Wishing everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Mr. Thomas O’Connell, a private citizen, is climbing Mt. Aconcagua the highest mountain in the Americas starting this November, to raise money for a Holiday/Christmas Parties for the wounded heroes at Booke Army Medical Center and Walter Reed and their children.

The money will be used for catering, holiday decor for: family room, nurses’ lounges, patients rooms, new toys and video games for use by all BAMC & WRAMC wounded troops and their children. Gift bags will be distributed by Santa Claus. Any additional dollars will provide emergency financial aid for wounded heroes and their family members as well as emotional support outings.

“I’ve been blessed to live in the greatest country in the world and I have the opportunity to do amazing things, like climb Mt. Aconcagua,” said O’Connell, of the climb scheduled for Nov. 28 through Dec. 17. “Many brave, selfless and wonderful men and women have sacrificed, literally, everything to allow the freedom and ability to do these things. I just want to show them my gratitude and say thank you for all you do in some meaningful way.”

Read more about Thomas O’Connell and his climb here.

Military blogger, “Concrete Bob”, suffered a heart attack this past Wednesday.  The thoughts and prayers of everyone at the National Museum of Americans in Wartime go out to him and his family.

Concrete Bob is a dedicated supporter of NMAW and did an amazing job getting video and photos of our 2009 Open House.  You can see some of his pictures here.

You can also check out his latest update here.

Get well soon, Concrete Bob!

The 17.75 K will celebrate the founding of the Marine Corps. Held in Prince William County, Virginia, registration for the race opens on November 18, 2009. Prince William County is considered one of the “most historic counties in America”.

Registration for the June 12, 2010 event will begin online on November 18, 2009 at noon eastern.

Read the whole story here.

By Nancy Coursen

Jean with friend Billy, circa 1945.

From 1942 to 1945, Jean Carrubba worked at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company in Newark, New Jersey.  “We made circuit breakers for ships during the War [WWII]. Big ones.  When I started at Westinghouse I was only 22.  I went to school for three months to learn how to read blue prints and to use the tools; the tools we would use inserting wires in the breakers. There were 30 other men and women in my class.  The men were mostly 4 F men [men who were not able to join the military due to health concerns].”

“When I started working in the plant, I was assigned a cubicle.  There were 4 of us to a cubicle.  Each floor had many many cubicles.”  Jean raised her arms to show me the size of her floor of the plant. She gestured in a sort of as far as the eye could see gesture.

“All the breakers were made of metal in the welding department.  Several of the men had the job of cutting and building the breaker boxes that housed the wires.  They worked the hardest and often had to go to the nursing station for eye drops to clean out the debris in their eyes.  Every morning I assisted the nurse in the nursing station for a couple of hours before I went on to the floor to thread the wires.  Helping others in the nursing station was my favorite part of the job.  I loved that part.”

“The wires that we inserted in the breaker boxes were all color coded, so you knew which wires went where.  Each box was inspected by a Navy inspector.  I remember one poor inspector got burned pretty bad and had to be taken to the hospital after his leg got

Jean with grandson, John Coursen, at the NMAW Annual Open House.

caught on the cover of the box. The inspectors had a dangerous job.”

“We all loved the foremen. There was one foreman to each floor of the plant.  They were great guys.  All were trained electrical engineers.”

“Occasionally they would stop production when the Union people showed up.  We would all go outside for a little while to listen to what the Union people had to say.  They stood on a platform to talk to us workers.  The plant managers would also occasionally stop production to give us Pep Talks about how things were going with the war production.”

“When the war ended, we were all let go: men and women alike.  The plant started to immediately transfer back to its normal production” [the non-wartime function was to build apparatus for the generation, transmission and application alternating current electricity].

Jean Carrubba was married in June 1946 to Claude Milton Depew (“Milt”). He was in the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers during WWII stationed in the Aleutian Islands.  He was also a sharp shooter, and precision marcher. He performed for one year for the post-war War Bond Tour.

Milton Depew, Jean’s husband, in uniform, circa 1945.

Jean and Milton Depew had 2 daughters, Patricia and Linda. The Depew family lived in Newton, New Jersey.  Milton Depew was a Charter Member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post #5360 in Newton, New Jersey.  Milton passed away in 1982.  Jean is still a card carrying member of VFW Post #5360.  She served many times as President of the Auxiliary, and as the District President.  She was also a two-time State Flag Bearer for New Jersey, and a one-time Chairman for the State Cancer Program.

Jean Carrubba Depew turned 87 in April 2009 and now resides in Springfield, Virginia, with her daughter Linda Depew.  Her other daughter, Patricia Wirth, lives nearby in Fairfax Station, Virginia, with her husband Jerry.

Jean standing next to her NMAW display.

Jean marching in a parade in the 1970s.

On this Veteran’s Day, the staff and Board of Trustees of NMAW would like to take time to thank all the members of the United States Military, past and present, for their service and sacrifice.

The purpose of Veteran’s Day is to honor all veterans, but we here at NMAW feel our veterans should be honored everyday of the year and that is exactly what our museum will do.

Also, one year ago today NMAW jumped, head first, into the world of blogging.  So a very happy one year anniversary to NMAW’s blog.  We hope you’ve enjoyed our Profiles in American Service series and our various posts covering all branches of the United States Military and will continue to read our blog for many years to come.

You can read our very first post here.

A very Happy 234th Birthday goes out to the United States Marine Corps!

The thoughts and prayers of the entire NMAW staff and Board of Trustees go out to all at Fort Hood.

Military personnel stand at attention on the deck of the USS New York as members of the New York fire department watch from the shores as the new ship sails past the World Trade Center site on the Hudson River on November 2, 2009 in New York City. The ship, a Marine amphibious transportation dock which will be commissioned on November 7, is made from seven and a half tons of forged steel that was recovered from the World Trade Center following the 9-11 terrorist attacks. UPI/Monika Graff

http://www.ecoworld.com/photos/other-photographs/uss-new-york-sails-into-new-york-commissioned.html

Many thanks to Greg Letiecq for putting together an awesome video from our 2009 Open House.

Check it out here!