The Churchill County Museum is presenting an exhibit on war, and the spring series features local military authors.
Highlighting private correspondence from almost every major conflict in U.S. history, the exhibition “War Comes Home: The Legacy” has opened at the Churchill County Museum.
The exhibit is being shown along with the spring lecture series on local military authors and their literary works. Each author will speak on Wednesdays at 6 p.m. Copies of their books will also be on sale.
Kenneth Beaton presents his literary work on May 4.
A resident of Carson City, Beaton is a frequent contributor to the Nevada Appeal newspaper, and for many years he has been a voice for veterans by telling their stories during wartime, especially during World War II.
Beaton’s uncle Richard was killed in action in 1943 on Monte la Difensa, Italy. After Beaton’s parents passed away, he discovered the picture from Richard’s helmet with his mom’s writing on the back. After 16 years of research and two trips to climb Monte la Difensa, Beaton published “A Toddler’s Picture: In His Uncle’s Helmet”
The May 11 speaker is Michael G. Leonard, a retired U.S. Air Force officer and highly experienced global business executive. He was a USAF command pilot with a military career spanning 20 years, including two Vietnam tours in 1965-66, and 1969-70.
His “An American Combat Bird Dog Pilot” is a compelling look at the life and times of a member of the Silent Generation. Leonard’s story chronicles not only his breathtaking combat adventures, but the unforeseen perils that nearly sidetracked him during his time as an international sales executive.
Daniel Quinley, who speaks May 18, learned much about his father as a child from rummaging through containers looking at medals and letters written during the war from his father to his beloved, Margaret. He said his father never wanted to talk about the war.
In his adult life, Dan Quinley took the letters and wrote a book that came out in 2014 — “Forever: A true story of love and war” — which revealed a love affair that began with a blind date in 1936, continued through World War II and into their later years to Fallon.
Steve Ranson, the coordinator of the project, “Legacies of the Silver State: Nevada Goes to War,” has had a longtime interest in World War II veterans. He will wrap up the lecture series on May 25.
Ranson retired as editor/general manager of the Lahontan Valley News in 2017.
Legacies contains more than 70 stories on World War II veterans who have some type of Nevada tie. Ranson, Beaton and former LVN owner David C. Henley have interviewed scores of World War II veterans and learned more about them and how they helped the war effort. Interviews included POWs, survivors of the Nazi concentration camps and veterans who remember in detail where they were and what they did more than 75 years ago.
The traveling exhibition, rich with historic and contemporary letters, offers an intimate perspective into the thoughts and emotions of veterans and their families upon a soldier's homecoming.
War Comes Home: The Legacy is part of Cal Humanities' current War Comes Home initiative, a thematic program designed to promote greater understanding of veterans and explore how war shapes a community. The exhibition is based on the work of the Center for American War Letters and is presented by Exhibit Envoy. Andrew Carroll, the director of CAWL and an award-winning and New York Times bestselling author, and John Benitz, associate professor in the Department of Theatre at Chapman University, co-curated the exhibition.
The exhibition explores the joys and hardships that returning soldiers and their families face during homecoming, as expressed through private letters and email correspondence. Spanning conflicts from the Civil War through the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and displayed on 13 interpretive panels, War Comes Home: The Legacy explores the shared themes of wartime separation, the adjustment to life back at home, and the costs of war.
This exhibition runs through May 29 and offers a space to write letters to currently deployed service members.
The Churchill County Museum is located at 1050 S. Maine St., in Fallon and is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, and has a $5 suggested donation.
