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Today in History:
August 25, 1985 - Samantha Smith died in an airplane crash in Maine. In 1982, the 11 year old American schoolgirl had written a letter to Soviet leader Yuri Andropov asking, "Why do you want to conquer the whole world, or at least our country?" To her surprise, Andropov replied personally to her and offered an all-expense paid trip to the U.S.S.R. She toured the country for two weeks amid worldwide publicity and came to symbolize American and Soviet hopes for peaceful co-existance.
Peace to you today -
Leah |
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Good morning,
The following is a link to a wonderful video "The Story of Veterans Day".
Prior to a visit to Veterans Memorial Hall or as a reinforcement of the benefits of military service, take a quick look.
http://link.history.com/services/link/bcpid1184514323/bctid1184531439
Stop by to remember those who have served and honor those who currently serve the United States.
Leah |
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Hello Everyone,
I want to thank Doug and everyone at Engine Studios for all their hard work over the past few years. Without their vision and dedication to excellence our website would only be a dream. They made it what it is.
I will be using this blog space to get the word out about the many wonderful things that make Memorial Hall one of downtown Rockford's greatest treasures.
One of the comments that we here at Memorial Hall often hear is "I've lived in Rockford all my life and never knew this building was here", Well thats going to change,it is my goal to make Memorial Hall a center of activity in downtown Rockford. Memorial Hall will on everyone must see list.
So I invite anyone that reads this blog to visit Memorial Hall and tell your friends.
Thank you for reading this and please check back often.
Scott Lewandowski
Manager
Memorial Hall
211 N. Main St
Rockford, IL 61101
815.969.1999
Manager@VeteransMemorialHall.com
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How do our veterans express themselves upon their return home?
What better way to express yourself than through art - Memorial Hall has invited our local veterans organizations to exhibit during this years ArtScene at Memorial Hall. We hope that several will take this opportunity to share their creativity with the public.
With up to fifteen spots available for artists, seven are already reserved, some are returning from last year and some will be new exhibitors to the event for 2008.
The site was well attended in 2007 - put it on your calendar Friday, October 3 from 5-9 pm and Saturday, October 4 from 3-9 pm. |
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Hello -
On July 25, I had the honor to interview 6 Vietnam Vets during their annual reunion. Held in Rockford, IL, I met vets from Alaska to Kentucky who came together over the weekend to reconnect with old friends. Thanks to those who participated in the Veterans History Project and to John Groh who invited me.
On Sunday July 27, I attended the Korean War Memorial Dedication, located in the Andersen Peace Plaza in Loves Park, IL. General James Cartwright dedicated the memorial. General Cartwright serves as the eighth Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In this capacity, he is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Nation's second highest ranking military officer.
The Korean War Memorial was planned by the The Greater Rockford Area Korean War Veterans Association, Chapter 272 four years ago and raised the money for the memorial. The memorial features one monument with an outline of Korea and pictures of soldiers and reads, “Freedom is not free.”Two open books sit on either side. The books’ pages list the names of the 59 men who died in the Korean War from Winnebago, Boone and Ogle counties.
Stop by Memorial Hall and meet the new Curator Leah Nelson or say hi to Scott if you are interested in volunteering.
Doug Connell
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Today is a very big day for Veterans Memorial Hall. This morning we will be observing the 66th anniversary of Pearl Harbor. The Hall will be open and I will be talking about the Veterans History Project. Please come by if you would like to know more about the Veterans History Project or if you need the tools to conduct your own interview. Join us today from 9am - noon.
On this anniversary please remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice so we can have the freedom that we enjoy today.
thank you,
Doug Connell
Veterans History Project
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Hi -
We are still in progress with the update of the website but we are really excited about the new look and feel. We are also adding in new content including photos and audio from the Veteran interviews and trying to make all of our content more accessible.
Our official launch is Friday Dec. 7th and we hope that you continue to come back to the site. If you have an thoughts or suggestions please let us know.
thank you and stay tuned -
Doug Connell
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There are a number of great events coming up at Memorial Hall and I hope that you are able to share in some of these activities.
Sunday November 18th the 1st Brigade Band will be performing "The Soldier Remembered thru Their Music" at 4:00pm. Admission is $15.00 per person and everyone is invited. The 1st Brigade Band is widely acknowledged as the best Civil War brass band in the country. Band members will be in Union army uniforms and perform with Civil War era instruments.
Tuesday November 27th 11am - 1pm a workshop on how to conduct an interview with a veteran will be held in the Memorial Hall library. We will discuss technical issues, questions to ask and how to submit your interview to Memorial Hall and the Library of Congress as part of the Veterans History project.
Wednesday November 28th 6pm - 8pm this is the evening version of the workshop held on Tuesday. We will discuss technical issues, questions to ask and how to submit
your interview to Memorial Hall and the Library of Congress as part of
the Veterans History project.
I will keep you posted on all the new and upcoming events. One thing we are very excited about is the debut of our new website - so stay tuned.
thank you,
Doug Connell
Veterans History Project
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We are in the process of building out the new website and it is very exciting. Part of the grant we received from the Tawani Foundation has helped to pay for the creation of our new website. The idea is to share more information with our online visitors and to allow for easy access to our interviews. We will be launching the new site in the first part of November. The site will include an updated calendar of events, information about the Hall and Podcasts of the interviews along with photo's from our Veterans collections. We will keep you posted as to the exact date of the launch and we look forward to your comments and suggestions.
thank you,
Doug Connell
Veterans History project
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The Veterans pictured above are Don Bein and Ireland Mattingly. Ireland was the 10th interview I conducted for the Veterans History Project. I have had a great time hearing all the stories from the Veterans that served during WWII. I will be conducting 5 more interviews and then preparing all the content for viewing at Memorial Hall. All the interviews will be available on DVD and on the computer at the Hall. In addition, I am working with a volunteer who will be transcribing all the interviews, her work will allow for researchers to read the text from each interview. Right now we have about 15 hours worth of interview material and roughly 200 photos from the Veterans personal collections.
Doug Connell
VHP
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