On display at the Wood County Museum’s World War II exhibit are uniforms worn by James Woodruff, from left, Allen Allion, Harold Kaltenbach, James Boltz and Robert Hirzel.
The Wood County Museum remembers World War II and local veterans in its newest exhibit, “We’ll Meet Again: Remembering World War II.”
The museum held a ribbon-cutting Thursday, where Curator Holly Kirkendall said it always gives her pleasure to create something from local history because she gets to learn about the people whose memories are stored in our collection.
“It has been an honor and privilege to learn about your family members and to keep their memory alive,” she said about the families who donated to the museum’s permanent collections.
Roselinde Crandall, 84, provided a first-hand story of her experience with the war. She said her mother and siblings were told to leave their home in Osselwitz Guhrau Schlesien (formerly in East Germany and now a part of Poland) on the first Sunday of January 1945 to avoid Russian capture.
Roselinde Crandall shared her experiences leaving East Germany during World War II.
There were seven children under the age of 9 and her mother was 7 months pregnant, she said.
They traveled in an open horse buggy for six weeks to Bavaria – a trip that now would take eight hours to drive.
The newborn, “our little Angel” lost its life, she said.
They lived in a hut with only a stove for 10 years, Crandall said.
“I don’t dwell on it,” she said about her experience. “For me, it ends up as a blessing that we had our guardian angel.”
The exhibit challenges the romantic notion of war through the exhibition of objects used by service men and women from Wood County coupled with era film and first-person audio experiences.
Rifles, Purple Hearts, posters, news stories and uniforms adorn the first-floor exhibit. Black and white war movies are shown in several rooms and there are touch screens where visitors can learn more about the war.
The uniform worn by Lloyd Shelton, left, is on display as are uniforms worn by Richard Blasius, third from left, and Malcolm Acocks, fourth from left.
Kirkendall, who has been the curator at the museum for almost 13 years, said the museum has a lot of military pieces in its permanent collection and with a 2017 exhibit that focused on World War I, she thought it was time to focus on World War II.
It wasn’t difficult to put together but was time consuming, she said. It took around one year with the bulk of time spent on the information for the touch screens.
There was a lot of research to get the correct information on the men and women whose uniforms they had, she said.
The uniform on the left was worn by Denny Enright. This exhibit also includes a picture taken at Camp Atterbury, an Army training center in Indiana.
“Many of these uniforms were donated decades ago,” Kirkendall said.
“She is so very considerate and kind when she puts these exhibits together,” said Bowling Green Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Mary Hinkelman about Kirkendall. “She puts so much respect behind them.”
Museum Director Annette Wells said about three-quarters of the museum has new exhibits, including “For Service and Support: Creating an Accessible Community” about people with disabilities who used to live in the building; and “Wood County: A Timeless Classic,” that includes an overview of events from 1820 to present.
The World War II exhibition will last for two years.
Signs are posted throughout the floors of the exhibit. This one explains how why the U.S. entered the war.