A Pair of Boots…A Pilot’s Logbook…A Mess Kit…all
tell dramatic stories in the exhibition
Maryland Veterans of World War II
Our Arsenal of Democracy
November 11, 2008—December 31, 2009
Presented by
Media Sponsor
Opening on Veterans Day, Tuesday November 11, 2008, the exhibition displays the uniforms, arms, and equipment of Maryland’s combat veterans and materials from the home front.
The pair of army boots
belonged to Major Douglas Stone. On June 6, 1944, Dr. Stone made landfall at Utah Beach, attached to Johns Hopkins Field Hospital No. 18. Casualties were so high that, his boots were deep in his patient’s blood while he operated.
The Pilot’s Logbook
opens at the June 4 and 6, 1942 entries during r the Battle of Midway, where pilot Lt. James Clark Barrett won the Distinguished Flying Cross.
The Mess Kit
served only cold C-rations on “Black Christmas,” 1944, as Corporal John R. Schaffner and his comrades hung on grimly in the Battle of the Bulge.
There are scores of other objects, that bring to life the WWII experiences of Marylanders from all walks of life:
Like the shirt proudly worn by Buffalo soldier Norman Gilyard, who fought in the all-black 92nd Division that helped liberate Italy. (His unit is celebrated in the movie Miracle at Santa Anna.)
Or the personal photo albums of William Donald Schaefer, later Mayor of Baltimore and Governor and Comptroller of Maryland. Schaefer served from 1942-45 in the Hospital Corps, . eventually serving as the Adjutant of the 22d US General Hospital.
The subtitle of the exhibition comes from a radio broadcast made by Franklin D. Roosevelt on December 29, 1940. In this “fireside chat” he stated: “We must have more ships, more guns, more planes—more of everything. We must be the great arsenal of democracy.”
Maryland’s wartime industries responded to his call:Rivets from the Liberty Ship John Brown, built in the Port of Baltimore, recall the great armada that ferried troops and cargo across the Atlantic to liberate Europe.
Models of the famous B-26 and B-29 planes manufactured by the Glenn L. Martin Company remind us of the ferocity of the air war.
Visitors will encounter an American jeep with machine gun mounted on it, back to back with a German kübelwagen.
Striking a lighter note are the souvenirs collected by the troops. No respecter of dictators, Captain Bryden Hyde chipped a chunk of marble out of Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest and turned it into an ashtray. The fancy pink marble had been a present to Hitler from Mussolini.
First Lt. Gordon Allen of Baltimore simply wrote in a letter home: “The greatest day of my life will be when I walk in the front door of 216 Edgevale Rd. and holler, ‘Is anyone home?’”
288,000 Maryland men and women served in World War II.
6,454 did not come home.
Their names are listed on our Honor Roll.
Admission to the museum and related events will be free to all veterans and active military throughout the run of the exhibition.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Support has been received from
MdHS gratefully acknowledges the support of
Friess Associates
and the cooperation of many veterans’ groups, in particular the Maryland 29th Division Association.
The material in the exhibition comes primarily from the collections of COL. (MD) George S. Rich. Much of the material from Colonel Rich’s collection was previously shown at the National Firearms Museum in Virginia. Additional material comes from the Maryland Historical Society; Maryland State Archives; Maryland Public Television; Maryland Military Historical Society at the Fifth Regiment Armory, Baltimore; The Glenn L. Martin Maryland Aviation Museum; Project Liberty Ship; Department of Veterans Affairs; Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University; and private individuals.
