For Brainerd History Week, generations of visitors came to the National Guard Armory in Brainerd Friday to learn about a time when the history of the town intersected with the history of the world.
The 194th Tank Regiment association hosted the open house. It bears the name of a National Guard unit that was once the 194th Tank Battalion, when it took part in the defense of the Philippines during World War II. Scores of Brainerd-area men in the 194's Company A took part in the defense of the Bataan Peninsula. Their subsequent captivity as prisoners of war killed about half of them. The Bataan March, a particularly infamous atrocity in a war rife with them, involved the Japanese force-marching American POWs to prison camps north of where they had been captured-starving, beating and killing them along the way.
Friday's event gave the 194th Tank Regiment group a chance to show new memorabilia and historical artifacts they had acquired, in addition to the artifacts from the March already on display.
The family of Herb Strobel, the first Brainerd man killed on Bataan, brought in a painting of him on Thursday to reside at the armory. The portrait was commissioned by the Veterans of Foreign Wars following the war.
The Minnesota Military Museum at Camp Ripley also brought equipment from the period for people to look at, including U.S. Army uniforms the combatants would have worn at the time of the Philippines campaign.
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Finally, a new "Honor and Remember" flag hangs in the hallway, with the names of locals from the 194th killed in action listed underneath.
For Walt Straka of A Company, however, the most evocative item at the armory Friday was a group photo of the unit nestled in a display case. Straka, 96, is the last man in the photo left alive.
"Even the guys that didn't go overseas, they're all gone too," he said.
Even finding someone left from the thousands of POWs who went on the March in general is becoming more and more difficult. Straka estimated there were 50-100 left in the entire world.
ZACH KAYSER may be reached at 218-855-5860 or Zach.Kayser@brainerddispatch.com . Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ZWKayser .
