PASS IN REVIEW

4th Quarter	December 2001

MEMBERSHIP MEETING AND ELECTIONS  

The Annual Membership Meeting of the Idaho Military Historical Society was held on October 23^rd.  At the meeting, elections were held for four Members of the Board of Directors to serve a three-year term.  Elected were Ken Swanson, Gayle Alvarez, Dawana Pate and Ed Carlson.  

Following the election John Sterling, a Viet Nam Veteran, presented a very moving slide show on his experiences in Viet Nam.   

At its next Board Meeting on the 28^th of November, the Board re-organized itself and elected its officers.  Those Officers are:  

President – Dawana Pate  
Vice-President –Ken Swanson  
Secretary – Gayle Alvarez  
Treasurer – Cynthia Strader

Congratulations to all!

 

VETERAN’S DAY OPEN HOUSE

Idaho Military History Museum held an Open House on Veteran’s Day, November 11th and unveiled a new exhibit entitled WWII Soldier Art. 

During WWII, GIs created a great deal of art of many different forms.  Gowen Field had 2 such persons – John and Nick Collias. 

John and Nick both worked at Gowen Field during WWII and a great deal of their artwork was used in the Gowen Field newspaper, the Gowen Beacon.  Some of the Gowen Beacon’s their work appeared in are currently on display at the Museum.  John recently donated his collection to the IMHS and the WWII Soldier Art exhibit features some of his and Nick’s work.

 

A Portion of the

WWII Soldier Art Exhibit

Joining us were veterans from the Idaho State Veterans Home.  Over 170 visitors signed our Guest Register.  It was a very successful event and on behalf of the Board, thank you to all who worked so hard to make it a success!

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

I am pleased to be a member of the Idaho Military Historical Society Board of Directors, and am honored to serve as Board President. I look forward to being involved with all of you as we enter a new year of activities honoring and commemorating the men and women who have served our nation and the state of Idaho. 

As you look toward making your New Year’s Resolution this year, I ask you to think about making a pledge to be more involved in volunteer activities with the Idaho Military Historical Society.  We have established a wonderful tribute to Idaho’s military history. 

There is a lot of “behind the scenes” work involved in setting up and cleaning displays, doing research, and accomplishing a multitude of other small tasks.  For those of you living in Idaho, please refer to the insert for ideas on how you could volunteer your talent or skill that would benefit the museum’s continued growth.

I wish you and your family a happy holiday season and look forward to working with you in the coming year.                   - Dawana Edwards

 

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

In this issue of Pass in Review I’d like to let you know where we are financially, give you a recap on this last quarter’s events and activities and lastly to explain our situation with regards to volunteers.

While our donations and Gift Shop sales are right in line with our projected budget, we are lagging behind in the area of funds raised through Special Projects and memberships.  At this point we should have generated about $3900 through special project fundraisers but in fact only $1200 has been generated at one pancake breakfast and a raffle.  The current increased security at Gowen Field has pretty much eliminated any opportunity for the foreseeable future to hold any fund raising activity on base.   

We are also lagging in income generated by memberships with $835 earned and $1250 projected.  You can help by bringing friends and out-of-town visitors to the museum and then encouraging them to join the Society.  Point out to those who do not live close by, that their membership monies go toward the upkeep and expansion and enhancement of the museum exhibits and they in turn receive four great issues of our superior quarterly newsletter Pass in Review.

Being good stewards of our available resources, we have cut back on expenses and are currently a couple of thousand dollars below the projected expenses at this point in the fiscal year.  Sadly, this means that our Reference Library and Educational Outreach Program have incurred quite a setback. 

In October our quarterly membership meeting hosted John Sterling of Boise who presented a slide and recorded music show covering his experiences during the Viet Nam Conflict. 

For those of you with an interest in firearms, we now have a non-firing reproduction  of  a  Model  1918  BAR, Browning Automatic Rifle, on display.  The BAR was used by the U.S. military and many foreign countries from WWI up into the 1970s.

Also in October, we received one of our more significant donations thus far.  Mr. John Collias donated many of the original art and newsprints of portraits, political cartoons and the “Life at Gowen” series created by John and his brother Nick here at Gowen Field from 1942-1944. 

Through the combined efforts of eight of our volunteers, the collection was evaluated and selected pieces were set aside.  In two and a half weeks, a complete exhibit of “World War II Soldier Art” was unveiled on November 11^th, Veterans Day.  The unveiling was covered by three of the local TV networks and roughly 200 visitors viewed the exhibit on opening day. 

In December, we commemorated the 60^th Anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor by recreating our Pearl Harbor exhibit of photos, medals, and memorabilia from that most historic event which plunged the United States into WWII.

Finally, for our local members, you will receive a separate letter from the IMHS Board of Directors concerning our serious need for volunteers.  I believe, based on many compliments received about the Museum, that we, the Society, have created the beginnings of a fine military museum that will be something for Idahoans to be proud of for generations to come.  The staff is full of great ideas for projects, exhibits, vehicle restorations and fund raisers, but none of this can come to pass with one paid employee and a few volunteers. 

This is not the same operation that we started with in 1995.  With adequate help our future can be unlimited. With what we have now, we can’t even cover our scheduled open hours with docents.  I would hate to have to tell the Board that cut backs are required in museum open hours but that may be just over the horizon.  If you have any available time, preferably on a weekly or monthly recurring basis, please get involved.  With your help we can truly have a “Heroic Past and a Proud Future.”              -Bob Benbough

 

MEMBERS IN THE NEWS

"Brigadier General James A. Cozine, 116^th Cavalry Brigade Commander, Idaho Army National Guard has been selected to become the Deputy Commanding General (Reserve Component) of the Fifth U.S. Army (West).

Cozine has been a member of the Idaho Army National Guard for 31 years, serving in a variety of leadership roles.  While the Fifth Army has its headquarters in Texas, the two-star billet will allow Cozine to remain in Idaho during his tenure, which begins in August 2002.”         – Idaho Statesman, Nov 6, 2001

NEW MEMBERS

Special Welcome to:

  O Edgar ‘Ed’ L. Carlson         O Charles E. Chambers

  O Jeffrey L. Neal

O Loren Call         (Upgrade to Lifetime Membership)

O Idaho Military Vehicle Preservation Association   (Upgrade to Silver Membership)

 

IN MEMORIAM

It is with regret that we inform you of the passing of Mrs. Laura Scovel.  Laura volunteered as a Docent and she and her late husband Victor were both active in the Society.  Victor donated many of his WWII uniforms to the Museum, most of which are currently on display.  We wish to extend our deepest sympathies to the Scovel family.               – The Board  

 

France Honors World War II Veterans

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi and The Ambassador of France to the United States, Franςois Bujon de l'Estang, announced that the French government will present the THANK YOU AMERICA CERTIFICATE to surviving Allied and American World War II veterans. The certificate recognizes them for their participation in the Normandy Landing and the liberation of France.  

"This honor is further evidence that the contributions of our World War II veterans will be remembered by this nation and by our allies around the world whom they helped to free," said Principi.  

The certificate is meant to express the gratitude of the French people to those who served on French territory, in French territorial waters, or in French airspace between June 6, 1944, and May 8, 1945. The certificate will not be issued posthumously. Veterans who believe they are qualified should complete the required application and provide substantiation that they qualify for the certificate under French requirements.  

The ten Consuls of France in the United States will work with state veterans groups to identify eligible people, review and certify applications, prepare the certificates, and organize the ceremonies later this year to present the certificates.  

Application forms are available by calling Susan Thompson at the Division of Veterans Services' Office of Veterans Advocacy, 334-1245, from veterans service organizations, or may be downloaded on a special Internet site maintained by the French government.  

Source:  http://www.idvs.state.id.us/ (Idaho Division of Veterans Affairs)v

 

VOLUNTEER OF THE QUARTER

 

Please meet Frank ‘Gus’ Hofert

 

Gus was born in 1924 in Yelm, Washington.  He attended schools in Seattle and joined the U.S. Navy in 1942 at age 18.  He served for 5 years aboard several ships as a Motor Machinists Mate and visited such exotic spots as New Zealand, Australia, New Guinea, and the Marshall Islands.    

In 1952 Gus joined the Idaho Army National Guard and served for 29 years before retiring in 1981.  This career took Gus to such exotic spots as Jerome, Pocatello, Homedale, Twin Falls and finally Gowen Field where he worked in the Signal Shop and Calibration Shop.  Gus loves woodwork and carpentry and has helped many friends with their projects.   

These days Gus and his wife Jo spend a fair amount of time at their place in Cascade and Gus plays golf and drinks lots of coffee on Wednesdays with his old National Guard buddies.  

Gus joined the IMHS in 1997 & one of his first volunteer projects was to help with the Museum’s move from Bld 303 to Bld 924.  Over the last two years Gus has worked on rehabing the exhibit hall, painting, building walls and shelves, wiring the sound system, refurbishing the M38A1 Jeep and working on the P-51 project.  He has also served as our ‘ace’ pancake flipper at fund raising breakfasts.   

Gus is the epitome of a perfect volunteer.  A jack of all trades and always available when called upon! 

  Thanks Gus, you are the man of the hour!  v  

The Battle Of White Bird Cañon (Part II)

After 1^st Sgt McCarthy lost his footing, the warriors swept by him and continued the chase.  CPT Perry tried once again to rally the fleeing soldiers and turn them about.  “Sometimes he promised to shoot them if they failed to comply, but even under threat of death they would stand for only a short time, and he had to start all over again."[i]    

In his own words, First Lieutenant Parnell continues the story.  "As Perry passed in to the right I supposed he would halt the line when in position on the right of Troop H, but not so.  He kept on gaining ground to the right and rear until I saw him finally ascend the steep rise to the bluffs above and disappear from sight.  He afterward explained this officially by the statement “that the men were beyond control.” 

I now found my position one of extreme danger.  The other two officers of the command had followed the movement of Perry's troop to the elevated plateau on our right.  Lieutenant Theller and eighteen men were killed by an overwhelming body of Indians before they could reach Perry's men.  The quantity of empty shells found where their bodies lay indicated that they fought to the bitter end.  

With what men I could collect together I now commenced falling back, fighting, by the way we came; that is, up the White Bird Cañon.  I saw that it would be suicidal to attempt to reach the bluffs on our right, so we slowly retreated up the ravine, holding the Indians in check from knoll to knoll.  I saw that halt must be made pretty soon to tighten up our saddle-girths, so, posting a few men in a little rise in front to hold the Indians, I dismounted and readjusted my saddle, directing the men to do the same.  We then took position on the right knoll and from knoll to knoll we fell back, waiting at every halt until the Indians came near enough to receive the contents of our carbines.  They were swarming in front of us and on the hillsides on both flanks, but the few brave fellows with me obeyed every command with alacrity.  I think there were thirteen or fourteen men altogether.  

The Indians dared not approach too closely, yet at one time they were near enough for my last pistol cartridge to hit one of them in the thigh.  We had several miles of this kind of work up through the cañon, but the men were now cool and determined and fully alive to the perilous situation we were in.  When we reached the head of the cañon, we were rejoiced to find Perry's men, who had been falling back in a line nearly parallel with us, on the mesa above.  He had eighteen or twenty men with him.  I had not seen him since he reached the bluffs two hours before, and neither of us knew anything about the whereabouts or fate of the other.  Our meeting no doubt saved the massacre of either or both parties, for we had yet about eighteen miles to fight our way back ere we could hope for succor.  Immediately in our rear was a deep ravine to be crossed.  Perry requested me to hold the ridge we were on while he crossed and he would then cover my passage from a commanding position on the other side.   

I watched his crossing so as to be ready to move when he had his men in position, but again they failed him.  They had not yet recovered from their unfortunate stampeded condition.  I crossed  the  ravine  at  a  gallop  and halted on the other side to welcome the Indians, who appeared to swarm on every hill.  They halted abruptly on receiving a salute from our carbines. 

We then moved quietly down to an abandoned ranch, a mile to the rear, where Perry had his men dismounted in what appeared to be a good position in the rock.  I dismounted our men, tied our horses to a rail fence and took position in the rocks; the house and barn were to our left a short distance, and a small creek between us and the house.  Presently, shots came flying over our heads from the front and right flank.  

The Indians had taken stand in a clump of rocks in our front and flank on higher ground, and therefore commanded our position.  At the same time I noticed some of them coming down on our left, under cover of a fence that ran from the house up the hill perpendicular to our front.  I mentioned this to Perry. Our ammunition was getting very short, as we had but forty rounds per man when we started.   

After a brief consultation under a hot fire we determined to abandon our positions and continue a retreating fight back to Mount Idaho.  When we first reached the ranch, Perry suggested  that  we  should  hold  the position until dark and then fall back, as it was then seven o'clock, and it

would soon be dark. I could not understand his remark and looked at him in astonishment.  I said:  "Do you know that it is seven o'clock in the morning - not evening - that we have been fighting nearly four hours and have but a few rounds per man left?"  I thought he was what is commonly called confused. 

 

CLICK HERE FOR A PHOTO OF OLD WHITE BIRD ROAD  http://www.visitid.org/database/db_photo/2_oldwhtbd_rd.jpg

Old White Bird Road[iii], visible from White Bird Battlefield outlook.  The advance into and retreat from White Bird Canyon was to the viewers left of the area shown in this photo. [iv]  

He requested me to hold the position while he mounted his men, and he would then hold it until I had my men in the saddle.  He moved down and mounted.  I then ordered my small detachment down, waiting until every man was away.   

I followed and to my consternation found the command gone and my horse with it.  I hallooed out to the command now more than a hundred yards distant, but, evidently, nobody heard me as they continued to move on.  The Indians were now gaining on me and shots kept whizzing past me from every direction in rear.  I looked around for a hiding-place, but nothing presented itself that would secure me from observation.  

I fully made up my mind that I would not be taken prisoner, and determined to use my hunting-knife or a small derringer pistol I always carried in my vest-pocket.  These thoughts and final determination flashed through my mind in a few seconds, as I kept moving on trying to overhaul the command.  Finally, some of my own men missed me, and looking back, saw me and reported to Perry.   

The troops were halted, my horse caught and led back to me.  A few minutes after Perry halted the men and requested me to reorganize the command.  I did so quickly for there was little to organize, and requesting Perry to support me at a distance not greater than one hundred yards, I stated that I would take charge of the skirmish-line.   

The line was deployed at unusually great intervals, so as to cover as much front as possible and then, after a few words of caution and instruction, we waited the coming of the Indians, who at a distance had been closely watching us.   

We did not have a long time to wait, for they came upon us with a yell.  Not a shot was fired until the red devils rode up to within seventy-five or a hundred yards of us when I gave the order to “commence firing”. Several redskins and half a dozen horses went down from our fire.  We then moved “to the rear” at a walk, and again halted, the Indians waiting for us, but once more our fire sent some to grass and we quietly fell back eighty or ninety yards more.  Thus we continued retreating for several miles.   

Chief White Bird with about seventy warriors made several attempts to drive us off to the right into Rocky Cañon, which, had they succeeded in doing, would have sounded our death knell, but Perry moved his men so as to prevent it and gave them a few well-directed volleys which drove them back.   

In passing over a marsh my attention was called to a man struggling through the swampy ground and long grass about half-way between us and the Indians.  We could just see his head above the grass.  A few minutes more and the Indians would have his scalp.  I advanced the line firing, driving the Indians back, and rescued a man of H Troop whose horse had been shot.  The poor fellow was almost played out, he was taken up behind another man and we continued our retreat.   

When we got to within a few miles of Mount Idaho, a party of citizens came out to our assistance.  While we fully appreciated their action, it was too late for them to be of any service as the Indians disappeared as they came into view.  Men and horses were now completely exhausted.  We had been on the move ever since Friday without rest or sleep, and under too much excitement to hope for sleep now that we had reached comparative safety.”[v]  

They reached Grange Hall at 10 o'clock in the morning.  Perry's senior officer, Trimble, had left the battle prior to Perry's retreat and Perry found him in Grangeville along with other men of both companies.  Perry felt that Trimble had deserted him.  [vi]  

Trimble's own account of the situation differed greatly from Perry's and his account raised allegations that Perry had "been derelict in his duty during the campaign".  Two other officers wrote reports critical of Perry as well.[vii] 

Allegations were made that Perry “had been determined to retreat rapidly from the outset”.  Perry was adamant that it was only after his line had completely disintegrated and he had been unable to control the men, in part because he had no trumpet, that he had decided to retreat.

CPT Perry demanded a court of inquiry to clear his name.  [viii]

On November 27, after the Nez Perce war had ended with the surrender of Chief Joseph on October 5, 1877, Gen Howard obliged him and issued the order.  “The Court of Inquiry convened at 10 o'clock on the morning of December 18, 1878.”[ix]  Both Lt Parnell & 1SG McCarthy were called to testify.  

On February 1, 1879, the Court's opinion was handed down.  It concluded that "a suitable quantity of ammunition" had not been provided, and that "soon after the fight began, the point was abandoned by the citizens in a panic extending to nearly all the troops, who became so disorganized and dispersed as to be unmanageable."  It held that Perry was not responsible for the shortage of ammunition and could not have foreseen the conduct of the citizen volunteers.[x]  Perry was vindicated.  

Other factors as well had led to the defeat:  "1SGT McCarthy noted that Company F had been stationed at Fort Lapwai for some time, and, as was the case in those days, about half of the enlisted men had been employed on daily duty almost continually.  They had functioned as clerks, carpenters, blacksmiths, and officers' servants and performed many other duties that had nothing to do with soldiering in the professional sense.  Few of the men had been able to attend drill, and target practice had not been encouraged."[xi]   

"We had a great many green recruits in the company.  The horses were green & flighty”.  - Lt Parnell at the Court of Inquiry.[xiii]   

“White Bird Cañon was a terrible defeat to the troops engaged in it.  It put the Indians in ‘high feather’.  It largely increased their warriors from among those on the reservation as well as from the small tribes along the Palouse, Snake, and Spokane Rivers.”[xiv]   

The battle at White Bird Cañon did not as General Howard had hoped; contain the Indians until he could marshall troops to deliver a crushing blow[xv], it was the opening battle of the Nez Perce War.   

White Bird Today

Click here for a photo of the Interpretive Shelter Overlooking the White Bird Battle Field tells the story of the battle from both points of view.[xii]  http://www.nps.gov/nepe/site13.htm

 

  A Historical Marker Next to the Interpretive Shelter Reads As Follows:

"Near The Base Of This Hill Over 100 Cavalrymen And Volunteers Met Disaster In The Opening Battle Of The Nez Perce War.  

Rushing from Grangeville on the evening of June 16, 1877, Captain David Perry planned to stop the Indians from crossing Salmon River to safety from pursuit.  At daylight the next morning he headed down the ravine before you.  Some sixty to eighty Indians wiped out a third of his force and the survivors retired in disorder.  No Indians were killed."  [A total of 34 soldiers were killed.]  

 

IDAHO FILE INTO HISTORY

William Russell Parnell[xvii]

 

Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, 1^st U.S. Cavalry  
Date and Place of Birth:  Dublin, Ireland, 13 August 1836.   
Entered Service at:  Brooklyn, Kings County, New York  
Battle or Place of Action:  White Bird Canyon, Idaho.  
Date of Issue:  16 September 1897

Citation: With a few men, in the face of a heavy fire from pursuing Indians and in imminent peril, returned and rescued a soldier whose horse had been killed and who had been left behind in the retreat.  ^{End of Citation}  

“Born in Dublin, Ireland, on August 13, 1836, Parnell enlisted in the Fourth Hussars of the British Army at the age of eighteen.  He later transferred to the Lancers and fought in the Crimean War, participating in the capture of Sebastopol.  He was one of the few survivors of the fabled Charge of the Six Hundred at Balaclava.  

Parnell immigrated to the United States in 1860, and soon after the start of the Civil War he enlisted in the Fourth New York Cavalry.  Probably because of his military experience, his comrades elected him a first lieutenant.  In 1861 and 1862 Parnell served with Blenker's Division in the Army of the Potomac in the Shenandoah Valley and West Virginia.  He took part in the Battles of Cross  Keys,  Port  Republic,  Cedar Mountain, and Second Manassas.  With the Cavalry Corps he fought in the Battles of Fredericksburg, Beverly Ford, Brandy Station, Stoneman's Raid, Aldie, and Middleburg.  During the Battle of Upperville on June 21, 1863, Parnell fell into Confederate hands after leading an unsuccessful cavalry charge, but in August he eluded his captors and made his way to Petersubrg, West Virginia. 

Reunited with his command, he continued to see action in the Battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Trevilian Station, Petersburg (Virginia), Lee's Mills, Winchester, and Cedar Creek, and in a number of less important engagements.  Before being honorably mustered out on December 5, 1864, Parnell reached the rank of lieutenant colonel and earned one brevet, that of captain, for the gallantry he had displayed at Upperville.  Two years after Appomattox, he received a second brevet for general gallantry and meritorious service.  

Parnell applied for a commission in the Regular Army near the end of the war, and on February 23, 1866, he accepted an appointment as a second lieutenant in the First Cavalry, becoming a first lieutenant on October 15.  

During the summer of 1867, Parnell joined his company from detached service and almost immediately received orders to march to California in order to participate in a campaign against a band of hostiles operating on the Pit River.  Lt. Col. George Crook led the punitive expedition, which consisted of Company D of the Twenty-third Infantry, Company H of the First Cavalry (commanded by Parnell), and a group of Boise scouts.   

Before long the force encountered a band of warriors on the south fork of Pit River.  Entrenched behind boulders on a high and almost inaccessible ledge of rock, the Indians were difficult to reach.  On September 26 Crook ordered an assault.  Parnell led Company H and the Boise scouts up the south bluff, but the warriors drove them back and the troops returned to their camp at the base of the mountain shortly before dark.  At daylight Parnell led a second charge.  Under heavy fire, the attackers gained ground and were able to enter the stronghold.  There they found only twenty dead hostiles, the rest having made their escape through a subterranean passage.

Crook recommended Parnell for another brevet for his part in the action, and he soon earned the right to be addressed as lieutenant colonel.  During the next decade Parnell continued to serve in the Northwest and fought in a number of Indian campaigns.  On March 14, 1868, he was wounded at the Battle of Dunder and Blitzen Creek in Oregon, and like the other officers under Perry's command he saw action in the Modoc War.   

Parnell bore the marks of many hard campaigns.  At Upperville he had been shot in the left hip, and the bullet had imbedded itself in the bone.  His doctor had decided to leave the missile where it was, and the veteran officer still carried it with him. 

Parnell had also received a number of deep saber cuts at Upperville, and one of them had severed the bone in his nose.  As a prisoner of war after battle, he had received no medical attention, and the bone had corroded and fallen away, leaving a gaping hole in the roof of his mouth and making it difficult for him to articulate.   

Parnell had a metal plate made to cover the aperture, and although it permitted him to speak intelligibly, it caused his voice to rise in pitch.  The plate was fragile, and he lived in constant fear of breaking it - as he did in November of 1869 having to travel to Portland to have a new one made and inserted.  Michael McCarthy described Parnell a 'a large fleshy man' who 'taxed the powers of his horse quite heavily.'” [xviii] 

"During the retreat [From White Bird Canyon] the force passed through a marsh, and Parnell noticed a man struggling over the swampy ground about halfway between the column and the  Indians.   He could just see the man's head bobbing above the grass.  In a few more minutes, the Nez Perce would surely have him.  The man was Pvt. Aman Hartman of Company H, who had lost his horse to an Indian bullet.  Parnell detailed a couple of men and charged to the rescue.  Hartman mounted behind one of the men and the little party rode back to the column".[xix]   

[Parnell did mention this incident in his report cited in The Battle Of White Bird Cañon (Part II) above, but did not mention the man’s name and made no mention of its eventual significance.]

 

 

William R. Parnell[xx]

 

William Parnell reached the rank of captain on April 27, 1879.  Eight years later on 11 February 1887 he retired on disability.  Two sources state that he attained the rank of Colonel yet two others report that his highest rank attained was that of Major.  He spent the last ten years of his life as a military instructor at St. Matthew's School in San Mateo, California.  Parnell received the Medal of Honor for rescuing Aman Hartman during the retreat to Grangeville on September 16, 1897.[xxi] ^& [xxii]  

Of William Parnell, General Howard wrote the following.  “For continuous pluck, good sense, clean headedness under fire, and for the salvation of one half of the command, I think he is deserving a Medal of Honor.”[xxiii]   

William R. Parnell died on August 20, 1910 and is buried in San Francisco National Cemetery (0S-68 Row 54), San Francisco, California.[xxiv]  O

   

Most Wanted

v Sweetheart Jewelry.  What is Sweetheart Jewelry?  According to Antique Sweetheart Jewelry by Nicholes D. Snider, it includes a "diverse array of keepsake jewelry and collectibles available from the world wars up to the present.  Included are pins, bracelets, buttons, banners, plaques, pillow covers, necklaces, earrings, lockets and many other items given to those dealing with war on the Home Front by their loved ones in the military.”  

It is a fascinating field and we’d like to expand our collection, so dig back into your ‘treasure’ boxes and see if you can find some Sweetheart Jewelry to add to the museums collection.   

Another item of interest:  Twenty Three Idahoans were awarded the Distinguished Service Cross in WWI.  We are looking for similar information for all the services for each of the conflicts the US has been involved in.   

Some suggested sources are the following publications, which we would very much like to obtain a copy of.  If you are aware of a similar publication for the other services and conflicts, we would appreciate it if you could bring them to our attention.  The publications are:   

v Distinguished Service Cross Awards for World War II, Planchet Press, 1988, Compiled and edited by Albert F. Gleim and George B. Harris III, Publication 32.  

v Navy Cross Awards for WWII, 1995 edition of Planchet Press Publication #60, Compiled and edited by Albert F. Gleim.  

v Navy Cross Awards for The Korean War, Publication #61.  Presumably a Planchet Press Publication.  

Many Thanks to Therry Schwartz of Lafayette College, Easton, PA and to our own Chuck Sughrue for their assistance in getting us to this point. O

   

---