Betty M. Prieve: A Song for the Holiday
Betty Mae Whitney Prieve was a Merrill, Wisconsin, native. She joined the United States Navy in 1942. She trained as an airplane mechanic in Norman, Oklahoma, before transferring to Lakehurst, New Jersey. In 1944, shortly after the combat related death of her brother, she volunteered for duty at Pearl Harbor
Wisconsin Was There: Pearl Harbor Survivors Talk
Tap/click on each person to listen to their experience of the Pearl Harbor Attack on December 7, 1941.
Badgers and the Day of Infamy
Fifteen minutes before 8 a.m. on Sunday, December 7, 1941, 183 Japanese planes winged in over Kahuku Point, the northernmost tip of Oahu in the Hawaiian Islands. Their commander, Fuchida Mitsuo, surveyed the scene and signaled for the attack to begin. The formation broke apart as groups of planes zoomed
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
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,
Theresa M. Dischler: A WAAC’s Story
Even before the attack on Pearl Harbor, plans were underway to form a military-affiliated organization for women. Its goal was to train women for noncombatant military positions, thereby freeing men for combat. Final approval passed Congress in May 1942 and established the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) “for the purpose of further