A special exhibit of World War II memorabilia is one of the highlights of local history at the Pine River Valley Historical Society Museum in downtown Bayfield. The museum is open from May through the end of September.
A special exhibit of World War II memorabilia is one of the highlights of local history at the Pine River Valley Historical Society Museum in downtown Bayfield. The museum is open from May through the end of September.Photo courtesy Pine River Valley Historical Society Museum

In World War II, the valley had 80 men who enlisted or were drafted into the military. The majority ended up in the Army (including the Air Corps), the Navy and Marine Corps. The sad thing is that 17 of these men never returned home alive.

That resulted in a fatality rate of 21.25 percent! I am not sure that another community contributed that much in this conflict.

The other thing that stands out in this valley is that three sailors are entombed in the USS Arizona (BB39), or 3.75 percent of our local World War II veterans!

The Pine River Valley Historical Society has gathered information on the above-mentioned casualties and created a display to honor the soldiers.

The display includes many artifacts, including uniforms worn during that time by a local resident. The center of the display honors the three naval personnel on the USS Arizona. Gordon Berry and Harold Carmack graduated from Bayfield High School and joined the Navy under the buddy program in 1940, and both were firemen second class. Then Ralph Fife, who graduated in 1941, joined the Navy and was also assigned to the USS Arizona as a seaman first class.

For some reason, Fife is listed as a California resident on the memorial, but we know he graduated in June 1941 from Bayfield High School. Their bodies were never recovered from the ship along with more than 1,100 others.

The museum recently acquired the WWII flag of Curtis H. Trimble who was a VFW member of post 695 (Bayfield) and also District Commander in the 1960s. The post disbanded in 2000 and it is believed that the post flag is in the possession of the Durango post. Some day we hope to add that to the display.

The Historical Society Museum will re-open for regular visiting hours in May. We invite all area residents and visitors to come see this historical exhibit and learn about the many sacrifices our residents made during “the war to end all wars.”

Tony Schrier is a lifetime member of VFW Post 15009 and American Legion Post 143. He is the past president of the Pine River Valley Historical Society and lives in Forest Lakes.