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Entertaining the Troops
On View from 3 December 2009 to 21 March 2010
The Joe W. and D.D. Brown Foundation Special Exhibit Gallery
To support the birth of the Solomon Victory Theater, the American Sector restaurant and our very own Stage Door Canteen, Entertaining the Troops will showcase The National World War II Museum’s entertainment-related collection. The exhibit will examine and highlight efforts to sustain the troops before and during their darkest hours.
Rather than focus solely on celebrities who lent their star-power to the cause, Entertaining the Troops celebrates the average citizens-- organizations and individuals who helped servicemen retain a little piece of humanity and a glimpse of home while immersed in their uncertain and dangerous tasks.
In “Entertaining the Troops: At Home” we highlight five costumes worn by a young dancer, Betty Jacobs Schwartzberg from New Orleans, who performed for servicemen at Camp Plauche and at local military hospitals. “Entertaining the Troops: On the Road” showcases a piano from a USO railroad canteen, signed by over 2,500 servicemen as they passed through on troop trains, on loan from the Harvey County Historical Museum in Newton, Kansas.
We are also proud to feature a very unique piece from our collection—a map and patch board from the El Paso Travelers Aid Society onto which 385 unit insignia and patches are sewn. “Entertaining the Troops: In the Field” features the uniforms of two Red Cross “donut girls,” uniforms of USO Camp Show performers, baseball bats and gloves used by servicemen, and “trench art” – items handcrafted by servicemen in the field.
We recall a time when a simple joke or a friendly ear could bring a lonely serviceman back from the brink of despair. Americans banded together to support the men in uniform. They staffed canteens, wrote letters, produced plays, danced, and simply listened—all in the name of Victory.
January 29, 2010 – May 2, 2010
The Hitler Albums
A special display made possible by The Monuments Men Foundation
When the young men and women who served in World War II returned home, many of them were not empty handed. They often carried small keepsakes or souvenirs of their time away from home, Nazi paraphernalia, flags, swords, helmets and other items they came across in their travels through Europe and the Pacific.
Young private John Pistone was no different. In the waning days of the war, Pistone found himself at Berghof, the former home and headquarters of Adolf Hitler. It was there he decided to remove a 12-pound album filled with pictures of paintings and other artwork. Little did he know that his battlefield souvenir would possibly help solve one of the greatest mysteries of World War II.
It is now well-known that Hitler had plans for a museum to rival all of the collections of Europe, the Führermuseum. The world’s greatest works were being stolen, looted and purchased for display in the Austrian city of Linz. Many have not resurfaced to this day. A special unit was established after the war to recover as many of these priceless artworks as possible. They were known as the Monuments Men. Robert Edsel continues their work today with his Dallas-based Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art. He has also written two books on the topic.
When a friend of Pistone discovered the album still on his bookshelf after 64 years, an Internet search led him to Edsel. Until then only 19 of the 31 albums were believed to have survived the war. The discovery of another one could be monumental in the continued search for these items.
The album, along with one other discovered in 2007, is now on its way back to Germany but not before a temporary display at The National World War II Museum.
The discovery of the album has been a source of celebration to the historians who have studied the missing artworks and worked for their return but it also serves as an important public service announcement of sorts. It is hoped that its discovery will encourage other World War II veterans and their children and grandchildren to unearth their own war souvenirs and research them. In some cases, these items could be returned to their rightful owners, or like Pistone’s album, fill in a piece of a puzzle that remains unsolved nearly 65 years later.
Find out more about the albums and the work of the Monuments Men Foundation. |
