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For my History in your community assignment I chose to visit In Their Own Words (ITOW), a veteran’s museum in my hometown of Perham, MN on November 28th, 2007. This museum was funded by local donations and not the government which to me is exceptional. I do have to mention Sherman Mandt, who was a veteran and was the one that really pushed to get this museum opened; it was definitely his dream. I found this to be one of the most interesting sites I have every visited because it has so many unique features. Two of the major features I will discuss are the exhibits with pictures and clothing, and the tape recordings of veterans telling their story.
The museum is composed of various exhibits that tell the story of veterans from World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. The exhibits are composed of pictures that were taken by newspaper reporters and civilians during the war. There are also uniforms hanging up to show you what they had to wear while at war. What stood out most to me is the fact that there are tape recordings from veterans and their spouses from my home town. They tell you what they saw and/or did while away at war and their spouses discussed what it was like to have a husband in the war. One of the stories that stood out most to me was by one man who said he came back from the World War II on Friday, got married on Saturday, and left again on Sunday. The way of life during these wars just amazed me; I couldn’t even picture having to do it today. It was also very neat to hear these stories because fewer and fewer veterans of these wars are alive today and to hear them talk just makes the experience much more real. It taught me that you can’t just let history like this pass and forget about it, you have to embrace it and learn as much as you can about it.