Personal WWII artifacts shared in Pop-Up Museum
A dress, carefully kept to commemorate the night a young girl danced with Clark Gable.
A flag which draped the casket of a soldier who had braved the Battle of the Bulge, never to return home.
A book, signed by General Douglas MacArthur for a fellow combatant, now reverently held by the recipient’s great-granddaughter.
Oddly enough, these things have more than one common thread: not only are they actual artifacts from World War II, but each helped Caribou High School juniors trace their own ties to the WWII era.
These and many other items came together in the “Pop-Up Museum,” the culmination of an American history project introduced by CHS instructors Kenneth Atcheson and Steve Burden.
While at a conference in Boston, the teachers attended an interestingly titled workshop on “pop-up museums.” There they learned about a unique way to involve their students in history right in their own backyards.
“It’s all about having conversations with people about objects they bring in,” Burden explained. “It’s hands-on learning.”
Atcheson and Burden decided this year to focus on the WWII period. Students were asked to delve into their family’s history to find actual items or photographs from the war, ask questions of their families and do some research, and bring their findings together for class.
“It was just an amazing experience,” Atcheson said. “They became so interested in getting these artifacts. This was real — one of the most real educational things I have ever seen.”
Ultimately, the students put on an exhibit for the community in March.
“We had an exhibit in the library, complete with period music, like ‘Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy’ and ‘Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree’ and such. We had a very good turnout. Some people even brought things with them to add to the exhibit. One lady brought in her husband’s uniform,” explained Atcheson.
He described the event’s emotional impact on some folks, as well, who were transported right back to the era. There were discharge notes, letters, ration coupons, medals and so much more. “There was even a telegram from the Secretary of War to parents whose son had died of his wounds,” he noted.
On a recent afternoon, several students were still clearly enthralled with the whole experience and their newfound family histories.
“My grandfather has my great-grandfather’s old .22 rifle from World War II,” said Jordan Soucie. “I actually didn’t know he served in World War II until I asked my mom.” Soucie said the project got her interested in the time period.
“I thought they actually used a .22 in war, but it was just a training rifle,” she explained.
“The ones that I found most interesting were the postcards and the discharge papers,” offered Sage Gehring, whose great-grandfather, Clifford Gehring, served in the war. “I’m really into this stuff, but I didn’t know my great-grandfather was in World War II. I loved learning about it, and I got to see things actually from my great-grandfather,” she added.
She shared two postcards written by the young soldier Clifford, one to his parents and one to his brother. “In both of them he made sure they were safe, and told them he was okay and not to worry,” Gehring said.
Another of her favorite artifacts is a book written by Gen. Douglas MacArthur, with whom Clifford Gehring actually served. MacArthur had signed the book and presented it to her great-grandfather.
Donovan Savage recounted he had a Japanese Samurai sword that had belonged to his great-grandfather. “He was in the Navy at the time of the war. He had docked on an island and stumbled across it, and was able to bring it home.”
Savage found the project very interesting, and allowed with a laugh that “It’s a little weird that we can relate ourselves back to what we’re learning in school.”
Riley McDuffie shared articles that had belonged to two family members. A respectfully folded American Flag was among his treasures; the flag had draped the casket of his great-uncle, who had fought and died in the Battle of the Bulge. He also brought dog tags, a pin and an accessory used by his great-grandfather, Roy H. McDuffie, who fought in WWII, Korea and Vietnam.
“This,” he said, holding a short, metal-tipped wooden staff, “is a swagger stick with tags for all the countries where my great-grandfather fought in World War II.” Ironically, the younger McDuffie said, Roy survived all his war service and died on Father’s Day about a year after coming home.
Atcheson himself explained the aforementioned dress: “It was a dress worn by a student’s great-grandmother at a dance, attended by Clark Gable, in Caribou,” he said. “She danced with him that evening.”
Gable was actually at the Presque Isle Air Force Base for a few days on his way overseas. His flight was grounded due to inclement weather; he found his way to Caribou, and danced with some of the local girls.
One of the items on display belongs to Atcheson himself, a gift from former student Brandon Bouchard. “This medal is the Auschwitz Medal, made by the people of Poland to commemorate the liberation of [the concentration camp] Auschwitz-Birkenau,” Atcheson said, indicating the carefully framed article. “The ribbon is in the design of the uniforms from Auschwitz. The medal itself depicts the holes in the barbed-wire fence at Auschwitz-Birkenau.”
Both Atcheson and Burden said the Pop-Up Museum experience was a success story that will have further chapters. “We want to do this every year on a different historical period,” Burden commented, adding it was a success because it was so personal.
“It made history come to life for them. All of them learned about relatives they never knew about,” he added.
“This was a rousing success,” agreed Atcheson. “There is a rich history of artifacts in Caribou, Stockholm and New Sweden. The generation of World War II — our Greatest Generation — are dying so quickly; sadly, it won’t be long before they’re all gone.”
