Exhibit tells Veterans' stories in words, pictures
By Lynn Zerschling | Posted: Tuesday, November 11, 2008
World War II veteran John Hart of Le Mars, Iowa. (Photo by Don Doll courtesy Betty Strong Encounter Center)
SIOUX CITY -- On a cold, wintry afternoon in 1944, German mortar fire exploded near Army Cpl. John Heffernan and four of his fellow soldiers as they marched through the Alsace area in Germany.
"The guy ahead of me was killed. The guy behind me had his arm blown off. I was hit in the hip and side," Heffernan recalled of that long-ago day. He was 19 years old.
"War is hell," Heffernan, now 83, said. "I feel bad about the guys in Iraq. They don't know what they're getting into."
Heffernan is among those featured in an exhibit about World War II veterans who have brought family members to the Betty Strong Encounter Center to see it. Heffernan's son Mark was there Sunday from Wisconsin.
The exhibit, "Our Stories: World War II Veterans Remember Extraordinary Times," pairs portraits of area veterans by photographer Don Doll, a Jesuit priest and Endowed Heider Chair professor of{M3 photojournalism at Creighton University in Omaha, with biographical essays by Journal columnist Tim Gallagher.
Encounter Center director Marcia Poole said the exhibit tends to prompt more storytelling when veterans bring their families. And Vietnam vets are asking when their stories will be told, something the 11-month-old center hopes to do.
On Sunday, Eldon Stolpe of Sioux City toured the exhibit with his sister Emmalyn Seim of Hartington, Neb. An Army Air Corps corporal, he was one of five brothers who went to war and survived. His story is preserved in the exhibit.
"I am glad I went," Stolpe, now 86, said of his military service. "I am glad I got to see what I did and come back in one piece.
"When you're 18 or 19, you don't think about" death that much, he said.
Poole said she hopes the exhibit will prompt visitors to treasure their personal history just as they treasure their heirloom china.
"More than anything, I want people to remember to keep their stories," she said. "Turn on the tape recorder. ... Remember how precious they are."
Journal City Editor Barbara Walker contributed to this report.
If you go
What: "Our Stories: World War II Veterans Remember Extraordinary Times" exhibit.
Where: Betty Strong Encounter Center at Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center, 900 Larsen Park Road, Sioux City.
When: Through March. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.
Admission: Free.
More info: 712-224-5242 or siouxcitylcic.com.
"The guy ahead of me was killed. The guy behind me had his arm blown off. I was hit in the hip and side," Heffernan recalled of that long-ago day. He was 19 years old.
"War is hell," Heffernan, now 83, said. "I feel bad about the guys in Iraq. They don't know what they're getting into."
Heffernan is among those featured in an exhibit about World War II veterans who have brought family members to the Betty Strong Encounter Center to see it. Heffernan's son Mark was there Sunday from Wisconsin.
The exhibit, "Our Stories: World War II Veterans Remember Extraordinary Times," pairs portraits of area veterans by photographer Don Doll, a Jesuit priest and Endowed Heider Chair professor of{M3 photojournalism at Creighton University in Omaha, with biographical essays by Journal columnist Tim Gallagher.
Encounter Center director Marcia Poole said the exhibit tends to prompt more storytelling when veterans bring their families. And Vietnam vets are asking when their stories will be told, something the 11-month-old center hopes to do.
On Sunday, Eldon Stolpe of Sioux City toured the exhibit with his sister Emmalyn Seim of Hartington, Neb. An Army Air Corps corporal, he was one of five brothers who went to war and survived. His story is preserved in the exhibit.
"I am glad I went," Stolpe, now 86, said of his military service. "I am glad I got to see what I did and come back in one piece.
"When you're 18 or 19, you don't think about" death that much, he said.
Poole said she hopes the exhibit will prompt visitors to treasure their personal history just as they treasure their heirloom china.
"More than anything, I want people to remember to keep their stories," she said. "Turn on the tape recorder. ... Remember how precious they are."
Journal City Editor Barbara Walker contributed to this report.
If you go
What: "Our Stories: World War II Veterans Remember Extraordinary Times" exhibit.
Where: Betty Strong Encounter Center at Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center, 900 Larsen Park Road, Sioux City.
When: Through March. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.
Admission: Free.
More info: 712-224-5242 or siouxcitylcic.com.
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bijoutoo wrote on Nov 11, 2008 10:38 AM:
Karen wrote on Nov 11, 2008 9:47 AM: