The Highground Museum will present several exhibits as part of a summer of remembering and honoring our POW/MIAs, the families that helped bring them home and the families still waiting for closure.

Several exhibits will officially open to the public on Saturday, May 1 with a 1pm outdoor gathering at The Highground’s Dove Effigy Mound. This tribute was created as a way to remember our POW/MIAs. In the case of inclement weather, the 1pm gathering will be held indoors at The Highground Museum. Visitors are invited to bring soil from their homes to be placed on the Dove tribute.

The “League of Wives” exhibit, on loan from the Robert J. Dole Institute – University of Kansas, is an amazing study of how the wives of American POWs in the Vietnam War banded together to bring their husbands home, defying the U.S. government and cultural norms along the way; coalescing the nation behind them in their mission. The exhibit, which will be on display at The Highground until September 28, includes many original items from the women’s lives and their courageous story. It was curated by Heath Hardage Lee, the author of The League of Wives – the Untold Story of the Women who Took on the U.S. Government to Bring Their Husbands Home.

The “Wisconsin Remembers – A Face for Every Name” banner exhibit, on loan from the Wisconsin Veterans Museum, remembers those from Wisconsin who were killed in action or missing in action during the Vietnam War. Documented by county, the names are paired with their photograph to show the personal young lives that were lost.

The Highground Museum has created an exhibit of the history of the American POW experience from WWII – the Vietnam War, including a very special display of the Wisconsin men who still remain MIA from the Vietnam War. Several families of those still missing in action took part in creating this exhibit.

At The Highground until May 15 is a unique banner display from the Reedsburg Area Historical Society which tells the tale of the many WWII POW camps that were in Wisconsin. This almost forgotten part of Wisconsin history is an intriguing look at how German and Japanese prisoners were housed in POW camps around the state. Visitors will learn where these camps were located, how the German POWs filled a critical need for labor and the interesting relationship these prisoners had with the surrounding citizenry. 

The Highground thanks the Lunda Charitable Fund for supporting this exhibition.

The Highground Museum is open daily from 10am–4pm. The Highground is located at W7031 Ridge Rd, Neillsville WI 54456. For more information, contact Theresa at 715-743-4224 or by email to museum@thehighground.us.