For Immediate Release
Oct. 4, 2010

Contact: Daphne Larkin
802-485-2886 or 595-3613(m)
dlarkin@norwich.edu

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NEWS RELEASE

Norwich’s Sullivan Museum and History Center hosts celebration to open WWII exhibit

NORTHFIELD, Vt. – Norwich’s Sullivan Museum and History Center will host a celebration to open its fall exhibition, “The Role of Remembrance: Norwich University and World War II.”

The exhibit shares the World War II stories of over 75 of its living Alums. Norwich University sent over 2000 men off to World War II, and all the current surviving alums were asked to assist in this exhibit.They filled out 30 page surveys, shared their stories on a digital recorder or loaned objects to be displayed about their war time experiences.

The celebration will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 10 in the museum rotunda with a breakfast buffet followed by presentations, annual meeting updates and the WWII “Roll Call” held in the special exhibit gallery.

The museum welcomes honored guests Norwich WWII alumni and special guest speaker, Philip Marsilius, NU’43.

Marsilius, whose voice is included in the exhibition, served in the Armored Division from March 1943 through Feb. 1946. He was part of the 106th and was in the first vehicle to enter Austria, landed at Normandy Beach and assisted in the liberation of King Leopold and his family of Belgium.

This event is free and open to the public. Please RSVP to Museum Director Marilyn Solvay at msolvay@norwich.edu or 802-485-2448.

The Role of Remembrance: Norwich University and WWII

The Sullivan Museum and History Center at NU recently opened an exhibit which shares the World War II stories of over 75 of its living Alums. NU sent over 2000 men off to World War II, and all the current surviving Alums were asked to assist in this exhibit. They filled out 30 page surveys, shared their stories on a digital recorder or loaned objects to be displayed about their war time experiences.

The exhibit themes were selected from their shared stories including the birth of radio journalism, the impact of movie theater newsreels, the sale of bonds to finance the war, the power of a war poster, the impact of music on separated couples and families, and the designs of memorials that honor our dead soldiers. In addition, the patriotism of the famous magazine illustrator, Norman Rockwell and the creative inventions of the P-38 can opener and war time food like SPAM and M & Ms are featured.

A special wall shares the four theaters of WWII where NU men served with the research compiled by Museum Associate volunteer, MG John R. Greenway, NU ’56, USA (Ret.). Maps are included with a summary of the battles in each area to provide a context to the individual stories around the gallery. Over a dozen war posters are on view, part of the SMHC’s large poster collection, which show the War Information Office’s campaign to sell the war to the American public on a daily basis.

The exhibit invites the visitor to immerse themselves in the WWII era—sit on a café bench and listen to music, visit the kitchen and hear an early radio broadcast, or push an audio button and listen to a NU soldier’s story. You can also calculate your ration stamps and take a chance on SPAM or M & Ms.

All the completed WWII surveys are on view for reading along with special memory books and albums prepared by the NU Veterans. The Museum is now open six days a week, from Monday through Saturday, 9 am – 4 pm and additional information is available at 802-485-2448 or 2183.

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Norwich University is a diversified academic institution that educates traditional-age students and adults in a Corps of Cadets and as civilians. Norwich offers a broad selection of traditional and distance-learning programs culminating in Baccalaureate and Graduate Degrees. Norwich University was founded in 1819 by Captain Alden Partridge of the U.S. Army. Norwich University is the oldest private military college in the United States of America and the birthplace of our nation's Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). www.norwich.edu