WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

We want you – all veterans – to come share your stories at the Burnsville Historical Society’s monthly meeting Saturday, Nov. 16, from 1:30 to 3 p.m. at the Burnhaven Library community room, 1101 W. County Road 42, in Burnsville.

We want to emphasize that ALL veterans, both females and males, are welcome – Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard. Also included in these branches are the Army National Guard, Army Reserve, Marine Corps Forces Reserve, Navy Reserve, Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve and Coast Guard Reserve. We are honoring all veterans during this week of Veterans Day 2013.

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Not all stories are long…Your stories can be short – one liners, or longer. They can bring a tear to your eye or a good laugh from your belly!

Not all stories take place overseas…Your stories may have taken place right here in the States!

Not all stories take place during active war time…Your veteran stories may have taken place during a time of peace, where you served your country either in the States or overseas.

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Here are a few veterans who have connections to Burnsville and who have shared some of their stories with me:

Frank, World War II veteran, trained as an aerial gunner but because it was the end of the war he didn’t have to go overseas and stayed in the States as a mechanic. He said, “It’s good I didn’t have to go overseas cuz’ the life span for aerial gunners was not very good.”

Denny, Cuban missile crisis, was stationed in Florida while his family back home in Minnesota worried that we might soon be in World War III.

Ed, World War II veteran, trained paratroopers in the Army and was willing to do a video/oral program to share with others.

Gary, Vietnam era veteran, served on the USS Hancock, USS Kitty Hawk, USS Coral Sea and USS Ranger.

Duane, Vietnam era veteran, served on the USS Wasp. He helped monitor activities of Russian subs in Atlantic waters; he served on the recovery vessel for the Gemini Space Recovery Program.

Sue, Vietnam era veteran, served as a nursing assistant at an Army psychiatric hospital in the States, working with veterans returning home with PTSD.

Doyle, Korean War era and Vietnam veteran, went on to become a Maj. General in the Air Force.

Floyd and Lloyd, twin brothers who were veterans and helped start the Burnsville and Savage American Legion Posts.

George, World War II veteran, who served undercover in the Army’s Counter Intelligence Corps, was stationed in Chicago and his driver’s license said his home address was in the middle of Lake Michigan. He was constantly being reported as a “draft dodger” as he was home during the day, wearing civilian clothes.

Preston, World War II veteran, was shot while serving in Italy. He survived his wounds but carried the shrapnel in his leg the rest of his life.

Howard, Vietnam era veteran, served in the kitchen at the Minneapolis Air Force Reserve base. He tells about one of his colleagues, an actual rocket scientist from Rockwell in California, who was flown by jet into Minneapolis for his monthly Reserve weekend to do kitchen inventory.

Did you know Savage, MN, was a shipbuilding port, taking ships down the Minnesota River, during World War II?

Did you know that there was a Japanese language camp based in Savage, Minnesota, during World War II?

Did you know that the U.S. War of 1862 took place right in our own backyard?

Do you have memorabilia from the time you served?

We want stories and memorabilia from all times of war – World War II, Korea, Cold War, Vietnam, Persian Gulf, Iraq, Operation Desert Storm, War on Terror, Afghanistan, and others.

So, let Uncle Sam’s finger point at you – the coffee pot will be on and we want you to come and share your stories. Or, if you don’t feel like talking or you aren’t a veteran yourself, come anyway and listen to the stories others have to share!

If you have questions, you can go to our website at burnsvillehistory.org, email us at info@burnsvillehistory.org or call Bonnie at 952-890-5089.

Remember the poster showing Uncle Sam pointing a finger at you?

Looking up the poster’s history on Wikipedia, we learned that Uncle Sam (U.S. are his initials) was mentioned as far back as 1775 in the lyrics of the Revolutionary War song “Yankee Doodle.” Uncle Sam is also a personification of the American government that began during the War of 1812. And, he was also mentioned during the Civil War. However, Uncle Sam did not become well known until the "recruitment" image of Uncle Sam was created by James Montgomery Flagg. It was this image more than any other that set the appearance of Uncle Sam as the elderly man with white hair and a goatee wearing a white top hat with white stars on a blue band, and red and white striped trousers.

The image of Uncle Sam was shown publicly for the first time, according to some, in a picture by Flagg on the cover of a magazine July 6, 1916, with the caption "What Are You Doing for Preparedness?" More than 4 million copies of this image were printed between 1917 and 1918. Flagg’s image was also used by all the military branches during World War II as a recruitment tool.

And, this brings us to Veterans Day – Nov. 11, 2013.

Veterans Day is an official United States holiday which honors all who have served in the armed services. It is a federal holiday that is observed on Nov. 11 each year. It coincides with other holidays such as Armistice Day and Remembrance Day, which are celebrated in other parts of the world and also marks the anniversary of the end of World War I.  Major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, when the Armistice with Germany went into effect. Veterans Day is not to be confused with Memorial Day; Veterans Day celebrates the service of ALL U.S. military veterans, while Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving.