Looking for Light - in this blog, which is an extension of the article in the Winter 2023 issue of The Bugle, we’re sharing more background on the images featured in the magazine. The variations of light captured in these images vary from heavenly cloud formations to battle silhouettes. They can be interpreted as both artful and inspiring. Behind the photos of course are our Wisconsin veterans. Their stories here are often augmented with their oral histories where you can read their experiences as they tell them. We encourage you to explore this content.   A photograph of Dennis Bo ..read more

James K. Overman of Delafield, Wisconsin, is the son of a World War I veteran and raised with a love for aviation. After receiving a draft notice in 1951, a year after graduating high school, Overman opted to enlist in the Air Force to ensure he got to fly planes instead of sitting in a foxhole. Overman passed the entrance exam for flight school, and the Air Force sent him to Goodfellow Air Force Base in San Angelo, Texas. At Goodfellow, he encountered discrimination due to his Oneida heritage. Overman recalls the event: OVERMAN: When were finally called for pilot school, I went to Goodfe ..read more

Nao Tou Lor, soldier of the Self Defense Shock to the Special Guerilla Unit (SGU). Nao Tou Lor was born in 1953 in the province of Xieng Khouang, Laos. His father worked with the French, and Nao Tou Lor remembers visiting the French fort near his home at an early age. Circa 1962, the Vietnamese arrested his father and took him. Nao Tou Lor and his brothers fled to the jungles to enlist and obtain arms from the Americans. Nao Tou Lor attended school for a short while before he also became a soldier around 1964. After the cease-fire in 1975, Nao Tou Lor and many of his fellow soldiers were f ..read more

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Madison, Wis. (March 24, 2023) - On March 29, 1973, U.S. ground forces withdrew from South Vietnam. The withdrawal officially ended years of war that forever marked a generation. To mark the 50th anniversary of the official end of the Vietnam War, the Wisconsin Veterans Museum will open a display in its Capitol Square window, “Our Vietnam Veterans: Then and Now.” The images and oral histories in this exhibit honor a handful of the more than 57,000 Wisconsinites who served in Southeast Asia between 1965 and 1973. Beginning March 24, 2023, from the window display, viewers ..read more

On March 29, 1973, the last US combat troops were withdrawn from Vietnam, and the last prisoners of war held in North Vietnam returned to American soil. Since then, Vietnam Veterans Day has been established to welcome home Vietnam veterans, acknowledge their service and remember the men and women who died during the Vietnam War. In recognition of Vietnam Veterans Day, Wisconsin Veterans Museum staff have gathered a few of the many stories of Vietnam veterans here at the Museum. Teddy L. Duckworth, a Mauston, Wisconsin resident, served as a helicopter mechanic with the Marin ..read more

By Andrea Hoffman, Collections Manager Utility jacket worn by James Mosel in Vietnam. 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 Falls partook in an oral history interview last August, interviewer Rick Berry—also a long-time volunteer cataloger in object collections—well understood the importance of creating these links and enco ..read more

This is the the story of Ho-Chunk warrior, Owen C. Mike, known as Jąąpwakącąk in the Hoocąk language. A leader of the Buffalo Clan, Ho-Chunk Nation, Mike served in the Vietnam War and received the Silver Star Medal and Bronze Star Medal with valor device for his actions while under fire in Vietnam. Mike served in India Company, 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines, 3rd Marine Division from roughly December 1967 to February 1969. He was later discharged from the United States Marine Corps on October 1, 1971. Mike's narrative reveals his thoughts on the nature of being a Ho-Chunk warrior and its ..read more

“…AND WHEN CHARLIE HAS THE GROUND UNIT SURROUNDED, WE USE WHAT WE CALL THE HIGH-OVERHEAD APPROACH.” Warrant Officer Berry in the cockpit The Berry Family at flight school graduation: Mom, Dad, Rick, and his brother My Mom included the cartoon on the right in a scrapbook she complied regarding my military service. Portions of the scrapbook are exhibited on a touch screen display in the “Souvenirs of Service” exhibit at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum. In the cartoon note the expression on the face of the left seat Huey pilot and the caption. The caption is quite accurate. (“Huey” is th ..read more

United States Army Veteran Gary Castona. WVM.OH2217 This blog post features extracts from an oral history interview with a Wisconsin veteran Gary Castona from La Farge, Wisconsin, in the Coulee region. He relates his experiences of Vietnam combat service and later Cold War Germany. Like many veterans, Castona’s military service affected the rest of his life. His military experience is a mixture of proud service to the country tempered by physical and mental sacrifice. Castona grew up in Amherst, Wisconsin, and served in the United States Army during the Vietnam War as a field artilleryman ..read more

William Sims standing next to his statue at the War Memorial Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. WVM.OH2222. William L. Sims calm smile and collected manner belies a man whose herculean efforts empowering veterans in Wisconsin are almost without equal. He continues shaping veterans organizations, mentoring fellow veterans, and implementing programs. There is a reason why Sims has a statue featured on the main floor of the War Memorial Center in Milwaukee, he earned it. In November of 1990, the then-director of the Wisconsin Veterans Museum (WVM) Dr. Richard Zeitlin asked Thomas H. Wynn, Sr., e ..read more