Pictured is a Western Union Telegram informing family members that their loved one had died in war.
The Nebraska National Guard Museum is currently researching members of the organization that were killed in World War II with the 134th Infantry Regiment, 110th Medical Battalion, and 35th Quartermaster Company. The Museum is tracking 109 soldiers from Nebraska that served with these units that were killed in the war.
The memorial to these fallen will be part of a display called “The Price of Freedom.” The exhibit will feature a wall of Western Union Telegrams announcing to the family the death of a loved one. Opposite the wall of telegrams will be a Wall of Faces which will feature images of those killed during the war and all the way back to 1854 while serving with the Nebraska National Guard. The Wall of Faces will include an interactive display to pull down more information about a specific person that was killed while serving. The exterior shroud of the exhibit will feature a member of the honor guard saluting a fallen warrior with the logo “The Price of Freedom.”
Some of the numbers so far: (as of Jan. 21)
Total KIA (Killed in Action): 109
Buried overseas: 54 (Information from the American Battle Monuments Commission)
Netherlands: 2
Normandy: 26
Brittany: 6
Ardennes: 1
Lorraine: 15
Henri-Chapelle: 1
Luxembourg: 3
Buried in the USA: 49 (Museum has started indentifying where these are located)
Unknowns: 6
Joseph A. Mack: MIA/KIA, from Atkinson
Charles P. Stevens: KIA July 16, 1944, from Beatrice
Robert O. Jenkins: UNK death date, from Nebraska City
Denver W. Wilson: UNK death date, from North Platte
Russell E. Grobo (or Grobe): UNK death date, from York
Julius H. Wall: KIA 1944, from Seward
Western Union Telegram
The idea of the Western Union Telegram display is to show graphically the cost of war and how impersonal it is. The telegrams were delivered to the family as if it were an email or text message today. The most dreaded person in a community during the war was the Western Union dispatcher or the sheriff. The telegram would contain basic data such as the family name and address and a standard message: “The War Department regrets to inform you…..”
The Museum will recreate every telegram for each individual from the Nebraska National Guard that was killed while serving in units mobilized from the state. Each telegram will have a graphic for the Purple Heart (awarded to all KIA’s), Silver Star (if awarded), and Bronze Star (if awarded), and where they are buried today.
Wall of Faces
The idea behind the Wall of Faces is to add the image of that person that was killed to be looking back at the patron. The wall will have a mix of old and new from the history of the Nebraska National Guard. The interactive display will allow a person to research more on a particular service member. The interactive display is where the Museum needs more information about that person to include: photographs, letters, papers, artifacts, etc….
The Price of Freedom Shroud
The large image of the soldier saluting a fallen comrade is a poignant picture of the last farewell to a member of the military. This award-winning picture shows a Nebraska Funeral Honors soldier saluting the flag-draped coffin. The image plus the logo “The Price of Freedom” lends dignity to the display.
Combined effort from the Seward County Independent, its readers and the Museum
The Museum wishes to pay proper honors to these soldiers that were from Nebraska and were killed in World War II. Some of their records are incomplete and that is our challenge today. We need photos and whatever information people can provide to make sure the service member is not forgotten and truly honored for their ultimate sacrifice. The Seward Independent will run a series of stories on these men. If you have more information on them, contact the Museum at (402) 309-8763/8761.
A list of casualties from the 134th Infantry Regiment will be included in next week’s SCI.
