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The Wisconsin Veterans Museum will host “WAR : RAW,” an expressive art exhibit featuring
nearly 60 works of art created by Wisconsin veterans suffering from
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI). The
exhibit will open on June 5 and run through May 2016.
“WAR: RAW” will feature 59 unique
pieces of art, including works on paper, canvas paintings, mosaics, quilts,
sculptures and more that were created by Wisconsin veterans as part of the Artists for the Humanities' (A4TH) "Return and Recovery Program for Military Veterans."
The Return and Recovery Program
combines the use of expressive art therapy with mental health counseling to help
veterans suffering from PTSD, TBI and issues like substance abuse and
homelessness. The program, which was developed by Artists for the Humanities
founder Tim Mayer in 2007, is free of charge for veterans, family members and
loved ones. The program has served more than 2,000 Wisconsin veterans and
family members to date.
June
6 marks the 71st anniversary of Operation Overlord, better known as the “D-Day”
invasion. It was the largest amphibious assault in history, taking place on the
shores of Normandy, France in 1944 – the turning point in the Allied victory in
World War II.
The
National World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. bears a vast and solemn
field of 4,000 gold stars, each one marking more than a hundred lives lost in the
Second World War. Approximately 332,200 Wisconsin men and women served in World
War II and 8,390 lost their lives.
We
have the benefit of remembering and reflecting on the service and sacrifice of
our nation’s heroes through their stories. The Oral History Program of the
Wisconsin Veterans Museum has preserved the stories of many Wisconsin veterans,
some who were part of D-Day.
A
paratrooper in the 101st Airborne, Orville Collins of Denmark, Wisconsin landed
near Foucarville, France on June 6 and immediately found himself under German
fire. In his interview, Collins described his thoughts and feelings as he took
part in this momentous event:
"You can hear mortars, machine guns,
sporadic, all over. But still you feel alone. And I never was. I suppose it is fear. You got to admit there
is fear there. I never had such a dry throat in my life.”
Milwaukee
native Martin Gutekunst, a member of the Navy’s 2nd Beach Battalion, talked
about landing and his reaction upon hitting Utah Beach:
“And I never gave it much thought as to what
was going on. Besides, I was sort of numb by the whole thing. Because it was
something we didn’t have any training in this sort of thing, with all these
guns going off, the Navy guns and the other Navy firing, and the Germans had
the bombs and they also had their 88 millimeter. And those were something that
really gave you a scare, because they had an odd whistle to them.”
Today, we have the privilege of reflecting on the
words and deeds of those who distinguished themselves on that historic day 71
years ago – who did not seek glory any more than they sought the horrors of the
war. We remember their exceptional bravery and incredible sacrifice.
(John
A. Scocos is the Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs. He
is an Iraq War veteran.)
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