Lex Anteinternet: Is anyone else here watching the Ken Burns Vietnam...

Lex Anteinternet: Is anyone else here watching the Ken Burns Vietnam...: I have been, and I'll post my views on it when it is done, but I wondered if anyone else who stops in here has been catching it.

Ira W. Brannan Memorial Pool, Casper Wyoming.

Not every memorial featured here is attractive. That's not the point of the blog.  Here's one such example.  The Ira W. Brannan Memorial Pool.

Most residents of Casper Wyoming just refer to this as the Washington Park swimming pool.  It's an outdoor pool, not visible in this photograph, that has long served Casper.  Indeed it is no doubt the oldest outdoor swimming pool in the city but is still in use as it gets heavy use.

So who was he? 

I have no idea and wasn't able to learn who he was.

He was likely a veteran of World War One, given the age of this pool. Washington Park used to feature a variety of caissons right next to the pool that were probably associated with the dedication, but which have since been moved to Ft. Caspar.  Mr. Brannan's name remains on the pool, but as to  he was, well at least to me that's a bit of a mystery.

Lex Anteinternet: The plank in our own eye. Considering the memoria...

Lex Anteinternet: The plank in our own eye. Considering the memoria...: Why do you observe the splinter in your brother's eye and never notice the great log in your own?  And how dare you say to your broth...

The Sundance, Wyoming Rest Stop Memorials.

 Memorials at the Sundance Wyoming Rest Stop.

I usually don't put a bunch of memorials, even at one single spot, in one single post.  Each, I generally feel, deserves its own post as each is its own topic, in terms of what it commemorates.

 Black Hills Sign at the Sundance Wyoming Rest Stop.

I'm making an exception here, however, as these are grouped so nicely, they seem to require a singular treatment. 

The first item we address is the Black Hills sign. This sign discusses the Black Hills, which straddle the Wyoming/South Dakota border.

 Crook County sign.

The second sign discusses Crook County, named after Gen. George Crook, and in which Sundance is situated.

The sign oddly doesn't really go into Crook himself, but then its a memorial for the county, not the general.  Still a controversial general, Crook came into this region in the summer campaign of 1876 which saw him go as far north as southern Montana before meeting the Sioux and Cheyenne at Rosebud several days prior to Custer encountering them at Little Big Horn.  Crook engaged the native forces and then withdrew in a move that's still both praised and condemned.  At the time of the formation of Crook County in 1888 he was sufficiently admired that the county was named after him, at a time at which he was still living.

 Custer Expedition Memorial.

Finally, the Rest Stop is the location of an old monument noting the passage of Custer's 1874 expedition into the Black Hills, which is generally regarded as the precursor of the European American invasion of the Black Hills and the Powder River Expedition of 1876.  Obviously, it's more complicated than that, but its safe to say that the discovery of gold in 1874 gave way to a gold rush which, in turn, made conflict with the Sioux, who had taken over the Black Hills (by force) from the Crow, inevitable.

This memorial is interesting in the super heated atmosphere of today given that the historical view has really changed since 1940, when this roadside monument was dedicated (surprisingly late, I'd note, compared to similar Wyoming monuments). In 1940 Custer was still regarded as a hero.  By the 1970s, however, he was regarded in the opposite fashion, by and large, at least in terms of his popular portrays are concerned.  The 1874 expedition into the Black Hills is not favorably recalled in history now at all.

I have to wonder, however, in terms of the history if this expedition changed history the way it is recalled.  The Black Hills always seem to be an attractant.  They attracted the Sioux who took them (in living memory in 1874) from the Crows and it seems highly likely that they would would have attracted European Americans as well.  Certainly they continued to even after the hopes of gold seekers were dashed.

Regional History, Buffalo South Dakota

Lex Anteinternet: Lex Anteinternet: "The Confederate Monuments and C...

Lex Anteinternet: Lex Anteinternet: "The Confederate Monuments and C...: When I posted this last week I didn't think we'd see memorials coming down so fast, or maybe at all: Lex Anteinternet: The Confede...

Lex Anteinternet: The Confederate Monuments and Contemporary Strife....

Lex Anteinternet: The Confederate Monuments and Contemporary Strife....:     The Virginia Memorial at Gettysburg .  This impressive memorial was only dedicated in 1917. I run more than one blog, which some ...

American Legion Flagpole, Belfield North Dakota

An American Legion flagpole in the St. John's Ukrainian Catholic Church Cemetery outside of Belfield, North Dakota.

The Powder River Country, Braodus Montana

A lot of history in this region of Montana, and in the adjoining part of Wyoming.

Memorial to Wyoming Highway Patrolman Chris S. Logsdon, Wheatland Wyoming.

Memorial on Interstate 25 to Wyoming Highway Patrolman Chris S. Logsdon, who lost his life responding on October 13, 1998 to a report of a drunk driver.  The driver turned out to be a 92 year old motorist who was not drunk, but confused, and who was driving on the wrong side of the divided highway.  Upon Trooper Logsdon's arrival at the scene he was forced to swerve to avoid the other vehicle causing his patrol cruiser to flip several times, killing Logsdon.

Cheyenne Fallen Police and Fireman Memorial, Cheyenne Wyoming

United States Air Force Color Guard, Coors Field Colorado. Memorial Day Weekend 2017

Holscher's Hub: Memorial Day at Coor's Field

Holscher's Hub: Memorial Day at Coor's Field:

Lex Anteinternet: Virginia's Memorial at Gettysburg Dedicated, June ...

Lex Anteinternet: Virginia's Memorial at Gettysburg Dedicated, June ...:    The Virginia Monument at Gettysburg, from Some Gave All , which includes a complete set of photographs of the battlefield. It'...

Wyoming Veterans Museum: World War One Display

Display dedicated to George Ostron, who was an accomplished armature illustrator and who won a contest to design what became the unit insignia.  A post on this topic is coming up on Lex Anteinternet.

I have a very lengthy photo post on the Wyoming Veterans Museum on this site already.  Normally, when adding to an existing topic, I do just that, but in this case I'm posting a new thread as, like most museums, the Wyoming Veterans Museum updates its displays and it would neither do justice to their new display nor to the prior thread to add to it.  Their new display concerns World War One and is focused on Wyomingites who served in the Great War.  They've done a very nice job with it and its a real credit to the museum.

 

 

 

 Ostrom illstration of a New Mexican town.  He had served with the National Guard in the Punitive Expedition.

 

 

 Very nice example of National Guard collar insignia from this period in the upper left, and a subdued chevron on the right.  Subdued chevrons would be a feature of the uniform all the way into the early Vietnam War but rank structure for enlisted men constantly changed.  This insignia hearkens back to the 19th Century with its bugler specialty device and would pass into history before World War Two.

Early in World War One the push for recruitment was with the Navy over the Army and in the opening weeks of the war it was assumed that the Navy would be taking the primary role in the fight with the Army doing relatively little.  Many Wyomingites, in the first rush towards the flag, joined the Navy accordingly.

Fred Kislter's name is associated with Kistler Tent & Awning, an early Casper business that's still in operation today.

French carbine and Adrien helmet, as used by some US African American soldiers assigned to French command.

Trench knives.

Telephone switchboard.  World War One came at the beginning of a revolution in communications that would soon change that area completely.

A display dedicated to nurses in the Great War.

While its very much contrary to what is commonly believed, women played a role in World War One's home front work place that was as great as that which they'd later play in World War Two.  It's just largely forgotten.

German equipment, including a machine gun, brought back to the US as souveniers.

The legendarily bad Chauchat automatic rifle that was used by the US, as supplied by the French, for a light machine gun during World War One.

Somewhat bizarre veterans' organization outfit.

The Red Cross played a very large role in World War One support.