Wisconsin Veterans Museum

Janet D. Radtke, Air Force veteran who served during Operation Desert Storm/Shield as a flight nurse. When people think of military service, they often imagine moments of action: a battlefield, a deployment overseas, or the completion of a difficult mission. Less visible are the experiences that continue long after service ends. For many Wisconsin veterans, military service r...

MADISON, Wis — (June 11, 2026) As part of the America250 national celebration, a time capsule will be buried on July 4, 2026, at Independence National Historical Park, in Philadelphia, PA. America’s Time Capsule contains objects from all 56 U.S. states and territories and the three branches of the federal government. The Wisconsin Veterans Museum contributed items that repres...

MADISON, Wis — (June 2, 2026) Rachelle B. Pablo (Diné), Museum Specialist with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian will present “The National Native American Veterans Memorial: Honoring the Military Service of Native Americans” at the Fluno Center on the UW-Madison Campus on June 23 at 7:00pm. This tribute to Native heroes at the Smithsonian’s National Mu...

Hosea Rood in the G.A.R. Memorial Hall at the Wisconsin State Capitol. On May 30th, 1845, Marianna Rood (nee Thorngate) and her husband Charles Persons Rood gave birth to their first child, Hosea Whitford Rood. Later that year, the family moved from Persia, New York to Wisconsin and settled in Waushara County. At the age of 16, Rood enlisted in Company E of the 12th Wisconsin...

Erika W. Stoltz during her 2025 oral history interview with the Wisconsin Veterans Museum. For many veterans throughout the decades, joining the military has been seen as a possible avenue for escape, whether from a difficult home life or a boring hometown. For Erika W. Stoltz, escape took on a new meaning: she had known since the age of four that she was a transgender woman....