5 compelling stories on display at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum, and 5 that are locked away

Dominating the 20th century gallery is the UH-1 Iroquois, or Huey, that hangs over the Vietnam War exhibits. They served as troop transports, assault gunships, medical evac transports and supply carriers. The one on display saw over 800 hours of combat flight time in Vietnam as a gunship, with bullet holes still in its tail. It’s painted as it appeared when in combat with the shark design reminiscent of the WWII Flying Tigers in their P-40s.

It was a surprise when Majil Steiner of Eau Claire received a silk parachute from her husband with instructions to make a dress for herself. Dick Steiner was serving with the 40th Bomb Group in the Pacific and was shot down in November 1944. The parachute that saved his life became a lovely gown. Majil had a portrait taken and mailed it to her husband in India. He carried the photo of her wearing the dress for the rest of his tour. He served in the Air Force for 31 years.

A 6-pounder brass cannon was captured by the 14th Wisconsin Regiment at the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862. The cannon was sent back to Madison and placed on the Capitol lawn, fired during Independence Day celebrations. Not all those celebratory cannon volleys went off as planned. One Civil War veteran, John Betz, was loading the cannon with a ram rod when it misfired. Both his arms were blown off.

In October 2020, Marc Nieto of Fond du Lac was an engineman on the USS Cole when it was hit by a suicide bomber in the Port of Aden in Yemen. He was killed along with 16 other sailors. Nieto was later buried at sea. Before the box containing his ashes was given to the U.S. Navy for a closed ceremony, his mother gave her son one last kiss goodbye. Her lipstick marks on the tag above his name are a visible reminder of the danger service members face and the grief of those left at home.

A photo of Kenneth Gruennert of Helenville, left, shows the playful 20 year-old who was a war hero killed in action on Christmas Eve in Buna, New Guinea, during World War II. His posthumously awarded Medal of Honor is on view at the museum, but he’s better understood though papers and photos in the archival collection in storage. “Toad,” as Gruennert was called by his Wisconsin National Guard buddies, remains one of the rich, untold stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary acts of service. The archive also shows how his parents declined an offer from the War Department during the war for a trip to the White House to meet the president and receive their son’s Medal of Honor because they thought the gas used during a time of rationing should be given to the war effort for other families with loved ones still fighting overseas.

The tall black hat with two bullet holes in its crown is from the Battle of Gettysburg. It’s the only known remaining battle-worn, black hat of the famed “Iron Brigade” in existence today. Philander Wright of Lancaster wore the hat as he carried the National Colors of the 2nd Wisconsin the morning of July 1, 1863. As the battle began, two bullets passed through his hat and several other bullets knocked him down moments later, but he survived. The museum preserves his story, hat, and flag and staff he carried.

Treated at times as an “enemy alien,” Akira Richard Toki of Madison served in the U.S. Army with the 442 Regimental Combat Team during WWII. The unit of Japanese-American soldiers distinguished themselves at Anzio and Monte Cassio and are known as the “Purple Heart Battalion” for combat wounds they received, Toki among them. His experiences with discrimination and segregation at home and in the military are detailed in the museum archives, including a instance when Evansville police detained Toki and friends, who were on leave, on suspicion of being enemy aliens. Akira Toki Middle School is named in his honor.

During the Cold War, a divided Berlin was an irritant between East and West. On Aug. 13, 1961, without warning, East Germany sealed off West Berlin and started building a wall to restrict movement. Madison’s Daryl Sherman was stationed in Berlin with the U.S. Army during the summer and fall of 1961 and took a series of photographs documenting the Berlin Wall’s construction, including one showing East German police patrolling a line of barbed wire where the wall will go. The Berlin Wall became the symbol of East-West tensions until Nov. 9, 1989, when its fall marked the Cold War’s end.

After graduating from the University of Wisconsin ROTC program, Walter Draeger of Deerfield deployed to Vietnam as a pilot. On April 4, 1965, he flew in support of raids on the Thanh Hoa Bridge in North Vietnam. Enemy fire downed his flight leader. Draeger called for rescuers. Although completely alone, he protected the crash site and the unarmed rescue aircraft until he himself was shot down. He is still classified as Missing in Action. His family entrusted his medals and personal effects to the Wisconsin Veterans Museum.

Helen Bulovsky, who grew up on West Mifflin Street, graduated from nursing school in 1917 at the age of 22. She enlisted in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps serving in WWI evacuation hospitals in France as the first line of treatment for the wounded. From her playful pictures of friends and colleagues held in the archives, she shows how she wanted to remember her life. From her letters home she tells of the horrors she endured in service. “Yesterday I worked so hard that after the doctors left I cried — I really don’t know what for, but I couldn’t help it.” After the war, she continued nursing and died at the age of 27 from a known chronic heart condition.