FOX VALLEY VETERANS TELL THEIR STORIES
The Wisconsin Veterans Museum (WVM) collects and publishes a substantial number of veteran interviews from the Fox Valley and the surrounding area. Additionally, we act as the dark archives for several interviews from that region of Wisconsin. These Fox Valley oral history interviews range from the current day back to World
Eau Claire Veteran J. Birney Dibble Recalls Korean War
During the Korean War, J. Birney Dibble, an Eau Claire, Wisconsin resident, served as a naval surgeon on active duty in the United States Naval Reserve. Though administratively assigned to E Company, 1st Medical Battalion, 1st Marine Division, Dibble spent much of his time at the forward aid station attached
Honoring LGBTQ+ Veterans of Wisconsin
In honor of LGBTQ+ History Month, we are featuring the story of United States Naval Officer Larry A. Reed. Reed served in the United States Navy from 1961 to 1966 during the Vietnam War. Reed was the weapons and air control officer on the destroyer escort USS Wilhoite (DER-397) from
Vietnam Veterans Day
On March 29, 1973, the last US combat troops were withdrawn from Vietnam, and the last prisoners of war held in North Vietnam returned to American soil. Since then, Vietnam Veterans Day has been established to welcome home Vietnam veterans, acknowledge their service and remember the men and women who died during the Vietnam
Pearl Harbor Remembered through Oral Histories
In this 14 minute clip, Thomas Butler, a quartermaster in the Navy, recounts his experience aboard the USS Tennessee on December 7, 1941. The Wisconsin Veterans Museum Oral History Collection contains more than 15 interviews with veterans who were stationed at Pearl Harbor on that fateful day. It also includes
USS Cole Bombing: The Road to 9/11
On the morning of October 12, 2000, the USS Cole was attacked in Yemen’s Aden harbor by two suicide bombers piloting a small boat loaded with an estimated 700 pounds of explosives. The subsequent blast tore a 40-by-60-foot gash in the side of the guided-missile destroyer, claimed the lives of
Remembering Pearl Harbor The Story of Herbert “Herb” Buehl
By Jenna Madsen, Wisconsin Veterans Museum Assistant Curator Herbert “Herb” Buehl from Monroe, Wisconsin was in the Navy aboard the USS Arizona when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Herb served as an electrician in power distribution on the Arizona. His post was at the bottom of the center of the ship
A Date Which Will Live in Infamy by Emily Irwin
Today marks the 73rd anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, where an estimated 200 Wisconsin men and women were stationed on December 7, 1941. One such Wisconsinite was Gunner’s Mate Stanley Gruber. A Butler, Wisconsin native, Gruber entered the Navy in 1939 and was stationed aboard the USS Maryland. In April 1940,