It has been 70 years since World War II ended. Old Independence Regional Museum will officially open its new exhibit “Remembering World War II’s End” on Sunday, February 8, at 2 p.m. Memories of that war still haunts some. Photographs, letters, and objects remain tangible remnants of those who fought, those who died, those who supported the efforts, and those who helped at home.
Several programs are scheduled throughout 2015 on the theme of remembering that war. First on the list is Helen Parman, who will read selections from her recently published autobiography on February 8 at the exhibit opening. Although she was born in Louisiana, she has lived in Batesville since the 1970s. During some of her lifetime, she and her husband, Bob Parman, who served in the Air Force until his retirement, spent several years in postwar Japan. Although she also remembers the American horrors of that war, she came to love many Japanese.
She relates in her book, “Our maid had lived in Tokyo during the war and was caught in one of the infamous fire raids. Incendiary bombs were dropped on one side of Tokyo and the wind would blow the flames into an inferno that would last for days. Thousands were killed.”
Parman has a missionary heart, and while in Japan she also visited a leper colony. As she relates in her book, “The lepers had no way of obtaining warm clothes and I was called to collect some. . . . When I went for our last time . . . a leper who had once been a judge said, ‘The first time you came, we thought you were curious about what the leper looked like. The second time we were curious. But the third time we knew it had to be the love of God.’”
After Parman’s program, visitors will be encouraged to view the new exhibit.
Twyla Wright, exhibit curator, describes the exhibit areas, “On display will be some of the items that have been donated to the museum over the years. One exhibit area houses a canvas cot, a military blanket, an Army hat, cartridge belt and knapsack, along with a trenching shovel and pick. Some soldiers brought back objects that had belonged to the enemy. A few of those from Japan and Nazi Germany are also displayed as evidences of the enemies during that war.”
Information about the two Japanese Relocation Camps in Arkansas and the more than 30 POW labor camps in Arkansas that housed German, Italian and other prisoners will be shown.
A display case of objects and posters will show how books for soldiers, and war bonds and stamps helped the war effort. A great call for all Americans to sacrifice by collecting and turning in to the government metal, rubber, burlap, and rags, helped citizens feel they were doing their part. Even children proudly made balls of rubber bands, string, and tin foil from their chewing gum wrappers.
Ration books of stamps and their use will be on view. “Can you imagine that the ordinary citizen could only buy 3 or 4 gallons of gasoline per week?” Wright said.
Another display case will show newspapers announcing V-E Day and V-J Day, which a visitor may read. Letters from soldiers are on view, and also items given to families after the wartime death of their son or daughter.
A corner exhibit will feature a Sears Silvertone radio around which families gathered to hear the latest war news. “It seems so long ago — that time when there was not yet television, or 24/7 news, or cell phones, and certainly not social media. I remember as a child how eagerly everyone listened to the radio for news of the war,” Wright added.
A large panel with quotes from Floy Baker will be prominent. “May 7, 1945…Victory day in Europe! The whistles blew here at 9 a.m. and the stores all closed for church at 10 a.m.,” she wrote. Nelson Barnett is also quoted when victory in Japan was announced that August. “I remember as a boy running down Main Street in my bare feet, excited to join the big crowd celebrating down there!”
The museum will announce each related program as it approaches this year.
The program will be free and open to the public. Normal museum hours are: Tuesday-Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and from 1:30 to 4 p.m. on Sundays. Admission is $3.00 for adults, $2.00 for seniors and $1.00 for children. The museum is located at 380 South 9th street, between Boswell and Vine Streets in Batesville.
Old Independence is a regional museum serving a 12-county area: Baxter, Cleburne, Fulton, Independence, Izard, Jackson, Marion, Poinsett, Sharp, Stone, White, and Woodruff. Parts of these present-day counties comprised the original Independence County in 1820’s Arkansas territory.
