1944 09 Patricia &Harry Baker, W. Salem, WI 600x480

Happy 103rd Birthday, Lt. Col. Harry Baker !

Wisconsin World War II veteran, Harry Dillon Baker will celebrate his 103rd birthday on October 9, 2023. At the request of Baker's family, the museum staff is asking for your help in marking Harry’s milestone by sending a birthday card made out to him which we will deliver to his

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Marcia Gates Photo

Marcia Gates: Angel of Bataan in the Lost Battalion

The fall of the Philippines in 1942 left a deep scar on the lives of many Wisconsinites. In honor of International Nurses Day, we remember the nurses from our state who became prisoners of war following the 1942 fall of Bataan and capture of Corregidor. One especially tenacious servicemember who

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Origins and Evolutions of Aviation Nose Art

Much like a person would customize a car, nose art on airplanes grew out of the crewmen’s desire to personalize their crafts. Beginning in World War I, European forces decorated their planes with fierce animals, family crests and other symbols. When the American forces arrived, they quickly followed the European’s

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Leonard Schutta's crew. Schutta is kneeling in the front row on the left.

Overhead at Omaha Beach with D-Day Flier Leonard Schutta

In the early morning hours of 6 June 1944 off the coast of Normandy, France, on a stretch of coast forever immortalized that day with the name of Omaha, roughly 34,250 US soldiers aboard hundreds of landing craft and naval vessels of all sizes waited for H-hour, the time designated

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Lt Col Hollenbeck and son

Stories of a M.A.S.H. Dr. in the Buna Campaign

This blog post from Gregory Krueger our curator of exhibits, is based on a written account by Lieutenant Colonel Stanley Hollenbeck. Lieutenant Colonel Hollenbeck served with one of the first mobile army surgical hospitals, the 14th Portable Surgical Hospital, within the Buna Campaign, from October 1942 to March 1943. Graduating from

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World War WHERE?

By Russell Horton Reference Archivist When Janesville native Louis Wayne Tyler was drafted into the U.S. Army during World War II, he probably imagined he would eventually deploy to the European or Pacific Theaters. He might have considered the possibility of going to North Africa or the China-Burma-India Theater. He

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MOVIE NIGHT: SAVING PRIVATE RYAN

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.

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CURATOR CONVERSATIONS- A WORLD GREATLY CHANGED: THE LEGACY OF WWII

In 1944 the U.S. Joint Chiefs predicted “a world greatly changed” by Allied victory. World War II left a towering legacy on the world, one still relevant and apparent 75 years after the guns fell silent in 1945. This conversation will explore the war’s impact on the world and its

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Hiroshima Aftermath

Wisconsin and the Bombing of Hiroshima

On August 6, 1945, Hiroshima became the first victim of an atomic attack. For the first time, nuclear weapons had been used in war. Wisconsin was there.  Twelve days before, on July 25, the War Department instructed General Carl Spaatz, commander of Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific, to use

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Part III: Okinawa: Decision at Shuri

   One hundred feet below Shuri Castle, in the tunnel that functioned as Ushijima’s headquarters, debate raged over whether to launch an offensive or stay on defense. Ushijima decided to attack with his reserve units in an effort to push back the Americans past Kakazu Ridge. In addition to the

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