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WILKES BARRE – Mary Ruth Burke worked for four months to commemorate the “individual stories of people’s experiences,” for the museum at the Luzerne County Historical Society, she said.
The museum at 69 South Franklin St., has more than 60,000 items covering various topics of Luzerne County history. For the next six months the museum will be showing its extensive World War II memorabilia in an exhibit which pulls at the heartstrings.
“This is just wonderful,” said Jerry McNulty of Dallas, a Cold War veteran. “It is great that people get to see all the paraphernalia and it is all so well preserved.”
The exhibit is called: World War II: Luzerne County Answers the Call. The exhibit explores the role played by the residents of Luzerne County in World War II, both on the home front and on the front lines. It features photographs, memorabilia, and uniforms from the society’s collection as well as items loaned or donated by members of the community.
The museum is open from noon to 2:00 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from noon to 4:00 p.m. Saturdays. Tickets are $4 for adults and $2 for children.
The 70th anniversary of the end of the war is on Aug. 14, 1945, and society members saw it fitting to tell, and show, the area’s story around that date. The exhibit represents every branch of the military.
“Everywhere you look there is a story,” Burke said. “People will recognize names from the area. When we were researching we found John Morgan Davies was in the war and he was my principal at Meyers High School.”
Retired Marine Tom Hobbs helped Burke put the exhibit together.
“It was like a mystery,” Hobbs said. “We had uniforms but didn’t know much about them. I would research the patches and ribbons on the uniforms and would learn more and more, such as where they were stationed.”
The exhibit includes items such as John F. Quito’s’s purple heart, which his family donated. He was killed in action on April 5, 1945 while a German prisoner.
Ron Scheff and his wife, Catherine, of Dallas, loaned pictures and medals of Paul Scheff, Ron’s father. One photo shows him in the rubble of Hiroshima, not long after the bomb was dropped.
“What these people did made it possible to be where we are,” Scheff said. “We are so happy to share my father’s story. That’s our history.”
“If this isn’t remembered, we are bound to repeat it,” Mrs. Scheff said. “These people sacrificed their lives and they should be honored and remembered. There are just so many stories and it is important to tell them so they are remembered.”
Brian McHugh, of Kingston and Korean War veteran, donated multiple firearms to the exhibit. His uncle, Edward Blanton, was a field engineer in WWII and McHugh donated hi M-1 Carbine. He also donated an M-1 rifle that was used in the Battle of the Bulge.
“This (exhibit) is a work of art because many of the things go back all the way to the 1940s and are very hard to come by,” he said. “This is an excellent way to preserve what little is left.”