Book Talk – The Party Dolls: The True, Tragic Story of Two Americans’ Attempted Escape from a 1969 Hanoi POW Camp (Independently Published, 2021)

The Wisconsin Veterans Museum welcomes George Hayward to introduce his newest work, The Party Dolls. This story of escape from a Hanoi prisoner of war camp details the horrors of being a POW in Vietnam and the often tragic consequences faced by those who try to escape. George will talk

Continue reading
OH2030.Lor Access Image2

Honoring Hmong Veterans of Wisconsin

Written by Luke D. Sprague, Oral Historian Hmong veterans of Wisconsin sacrificed their lives, homes, and livelihoods due to their alliance with the United States during the Secret War in Laos from 1961 to 1975. These Hmong, armed, trained, and organized by the United States and its allies, fought in

Continue reading

A video interview with Brigadier General Robert Andrew Cocroft

Written by Oral Historian Luke D. Sprague Robert A. Cocroft graduated from North Division High School, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1965. While attending and playing football at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, the United States Army drafted him on October 24, 1966. At Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, Cocroft passed the qualification tests

Continue reading
banner

Suffrage Through Service: How Military Service Expanded Voting Rights

By Russell Horton Reference Archivist Throughout U.S. history, men and women in the military have risked their lives to protect the civil rights we enjoy as citizens. Beyond protection, their brave service has also affected some of those rights over the past 150 years. In particular, military service has changed

Continue reading

MOVIE NIGHT: APOCALYPSE NOW

Grab some popcorn and a seat in your favorite chair, and join us for a Movie Night and Virtual Discussion with the Wisconsin Veterans Museum Staff. While we can’t all be together, we can share discussion on major motion pictures that deal with the hardships, humor, and horrors of combat.

Continue reading

“Walking Point with London” by Kylee Sekosy

Just as servicemen and women often befriend one another, war dogs and their handlers often share a deep bond from their experiences in combat. James Hooker, a Wisconsin veteran of the United States Marine Corps, spent three full tours of service in Vietnam. A young man “tired of school” and

Continue reading

CALL SIGN: GRIM REAPER

By Andrea Hoffman, Collections Manager Part of fulfilling our museum’s mission to commemorate Wisconsin veterans includes gathering as complete a story as possible in our donation process. Ideally, we supplement our object collections with archival components like letters and photographs and vice versa. When Vietnam veteran James Mosel of Chippewa

Continue reading

Wisconsin Veterans Museum conducted its 2,000th interview for its Oral History Program

On July 10, 2015 the Wisconsin Veterans Museum conducted the 2,000th interview for the Wisconsin Veterans Museum Oral History Program. Volunteer interviewer Ellen Bowers Healey interviewed Dennis F. Kinney, who served in both the U.S. Army and the U.S. Air Force and retired in 1968 after 20 years of service. Below

Continue reading