Wisconsin Veterans Museum

The Military Police Corps (MP) has one of the U.S. Army’s most unique missions: policing the very army it is a part of. Beyond that, however, few people know exactly how much further their mission goes.

Established 85 years ago today, the Military Police Corps has supported the U.S. Army through every major conflict since World War II. Military Police soldiers help maintain order, protect personnel and resources, run checkpoints, and protect prisoners, in addition to conducting law enforcement across the full spectrum of military operations.

These quotes from our oral history program highlight just a few of the MPs in our collection. The backdrops to these quotes are just a few of the military police objects in our collections.

To hear more stories like these, you can see more oral histories on our website: https://wisvetsmuseum.catalogaccess.com/archives?search=%22oral+history%22+AND+%22military+police%22&page=1&size=50&withImages=false

Today marks the 65th anniversary of the green beret!

Although it had been used for years prior, September 25th, 1961 marked the official Army designation of the green beret as the exclusive headgear of Army Special Forces.

This beret in our collection was owned by James Megellas, a retired U.S. Army officer from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin who served as a paratrooper with Co. H, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division in Europe during World War II. After he retired from the U.S. Army Reserve as a lieutenant colonel in 1961, Megellas began a political career that led to his appointment as Mission Director for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) that included stints in Yemen (1962-1964), Panama (1964-1968), Vietnam (1968-1970) and Colombia (1975-1979).

Between the latter two, Megellas served as USAID Advisor to the Commanding General, John F. Kennedy Center for Military Assistance and to the Commandant, United States Army Institute for Military Assistance at Fort Bragg, North Carolina from September 1972 to November 1975. The 5th SFG (A) returned to Fort Bragg in March 1971. This version of their beret flash with diagonal yellow bar and three red stripes was first worn in 1963 by those serving in Vietnam prior to being adopted by the entire group in 1970. Megellas may have received this beret during his three years at Fort Bragg, although given the theater made appearance of the flash may have gotten it while still in Vietnam between 1968 and 1970. Later, the 5th SFG (A) reverted to their original plain black and white flash in 1985 until readopting this design in 2016.

Lawrence T. “Larry” Jensen of Sauk City served as a boiler technician in the U.S. Navy aboard the USS Manley (DD-940) as part of Command Destroyer Squadron 4 from 1956-1959.

At the height of the Cold War, Jensen’s vessel was tasked with promoting the security of the U.S. in Europe, though not through strength of arms, but intercultural connection. The Manley visited port cities throughout Europe and the Caribbean, and its sailors were tasked with meeting and befriending locals, and forming neighborly relationships wherever they stopped.

Jensen acquired this wooden finger puppet (V2008.44.13) on one such visit in summer 1957 in Kiel, Germany. It is one of several puppets and dolls he collected from each city he entered. Funnily enough, this puppet is that of a drunken sailor. Later in 1957, the Manley was struck by a rogue wave while on mission to aid a fallen aircraft, killing two of its crew. It’s mission to share “the principles of the way of life that Americans embrace” through its cultural visits continued, and Lawrence served until he was honorably discharged in 1959.

Nathan Hale, and Continental American spy, was hanged by the British Army 250 years ago today. Operation Nathan Hale, a Vietnam War operation named after this American Patriot, is also commemorating its 60th Anniversary.

Operation Nathan Hale was a search-and-destroy mission in South Vietnam. Wisconsin veteran William L. Sims tells of his time in this mission in his oral history:

"So we get in the helicopter, get up front, get out. And these young guys, there's just about seven new recruits ... and they were just sitting there and just profusely sweating... So I seen a sheet on the line and ... I tore up some strips, I gave it to each one of the them. I said, 'Hey, man, you guys use this for sweat bands around your head.'

So it's sort of lieutenant looks up at me and says, OK, Sims, you're back with us. You take point. One of the young guys, ... he says, 'Sims take point on on a left flank, outside those bushes.' So he breaks through the bushes and when he breaks through the bushes you hear 'Pow, Pow. Oow!' ... I look right. And he's laying down. ... I knew he had to be hit. We see some fire on the left flank. Soon, as I said that man, everything seemed open. 'Pow. Pow, Pow. Pow. Pow,' man.

My weapon jams and the guy next to me is coming behind me. His weapon jammed after trying, and I said, 'Try to clear your weapon man, try to clear your weapon,' but he goes into shock. ... So I'm trying to get my weapon squared away and I'm moving, getting out of the line of fire, then and then I look up, man, and I see this gr***de coming. I said, 'Oh s**t.' So I hit the ground ... and I can hear it bouncing boomp, boomp... I feel my leg lift up ... and I looked down and my leg was there... And then I tried to get up ... and the I see the blood coming out. I said 'Oh man, this shrapnel hit my leg.' Well, I gets up. And I said, well, man, I need to get out of this position here.

Meantime, I look and see that the lieutenant ... broke both his legs. He was laying there, so I grabbed him by the collar and I dragged him about 20 feet, and I see this manhole, this manhole is there, this is must have been one of their positions at one time.... Pushed him into the manhole, grabbed his 45. I cocked it and, and I said, 'sir, ... you're on your own.' And when I turn around same time, this young young guy ... jumps up and starts firing their machine gun, and you must have got off, maybe about 10 or 15 rounds... They hit him from down here all the way up the side. You heard him yipe, and then he fell over the machine gun. ... And he was about 20 yards from me and I said, 'Oh my, they can't get that machine gun.' I ain't got no weapon, so I said, 'Ah I am going to get that.' So Iimped over there towards the machine got him pulled him off the machine gun.

He done bleed into the chamber, so now I'm cleaning out the chamber. And by the time I cleaned out, the chamber, locked it down, cocked it, sure enough I look to my left man, I see two guys coming out of the bushes man and I fire I just turned and fired. Soon as I started firing they turned and ran back into those bushes, man and I and I let the machine gun follow 'em back up in there. So then I lay down then I just lay there, man. Waiting on some action to come and I'm here and all this action on all sides and everything. And all of a sudden, 'Rrrrrrrrr' a helicopter comes out and bombs it, starts firing at the hill, so now there's really a lot of support going on, and now you hear a lot of firing and stuff like that.

Then it gets quiet. ... And then all of a sudden I turn around. I see some guys coming, ...and the guy says, 'Hey, are you hit?' I said, 'Yeah, in my leg, in the leg.' ... So sure enough, in a couple of minutes, some guys came up to replace me and put me on a stretcher and are taking me back to the helicopter.

I look down at all seven of those guys that I've been given those sweat bands to are laying there dead. Never forgot that. All, seven of 'em man."

Today we’re remembering Herbert R. Wysocki and his service with the U.S. Army during World War II.

Wysocki was born on October 27, 1921 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He graduated from Boys’ Technical High School and worked at the Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company before entering military service.

He entered the Army on April 23, 1944 and deployed to Europe, where he served as a private with Company B, 328th Infantry Regiment. In November 1944, Wysocki and the 328th Infantry Regiment took part in the fighting in Lorraine as American forces advanced across northeastern France. He was killed in action in France on December 1, 1944, at the age of 23. Initially buried overseas, his remains were returned to the United States in 1949 and reinterred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Milwaukee.

Wysocki’s story is proudly represented in our collections through papers and photographs documenting his life and military service, including the photograph and certificate of appreciation shown here.

180 years ago today, General Zachary Taylor’s American army started its advance on the city of Monterrey in northern Mexico.

Taylor divided his 6200 men into two columns to attack the city from two sides, Taylor himself leading half his army against the city’s east side, William Worth’s division circling to the northwest and attacking from that direction. Both forces swung into action on September 21. After three days of fighting in and around the city, Monterrey’s 7,000 Mexican defenders surrendered. The defeat secured northern Mexico for the United States, and demoralized Mexican forces.

Among the officers of the 5th Infantry (G on the map), in Worth’s division, was Charles S. Hamilton. In 1853 he moved to Fond du Lac and started a business. In the Civil War, he formed and led the 3rd Wisconsin Infantry and later was promoted to general.

(Image of Hamilton from WVM; other images and map public domain)

Today is the 79th anniversary of the creation of the U.S. Air Force by the National Security Act of 1947.

Prior to September, the responsibilities of military aviation were disjointed, spread across a number of departments under the U.S. Military. As aviation became an increasingly important aspect of warfare, especially in WWII, the need for a dedicated air force became increasingly clear, leading to its official establishment on September 18th, 1947.

This is Prisoner of War Allen Peck.

For POW/MIA Recognition Day, we have a full blog post featuring this Madison resident, his capture by Imperial Japan, starvation in a prison camp, forced labor, escape attempt, recapture, and eventual liberation by Russian troops.

Read his story on our website here: https://wisvetsmuseum.com/japanese-pow-allen-peck/

This World War II-era 96th Bomb Squadron patch was originally worn on the left breast of an A-2 leather flight jacket. Its hand-painted surface prominently features the red devil design first adopted by the unit’s predecessor, the 96th Aero Squadron, in June 1918. The sneering, bomb-wielding mascot earned the 96th an obvious and enduring nickname: the "Red Devils.”

The patch belonged to Madison resident Albert G. Martell, a B-17 bombardier who served primarily out of southern Italy with the 96th Bomb Squadron, 2nd Bomb Group, 15th Air Force between September 1944 and August 1945. Lt. Martell and his crew participated in the Po Valley, Northern Apennines, Air Combat Balkans, and Rhineland campaigns during his 11 months overseas. He also earned a Distinguished Flying Cross and an Air Medal with 5 oak leaf clusters prior to his September 24, 1945 discharge.

While the public watched in horror on 9/11, the U.S. Military took immediate action to heighten defense and prevent further damage. One such action was Operation Noble Eagle, beginning just hours after the attacks.

Operation Noble Eagle mobilized National Guard and reserve units across the nation to heighten security on military bases, airports and other potential targets such as bridges, power plants, and ports.

This quick mobilization was possible because of NORAD CONPLAN 3310, a joint defensive plan between Canada and the United States that outlines procedures for aerospace warning, aerospace control, and maritime warning across North America in the case of emergency.

Adria Zuccaro, who served with the 128th Air Refueling Wing out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was activated as part of Operation Noble Eagle. Zuccaro spoke of Operation Noble Eagle in her oral history with the museum:

"it's a war plan that NORAD [North American Aerospace Defense Command], NORTHCOM [US Northern Command] have to protect homeland defense. And out of that 3310, the ex*****on order, that came from 9/11 is Operation Noble Eagle. And that still stands today. So that alert mission set that was left over from the Cold War has now converted to Noble Eagle and endures...."

Images show Adria Zuccaro as part of the WDVA's "I Am Not Invisible" campaign [Image 1] and other members of the U.S. Military across the many roles required for Operation Noble Eagle [Images 2-6].