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Saturday, November 28, 2009

War Museum Float in Pontiac parade


Thanks to museum member, Ralph Messer, for manning the jeep float entitled "Letters from Home" in this years Pontiac Light-Up Parade. This is the second year that Ralph has helped represent our museum. Thanks to our treasurer, George Pouliot, for representing us this way for several years as well.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

New Highway Signs on I-55


The War Museum is one of four attractions featured on new highway signs at Exit 197. Thanks to Pontiac's Office of Tourism, the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Illinois Bureau of Tourism. It is estimated that nearly 20,000 cars pass the sign each day on I-55 northbound. Photo courtesy of Pontiac Tourism.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

PONTIAC JUNIOR HIGH VISIT


Thanks to Jennifer Krueger and the other teachers from Pontiac Junior High School for planning a timely field trip just before Veterans Day this year. The students were well-prepared and asked some great questions. It was a pleasure to meet them and to show them around our museum. They know now that freedom isn't free as they heard the stories of our local veterans.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Veterans Day 2009 - What is a Veteran?



Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye.

Others may carry the evidence inside of them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg - or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul's ally forged in adversity.

Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem.

You can't tell a vet just by looking.

He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run out of fuel.

He is the loudmouth whose frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel in Korea.

She is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Vietnam.

He is the former Prisoner of War who went away one person and came back another - or didn't come back at all.

He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.

He or she is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being - a person who offered some of life's most vital years in the service of our country, who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs.

So remember, each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over and say THANK YOU. That's all most people need, and, in most cases it will mean more than any medals earned.

Two little words that mean a lot, THANK YOU.

Adapted from Father Denis Edward O'Brien, USMC


"It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us the freedom of the press.
It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.
It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag."

From the Veterans of the Livingston County War Museum

Saturday, November 7, 2009

IN MEMORIAM - FORT HOOD

Fort Hood's Deceased


Lt. Col. Juanita Warman, 55, Havre de Grace MD
Maj. Libardo Caraveo, 52, Woodbridge VA
Cpt. John P. Gaffaney, 54, San Diego CA
Cpt. Russell Seager, 41, Racine WI
Staff Sgt. Justin Decrow, 32, Plymouth IN
Sgt. Amy Krueger, 29, Kiel WI
Spc. Jason Hunt, 22, Tillman OK
Spc. Frederick Greene, 29, Mountain City TN
PFC Aaron Nemelka, 19, West Jordan UT
PFC Michael Pearson, 22, Bolingbrook IL
PFC Kham Xiong, 23, St. Paul MN
Pvt. Francheska Velez, 21, Chicago IL
Michael G. Cahill, Cameron TX (civilian)