ANOKA, Minn. – (Dec. 8, 2016) – As we paused this week to remember the 75th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack the Anoka County History Center opened a new exhibit focused on World War II.
“The idea was that we wanted to look at what people right here in this county were doing. Yes, their were more than a thousand people who went to serve, 22 of them were women, from this county, but their were a lot more people who were left behind. We wanted to look especially at the war through the lens of the people who were still here in Anoka County. What did they experience,” said Anoka County History Center program manager Vickie Wendel.
There are so many great stories that you can experience by visiting the exhibit, including a story that Vickie heard first hand from an Anoka County resident who did his part for the war effort.
Tuesday: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Wed–Fri: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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“One of my favorite ones is the milkweed. It’s something not a lot of people knew about and I got to talk to a gentleman…who as a kid went out and picked milkweed pods and he said he got really good money for those, he got a big check. He talked about remembering how he could see trucks lined up all up and down the street at Federal Cartridge waiting to fill up loads of milkweed. They were making life jackets and life preservers for the troops who were on the Navy ships,” said Wendel.
While a lot of the exhibit focuses on those who supported the war. There is one artifact that is the centerpiece for a story of a young man who was galvanized to fight for his country.
“When you first come in you walk past this living room setting with this great radio and we know that the young man who is pictured as a Seabee we know that was his radio and how his family found out about the war, they heard FDR’s speech,” said Wendel. Anoka County was also home to several large manufacturing companies that made a big difference.
“Twin Cities Arsenal was just outside the county border but they grabbed our president from Federal Cartridge and he was running both of those plants. That produced 10 percent of all the small arms bullets fired by all of the soldiers in World War II. It’s amazing to think one plant would provide that much. Northern Pump down in Fridley huge importance. They were building gun mounts for Navy ships and they were doing amazing things with the precision machining required on these pieces and ship them out way ahead of schedule. Just amazing what was done here,” said Wendel.
The exhibit speaks to the common goal that our nation had during those desperate times.
“We as a nation came together and we didn’t see our differences so much as we saw our commonalities or our common enemy. We worked together, we saved fat, we saved rubber, we rationed our gas, we made sure not to put cuffs on the pants of the clothing we were wearing to conserve fabric that way, you went barefoot instead of wearing shoes. All these things that we did really brought us together as a nation and I think helped define who we became moving forward from that but now we’ve kind of gotten away from that. We tend to look less at the common good and just look to what will benefit me and mine. It’d be nice to have people look at it and go look what we did when we all worked together,” said Wendel.
As you move through the exhibit you read, see and hear all the different ways Anoka County residents contributed to the victory in World War II. As you come to the end of the exhibit you meet the reality that many met in those days.
“The last piece in this exhibit talks about reintegration into civilian life. We’ve got a Navy uniform that a young man married his bride in, we have that on display with her wedding dress. What was fun was they were a young couple just starting out, they didn’t have a whole lot of money so he very carefully picked all the gold braid out and replaced the buttons so his Navy dress uniform became his best suit. In the pocket we found a ticket for a dance dated 1953,” said Wendel.
It has been 25 years since the Anoka County History Center featured an exhibit on World War II. But, the lessons this part of history can teach us will never get old.
“We have so much we can learn from history. Their is so many things we have done before and forget so we have to reinvent how to do them over. History can teach incredible lessons,” said Wendel.
