Ladies and Gentlemen,
        The Museum of Valor has been interviewing veterans of BOTH World Wars for
some years.  You do not have to be a QUALIFIED SCHOLAR to view our tapes.
We consider our mission to educate much too important to spend our
resources dividing people into classes and determining which class is
worthy of our material.

Wayne Hart, Director
Museum of Valor



At 09:38 AM 11/11/97 -0600, you wrote:
>Press release dated 10 NOV 1997
>
>WISCONSIN VETERANS ORAL HISTORY PROJECT INTERVIEWS 200th VETERAN
>
>Madison --  On November 10, 1997, World War II veteran W.E. "Bill" Tritz of
>Waukesha, Wisconsin became the 200th Badger State veteran interviewed by the
>Wisconsin Veterans Oral History Project (WVOHP) of the Wisconsin Veterans
>Museum.
>
>Born in Chili, Wisconsin in 1924, Tritz enlisted in the Army Air Corps in
>1942.  Based in Italy, he served as a radio operator on a bomber in the 15th
>Air Force.  He flew more than 20 combat missions over southern and eastern
>Europe before being shot down over Vienna, Austria in December 1944.  With
>the help of the Czechoslovak underground, Tritz managed to evade capture by
>the Nazis and he eventually reached Russian lines.  He returned to the
>United States in 1945.  He is presently writing a book about his wartime
>experiences.
>
>The Wisconsin Veterans Oral History Project began in June 1994 with the
>interview of a D-Day veteran from Madison.  Of the first 200 interviews, 162
>saw service during World War II, 39 during the Korean War period, 19 during
>the Viet Nam years, and 7 from other conflicts (several veterans served in
>more than one war). Veterans of the US Army accounted for more than half of
>all interviews, with a total of 103 (not including the Army Air Force of
>World War II); the Air Force accounted for 38 interviews, the Navy 34, the
>Marine Corps 17, the Merchant Marine 2, and the Coast Guard 1.  Three
>subjects were civilians.  In addition to veterans of US military service,
>the museum has also interviewed veterans of foreign lands who now reside in
>Wisconsin, including an Englishman, a German, and a volunteer for the
>Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War.
>
>All interviews are tape recorded, transcribed, and made available to
>qualified historians for research purposes.  In the study of military
>history, the voices of soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines are vital to
>gain an understanding of war, its effects, and its costs.  The WVOHP seeks
>to preserve this knowledge for future generations.
>
>For more information about the Wisconsin Veterans Oral History Project or
>any other museum programs, please contact the Wisconsin Veterans Museum at
>30 West Mifflin Street, Madison, WI 53707-7843, (608) 266-1680,
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