Persia, New York to Wisconsin and settled in Waushara County. At the age of 16, Rood enlisted in Company E
Breaks in Service: Roger Boeker’s Story
Roger Boeker was raised in Madison, Wisconsin by a family of military veterans. Just days before his September 1942 birth, Boeker's father Leonard enlisted in the U.S. Army for service during World War II. His uncles Orrin and Leon Slauson, brothers from Spring Green, Wisconsin, joined the U.S. Army Air
Other Duties As Assigned: Finding WVM Beyond These Four Walls
The Wisconsin Veterans Museum name may give the impression of a fixed place appealing to a captive audience. The work the museum staff accomplishes, however, reaches beyond the confines of the physical museum space in Madison, Wisconsin to offices in our State Capitol Building, exhibits at presidential libraries, historic markers
Crossing a Line with the U.S. Navy
Each branch of service in the United States military has its own set of unique traditions, rituals, and ceremonies. The Wisconsin Veterans Museum archives documents many of these through letters in which men and women describe them to their loved ones, photographs that capture the events as they happen, and
Wisconsin Connections to the American Revolution
While Wisconsin did not become a territory until 1836 and a state until 1848, its ties to the American Revolution go far deeper than may be apparent. Many will think of the 250th anniversary of our independence as something that happens in the original thirteen colonies but those who made
The Story of Millie and Clarence
Separated by war, their loving commitment endured after Clarence was taken prisoner by German troops. Twenty-one-year-old Clarence Beltmann of Milwaukee enlisted in the U.S. Army in January 1942, one of the tens of thousands of young men caught in the swell of patriotism that followed the attack on Pearl Harbor.