SANDOZ EXHIBIT HONORS WWII

When you enter the Mari Sandoz Center these days, you are greeted by a glass display case lined with glinting military medals. A few feet away, dozens of colorful, antique World War II pillowcases cling to a wall. Empty uniforms from each military branch occupy several other cases. The war memorabilia varies in nature, but each piece serves a uniform purpose – to tell the story of Nebraska’s involvement in World War II.

The Mari Sandoz Center is hosting an exhibit to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II, which was Wednesday.  The war officially ended Sept. 2, 1945, when Japanese officials signed formal surrender documents with the U.S. aboard the USS Missouri.

Holly Counts, a Mari Sandoz Center worker and Mark Hunt, CSC Security Supervisor, collaborated to put together the exhibit.

Counts guessed that there were over 500 pieces in the temporary display donated from over a dozen Nebraska collectors. Most of the memorabilia came from Hunt’s personal collection though, which he said numbers in the thousands.

Hunt said he began his extensive collection in the 1980s after his grandfather passed away.

“I received a little box that had some of his patches and medals in it from when he served in World War II. That kind of started the interest,” he explained.

Hunt then sought out flea markets, garage sales, antique stores and other avenues at which he could expand his collection. 

“By the time I got married,” Hunt chuckled, “I had a tub full of patches. My wife basically said ‘Figure out what it is or get rid of it’. That kind of started the research part of it.”

Hunt said that, during his decades-long career as a high-school history teacher, he’d often incorporate pieces of his collection in his lessons.

Throughout his years collecting, Mark explained he’s learned extra history and personal accounts from people.

“Today though, everybody thinks online is where you find stuff,” he said. “That’s not the fun part, the fun part is going to antique stores, asking people if they have stuff. It makes it mean more to you.”

Hunt described the importance he places upon remembering the past through collecting antiques.

“I always tell people that I’m just the owner of (a piece) now,” he said. “When I pass away it goes to my son, who is teaching history. So we’re just watching it for our time until it’s someone else’s turn.”

Hunt explained that he and Counts were very careful about which pieces they chose for the commemorative collection, and that they didn’t want to glorify violence.

“We had talked to V.P Powell to make sure we were all on the same page,” he said. “We didn’t want to bring pieces in and have people be offended by a Nazi symbol or something like that.”

Counts and Hunt both said they hope the exhibit helps shed light on Nebraska’s crucial contributions to the U.S. World War II efforts.

 The exhibit even includes a wall-sized map of Nebraska detailing the various World War II military camps, ammunition bases and other military posts from the war.

You can see the exhibit until Sept. 25 every Monday to Thursday from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m., Friday from 10 a.m. to noon and Saturday 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3 p.m.

“We have to remember our history to be prepared for our future,” Counts urged. “We really need to see where we came from on this, as a state and as a people.”