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The World War I Memorial Museum is the best museum I have ever been to. The historical accuracy and overall realistic effect of the museum is surreal. Room after room is decorated with every stage of the long brutal war. There are areas in the museum that make you feel like you were a British soldier stuck in a trench. The museum even mentions Adolf Hitler’s role in the German army during World War I. Every aspect of the war was well covered. There are three sections of the museum that sticks out in my mind.
One is the interactive table that lets you design wartime propaganda for both sides of the conflict: the axis or the allies. A person can design a poster, change the background color, and then change the message of that poster.
Another area that sticks out is when you enter the main part of the museum you walk across a field of flowers. Each flower represents 1,000 men that died in battle, and there are 9,000 flowers. This part was very chilling considering how many flowers there were, and how many men they represented.
A third section of the museum that sticks out is throughout the museum there are a couple of theaters that tell the history of World War 1. These videos are very informative and are located throughout the appropriate sections of the war.
I would recommend the museum to everyone. This museum is very accurate, and does a great job of showing the entire war from both sides of the conflict. There are rifles, helmets, and tanks from both sides. The number one thing that I learned from the experience was how many countries were involved with the worldwide conflict. In one of the last buildings there is a room that contains all of the flags of the allied countries. The history buff will love this place as well as the common person.
by John Thornton
Kansas State Historical Society has a great website that tries to cover many of the important people and events that are significant to the history and cultural heartbeat of Kansas and the United States. Searching for a name of a person who’s accomplishment or lack thereof sticks out and is relevant to what we are being taught in our Kansas History class is quite an accomplishment.
Mildred “Mickey” Axton stood out. Prior to 1944 Mickey had joined the Women’s Air force Service Pilots (WASP). This organization was considered a supportive non-military branch of the United States Air Force (USAF). It wasn’t until 1979 that those who had served in this group received the status as military veterans of World War II. Axton decided to travel to Wichita, Kansas to become a test pilot after reading a letter from her brother (who was a fighter pilot overseas). In the letter her brother conveyed that pilots were dying due to faulty and outdated airplanes. Mildred Axton decided that she wanted to help the war effort and her brother become safer while in combat. Axton at the age of 23 became the first woman to test fly a B-29 Bomber Airplane.
According to militaryaircraft.org “The Boeing B-29 Super Fortress high-altitude heavy bomber was designed as a replacement for the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and became operational in June 1944” This model was the same as the “Enola Gay” and “Bockscar” airplanes that dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The nature of being a test pilot is a difficult and extremely dangerous profession. Axton personally witnessed many female test pilots killed in the line of duty including her best friend. The program was terminated shortly before 1945. Her bravery must have been superb.
In our Kansas History class we are focused in on the World War I era and leading up to the Great Depression also known as the “Great Panic.” The story of Mildred Axton is relevant to what we are currently being taught in the class. This article demonstrates the change of women becoming integrated in all areas of the United States. Women were taking an active role in the economy and in the military. Women were a major factor with helping the United States win World War II.
by John Thornton
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http://www.kshs.org/people/index.htm
http://www.military-aircraft.org.uk/bombers/boeing-b-29-superfortress.htm
Henry Newton Brown and Ben Wheeler
The pulse of the class is zeroing in on a certain time period in Kansas’ history. This time period follows the end of the American Civil War. Kansas was portrayed as a place of opportunity for many groups of people. Cattle drives were portrayed as the new market of opportunity, and there was a real demand for beef in the North-Eastern part of the United States. “Cowboys” would drive cattle (many times raised in Texas) to be delivered in different places including towns in Kansas. Kansan towns built railroad stations to attract railroads so that they could then transport the herd, and create an economy. In class we learned that these cowboys were mainly single and due to the monotony of the trip would venture into the towns to seek adventure, and relaxation. An economic market was built around these cities, known as “cowtowns.” Thus prostitution, alcohol, and gambling began to invade these towns due to the nature of the single cowboy life. Families called for a safe environment for their children and a need for order and therefore lawmen were needed. Many times these lawmen were formal criminals themselves, and added to the chaotic nature of the so called, “wild-west.”
This introduction allows for the true story of two lawmen who took advantage of the demand for lawmen. According to KansasMemory.org , Henry Newton Brown (former member of Bill the Kid’s Gang) teamed up with another former outlaw Ben Wheeler and became joint Marshalls in a small town named Caldwell. Brown and Wheeler seemed to clear up crime in the small town, and all was well. However, on April 30, 1884 Wheeler and Brown acted upon old their old ways, and teamed up with John Wesley and Billy Smith. They then attempted to rob a band in Medicine Valley, but were arrested. They managed an attempted escape where Brown was killed. Wheeler, Wesley, and Smith were convicted and sentenced to hang by death.
This story allows the reader an illustration of the chaotic atmosphere of Kansas that followed the American Civil War.
John Thornton
(!) Charlie Siringo. Henry Newton Brown and Ben Wheeler
http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/212810
John Doy and the rescue party
The theme that keeps popping up in this Kansas History Class is one that tells of a divided nation, and a divided Kansas in the 1850’s and 1860’s. Whig was pitted against Democrat, Northerner against southerner, and abolitionist against pro-slavery advocate. These divisive lines were no different in the territory of Kansas.
The Kansas-Nebraska act of 1854 replaced the Missouri Compromise of 1820. This new law allowed U.S. territories (that were ready to enter the United States) “self-determination” when drafting a state constitution, and it included the right to become a free or slave state. There were two main reasons why people fled to the territory of Kansas. One was to claim lands and to settle the new property. And the other was to make sure that the state became either a slave or free state. Missouri did not want a third free state nears its borders. They felt that there would be too much influence from the North, and that it would corrupt the Missourian way of life. Many pro-slavery Missourians fled across the border to insure that the state would allow slavery. The same is true for free-state advocates, many coming from the New England area. And this introduction allows me to explain a true story of the tensions that were mounting due to the issue of slavery and self-determination in the territory of Kansas.
Dr. John Doy lived in Lawrence, Kansas. He left with his son (Charles), and set out to rescue thirteen slaves and take them across into Nebraska territory on January 25, 1859. They were captured twelve miles outside of Lawrence, and were taken to St. Joseph Missouri to be put on trial. Charles was cleared of all charges, but his father was not so lucky. He was sentence to five years in Missouri State’s penitentiary. Dr. Doy was freed by ten of his friends led by Major James Abbott on September 23, 1859. Among his rescuers included Joshua A. Pike who was part of a plot to rescue John Brown at Harper’s Ferry.
This story among others proves that there were clear and major disputes in Kansas before the American Civil War.
History Hawks 