bigpigeon.us webpage WWII US > WWII At Home, updated by RAC 28 Jul 2022.
"World War II was the largest and most violent armed conflict in the history of mankind. However, the half century that now separates us from that conflict has exacted its toll on our collective knowledge. While World War II continues to absorb the interest of military scholars and historians, as well as its veterans, a generation of Americans has grown to maturity largely unaware of the political, social, and military implications of a war that, more than any other, united us as a people with a common purpose."
-- Gordon R. Sullivan, U.S. Army, Chief of Staff, c. 1995
-- Gordon R. Sullivan, U.S. Army, Chief of Staff, c. 1995
United States Military Museums
Links to United States military museum directories:
Iowa area military museums:
- https://mybaseguide.com/military-museum/ - Twelve of the best US military museums.
- https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g191-Activities-c49-t32-a_sort.TRAVELER__5F__RANKED-United_States.html - Trip Advisor lists 558 military museums as of July 2022.
- https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/story/Article/1641588/guide-to-us-military-museums/ - guide to official US military museums. Includes links to many worldwide military museums.
Iowa area military museums:
- Not yet done.
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The Desert Training Center, in the Mohave and Sonora deserts of California and Arizona, was developed under the leadership of General George Patton in 1942, and operated until 1944. The Desert Training Center is remembered at the General George Patton Memorial Museum on Interstate 10 at Chiriaco Summit, California.
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Desert Training Center Bases
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WWII in Iowa:
- In WWII, the Iowa National Guard was a component of the 34th Infantry Division. My report, The 168th Infantry Regiment in WW II has more information, although it is currently incomplete.
Memorializing the WWII Dead
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During WWII, many communities erected billboards in public locations that listed community members serving in the Armed Forces. These billboards, temporary in nature, deteriorated and were removed.
In recent years, some communities, including the rural communities of Pottawattamie County, began to erect monuments for community members who died in our past wars. Sadly these monuments sometimes carry the names of those who contributed to the monument construction but not the names of those who died in the service of their country. The accompanying photo shows the memorial to war veterans from the Walnut, Iowa area. Starting in 2007, most Pottawattamie County communities installed public memorials to the war veterans from their area. Each memorial featured a bronze eagle statuary done by Russ Christensen of Neola, Iowa. Bayliss Park in Council Bluffs contains a memorial to the Pottawattamie County dead from all wars, which does list the names of Pottawattamie County dead (the Civil War list is incomplete). |
Walnut Eagle
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Sources for Big Pigeon's WWII US > WWII At Home webpage:
- The webpage header image, Buy Bonds, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%22I_Want_my_Daddy_Back.%22_Buy_Bonds_%22Remember_Pearl_Harbor%22_-_NARA_-_514566.jpg.
- The Desert Training Center Bases map is taken from a Bureau of Land Management brochure found at https://www.blm.gov/documents/arizona-california/public-room/brochure/desert-training-center-california-arizona-maneuver.
- The Walnut Eagle photo is courtesy of walnutiowa.org. http://www.eaglesofhonorproject.com is an older website telling of the Pottawattamie County eagle project. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCRlqz6eF08 is video of each memorial compliments of Western Iowa Television.
