Holiday Greetings from the Field by Mary Kate Kwasnik
A wise man once crooned that this is the most wonderful time of the year. As the winter holidays roll in, cheer seems to surround us. Coffee shops break out their festive red cups , the radio croons out classic holiday songs and the city is suddenly frosted in tiny,
“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
In Recognition of Aviation Month – The Story of Robert Balliet
By Jeff Javid, Wisconsin Veterans Museum Archives Assistant Robert Balliet of Appleton, Wisconsin served with the 776th Squadron, 464th Bomb Group, Fifteenth Air Force, United States Army Air Force in the European theatre during World War II. An employee of Wisconsin Bell Telephone Company, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps in
The Life and Letters of World War I Aerial Observer Lt. Mortimer M. Lawrence – January 1918
No. 1 Det. Aerial Observers A.E.F. Dear Folks:- This is not going to be much of a letter for the simple reason that there is nothing to write. Of course there is lots I’d like to say but it is no use for it will be all cut out.
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
The Life and Letters of World War I Aerial Observer Lt. Mortimer M. Lawrence – December 1917
Christmas Day Dec. 25, 1917 Dear Mother:- Received your night letter this morning. Thank you for all your good wishes. I hope you received my message O.K. We had our Christmas dinner at three o’clock this afternoon and it sure was a dandy. I enclose my place card &
The Life and Letters of World War I Aerial Observer Lt. Mortimer M. Lawrence – November 1917
Tuesday Nov. 27, 1917 Dear Mother:- Yesterday’s letter was intended to take the place of the one I didn’t have a chance to write Sunday. Jack Bainbridge’s brother, wife and family are mighty fine people and were certainly nice to me. The brother is about forty-one or so and
William Stark and the Church Pennant
While serving aboard a landing craft (USS LCI (L)-23) in the Solomon Islands during World War II, William Stark of Waukesha was saved by what he must have believed was partly “divine intervention.” In 1943, when his landing craft beached to unload, Motor Machinist’s Mate Second Class William Stark was
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