Exhibitions
Deck of Cards
Each of the suits in a deck of cards represents the four major pillars of the economy in the Middle Ages. Heart represented the Church; Spades represented the military; Clubs represented agriculture; and Diamonds represented the merchant class.
Returning… to normal?
The people featured in this exhibition are ordinary Americans who experienced extraordinary times. Their memories of these events are vibrant reminders of a period that still affects us nearly seventy years after it occurred.
“I don’t know what the total mortality rate was, but [the Bataan Death March] practically wiped out a whole generation of young men from a small Kentucky town. …I haven’t really forgiven [the Japanese].”
Mildred Ewen
The end of the fighting did not end Kentuckians’ involvement in the War. Those drafted later in 1944 had to fulfill their obligation to the military before receiving their discharges. Assignments included serving as occupation troops in Germany and Japan, cleaning up the wreckage and rubbish of battles, and burying the dead. Returning home to family and friends was the end goal; but what awaited them, none really knew.
Between 1938 and 1946, life was in disarray for civilians and military people. Relationships of every kind developed and dissolved in every sort of circumstance. Many soldiers returned home to a country dramatically changed by the War. Many took up old jobs, married their sweethearts, and just went on with life.
Regaining a job:
“I was only home two days when a supervisor from the Winn Dixie stores came to see me and told me he would like for me to come back to work for them. And I did.”
Norman Inman
War inspired marriage:
“While I was in there…I decided that it was time for me to settle down and find me a mate. If I hadn’t gone, I don’t know whether I would have. We… [were] married December the 2nd; it’ll be sixty-four years [in 2008].”
Jesse Hilton
On Roosevelt’s death:
“I remember the day Roosevelt died. I was only six then…but remember the sadness that seemed to permeate the community on being informed of his death.”
Tom House
On how the point system worked:
“We received…one point for each month we were in the service… [and] an extra point for each month we were out of the continental United States. We received five points for each decoration, (Purple Heart…, and so forth). We received five points per each major campaign we were in. Our battalion was in five major campaigns across a year. [My buddies] got to come home in December of ‘45. They had seventy-three [points]; they had been wounded. I had sixty-eight…I didn’t get to come home until January of ’46.”
Reathal Haven
Feeling blessed for survival:
“As a matter of fact, I am most appreciative of the fact that God’s been good to me. I am still here. And I could have been, I don’t know of anybody else that’s alive [from my crew].”
Robert Stevens
A honeymoon trip:
“We got married out there [Tacoma, WA]. …We bought a little car, a little V8 Ford and drove it around out there…. And drove back home at 35 miles per hour—two thousand miles [to Stephen’s Point, WI]!”
Bill Lowe
