Wisconsin Veterans Museum

For Pride Month, we are highlighting the stories of LGBTQ veterans and their experiences in the military.

A number of Wisconsin veterans in the LGBTQ community have given their thoughts and experiences while serving. Here are some relevant quotes from the oral history collection.

It's National Dairy Month!

This early 1940s K-Ration is from the collection of Russell K. Sesto, a Racine, Wisconsin native who served in the Wisconsin National Guard from the 1930s through the 1970s. The K-Ration aimed to be more portable as well as offer more variety and better nutritional roundness than its predecessors.

During testing, reviews of the two dairy-derived options that were included wound up on opposite ends of the spectrum; while the processed cheese was considered a favorite, the malted milk-dextrose tablets were particularly disliked.

It was suggested by reviewers that they be replaced by Horlick’s Malted Milk tablets, a popular supplement that was made right in Sesto’s hometown of Racine. Instead, the Dinner Unit eventually featured caramels as a replacement.

Today, the United States Army Veterinary Corps turns 110 years old.

Started in 1916, the Veterinary Corps provides food safety, medical research, and, of course, animal care for the U.S. Army. This includes work on service and ceremonial dogs, horses, and pets owned by service members.

The patch in the image below was created by Globe Tailoring Company in Milwaukee, WI after WWI, and now stays within our collections. Note the "C" of the "VC" (Veterinary Corps) is upturned to resemble a horseshoe.

The link between military service and PTSD is notable and well-documented.

June is PTSD awareness month, aimed at destigmatizing the struggles of PTSD and the varied treatments for it.

These quotes are from Michael Mishler, who was raised in a military family and deployed to Vietnam in 1967.

This month in 1943, several Wisconsinites participated "Operation Landcrab," a mission to overtake Attu Island from Imperial Japan.

Bordering the Bering Sea, Attu Island lays much farther north than other well-known battles in the Pacific Theater of WWII, and remains the westernmost point of any of the 50 U.S. states.

A number of men in our oral history collection have shared their insight and experiences in this operation. Hear about it in their own words in our most recent blog post! It's currently live on our website.

Operation Landcrab: Landings on Attu On May 11, 1943, combined forces of the Army and Navy were brought to bear on Attu Island, a United States Territory of the Aleutian Chain in the Bering Sea. The 7th Infantry Division and Naval Task…

Hosea Rood was the first employee ever tasked with the responsibilities of our museum, and today would be his birthday.

The Wisconsin Veterans Museum is itself celebrating its 125th anniversary this year, a future that Hosea Rood likely never imagined for his small room in the State Capitol.

To read about Hosea Rood, and his importance to the creation and upkeep of our museum, read our blog post below.

Hosea Rood: Our First Custodian On May 30th, 1845, Marianna Rood (nee Thorngate) and her husband Charles Persons Rood gave birth to their first child, Hosea Whitford Rood. Later that year, the family moved from Persia…

In honor of Jewish American Heritage Month, we share these Korean War-era brass nameplates acquired by Rabbi Morton Shalowitz while serving in South Korea from 1953 to 1954.

Shalowitz entered service in the U.S. Army Officer Reserve Corps as a chaplain in August 1952. The Chicago native was first assigned to Camp McCoy, Wisconsin, and Fort Riley, Kansas, before being reassigned to Eighth Army Headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, in August 1953. During his 11 months overseas, then-Lieutenant Shalowitz supervised the creation of Beth Yehee Shalom (“House of Let There Be Peace”) synagogue. Its dedication in May 1954 by General Maxwell D. Taylor marked the opening of the first synagogue established on Korean soil.

Rabbi Shalowitz remained in the U.S. Army Reserve following his return to the United States later that year. Over the next decade, he served congregations ranging from North Dakota to Florida before settling permanently in Wisconsin after relocating to Fond du Lac in 1963. From there, Shalowitz retired from the military as a colonel in 1983 and from Temple Beth Israel as its rabbi in 1992. He remained in Fond du Lac until moving to the Jewish Home and Care Center in Milwaukee, where he passed away in 2011.

Today, we will be keeping our post simple.

Today is Memorial Day, a day of reflection and mourning for all of those who have died while serving the U.S. Armed Forces. We remember them and their sacrifice.