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FALLS HISTORY
PROJECT 2007
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Senator Tom Connally, June of
1950 . . .
"[Korea is] the clearest test case that the
United Nations has ever faced. If the United Nations is ever going to do
anything, this is the time, and if the United Nations cannot bring the
crisis in Korea to an end, then we might as well wash up the United
Nations and forget it."
General Omar Bradley, May of
1951 . . . "The wrong
war, at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and with the wrong
enemy."
Read
the 2007 Interview Transcripts
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LEARN
ABOUT THE KOREAN WAR MEMORIAL
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KOREAN
WAR HISTORY |
Our research during the 2006-07 school
year is focusing on the Korean War. Senior intern Katie Norton is
heading up the project this year. As with all wars in our history,
the Korean Conflict impacted our small city. Once again, we are
attempting to get several points of view on the war and recount four
stories of local people whose lives became intertwined with this
conflict in the early 1950s. Sometimes called the "Forgotten
War," Korea was controversial as indicated by the quotes
above.
BLACK RIVER
FALLS CONNECTIONS
Read
the 2007 Interview Transcripts
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Dr. John Noble was born in
Shanghai, China in 1923. His family moved to the BRF area in
1927. A veteran of both World War II and the Korean
Conflict, Dr. Noble served as a medic in South Korea. |
Mary Van Gorden was born in BRF
in 1930 and graduated from BRFHS in 1947. She enlisted in
the US Army during the Korean War and worked as an occupational
therapist dealing with returning veterans in Colorado, Washington,
and eventually at the VA Hospital in Tomah, Wisconsin. |
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Myrle Thompson is from the
Neillsville area and was born in 1929. She attended the
Indian School there and enlisted in the Air Force in 1951.
Her skills with language were put to good use when she became
involved in decoding and decryption work during the war. |
Richard Piette was born in 1924
in Hinckley, Minnesota. He graduated from Moose Lake High
School in 1943 and enlisted in the US Navy. His naval
service spanned 20 years and he was involved with the famous
landing at Inchon. |
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Arnold Olson (left) was a young
man from BRF with a bright future. He entered the Naval Air
Corps after graduation, ultimately graduated from the University
of Wisconsin in 1950, and was called back into service in
1951. He died while being held as a prisoner of war in North
Korea in October of 1951. Olson was a boyhood friend of both
John Noble and Mary Van Gorden. |
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Mitchell Red Cloud, Jr. attended
BRFHS in the late 1930s and served in both World War II and the
Korean Conflict. He was killed in a firefight in November of
1950 near the Chinese border in North Korea. President Harry
S Truman posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his
extraordinary courage in battle.
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VIEW
THE BRFHS REDCLOUD DISPLAY
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READ
MORE ABOUT MITCHELL REDCLOUD'S STORY |
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Katie Norton was our 2006-07
intern. Katie established herself as an outstanding social
studies student throughout her four years at BRFHS. She
completed AP US History during her senior year and was involved in
many of our electives since her sophomore year, as well as being a
member of the Student Senate. She will be attending UW-LaCrosse
in the fall of 2007.
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2007 INTERVIEWEES
Dr. John Noble
Mary Van Gorden
Myrle Thompson
Richard Piette
Read
the 2007 Interview Transcripts
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2007 Intern Katie Norton
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RETURN TO THE
FALLS HISTORY PROJECT HOME PAGE
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