NEWS

Test your Memorial Day knowledge

Nathan Phelps
USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin
Veteran salute.

Memorial Day is set aside to remember the nation’s war dead. While not strictly limited to the sacrifices of those service personnel and their families, USA TODAY NETWORK–Wisconsin offers up this collection of military and historical questions as part of the day set aside to remember the fallen.

Staff at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum in Madison played in a key role in a number of these questions, as did websites for a number of veteran and memorial organizations.

Looking for some extra credit?

  1. About 132,000 people from the state served in the Korean War, according to figures from the Wisconsin Veterans Museum. The costliest war – in terms of deaths -- for Wisconsin was the Civil war with 12,216 people killed, while the Mexican Border Campaign of 1916 tallied no fatalities. 
  2.  Austin Straubel International Airport in Ashwaubenon is named in honor of Lt. Col. Austin Straubel, a Brown County resident who died from burns suffered trying to pull other crew members from the wreckage of his aircraft after it was shot down over Java in early 1942. Richard I. Bong Memorial Airport in Superior is named in honor of Poplar native Richard Bong, who shot down at least 40 Japanese aircraft during World War II, the highest-scoring pilot of the war. Bong was killed in the crash of an early jet fighter in August 1945 in California. Gen. Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee is named after Gen. “Billy” Mitchell who grew up near Milwaukee and had a long and distinguished military career, including combat in World War I. He is regarded by many as the father of what would become the U.S. Air Force. Joshua Sanford Field in Hillsboro is named after a former Hillsboro resident and the only Native American pilot and flight commander to fly with the Flying Tigers of World War II fame. Can you name the two National Guard airfields in the state? Truax Field: Located at Dane County Regional Airport, the base is home to the 115th Fighter Wing and is named after Lt. Thomas Truax, who was killed in a 1941 training accident. Volk Field: Located in Juneau County, it is named after Lt. Jerome A. Volk, the first Wisconsin National Guard pilot killed in combat in the Korean War. 
  3. The USS Wisconsin (BB-64) saw combat in World War II, Korea and Operation Desert Shield/Desert storm in 1990-91. It is now a museum in Norfolk, Va. It was the second battleship to carry the name Wisconsin, the other (BB-9) was launched in 1898 and decommissioned in 1920.
  4.  A number of sources give the honor of "On Wisconsin!” to (then) Lt. Arthur MacArthur Jr. (yes, that MacArthur family) of the 24th Wisconsin Voluntary Infantry Division for yelling that phrase while leading an assault at the Battle of Missionary Ridge in 1863. However, an account from the Wisconsin Veteran’s Museum contends he actually said, “24th Wisconsin!” 
  5.  According to the Wisconsin Veterans Museum, 25 of the Manitowoc subs saw combat and sank 32 ships.
  6. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs calculates there were 140,064 Vietnam War-era veterans living in Wisconsin in 2014. 
  7. The federal government recognizes Waterloo, N.Y., as the home of the day. It was first celebrated May 5, 1866. 
  8. The 1st Wisconsin Cavalry Regiment was led by Colonel Henry Harnden. 
  9. Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003-2010) accounts for the majority of the deaths in the Global War on Terrorism at 3,490. Another 1,845 died in Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom (2001 – 2014).  
  10. 10. The last Union Veteran of the Civil War, Albert Woolson, died in 1956 at the age of 109; Confederate veteran John Salling died two years later at 112, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs