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May 22, 2008
Contact: Abe Villarreal
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Phone: (575) 538-6336 news@wnmu.edu

WNMU MUSEUM TO OPEN WWII EXHIBIT

 

SILVER CITY, N.M. – With Memorial Day on the horizon, Americans are preparing to commemorate military personnel from past and present. The Western New Mexico University Museum will celebrate veterans with its new exhibition “Memories of World War II.”

An opening reception is scheduled for Friday, June 6, the anniversary of D-Day, from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Local veterans Dorothy Bumann Blalock, and former state representatives Murray Ryan and Thomas P. Foy will be in attendance. Foy will be accompanied by six to eight fellow Bataan Death March survivors who will be in the area attending an annual gathering.

The reception will begin with the presentation of colors by the Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 358 Color Guard. WWII veteran and WNMU Residence in Scholar Dr. Felipe de Ortego will give a short talk about his experiences. Following the presentations, light refreshments and vintage WWII-era music will be available for audience enjoyment.

Many Grant County local WW II veterans, including Blalock, Foy, Ryan, and Ortego, and their families have loaned personal items to the short-term exhibition to help highlight the role that regional veterans played in WWII.

The exhibition, funded by student fees from the Associated Students of WNMU, is scheduled to open on June 2 and run through September 30 in the University Museum’s second floor exhibition room. WNMU Museum will continue with its theme of honoring the contributions of WWII veterans with an exhibition this fall on the Navajo
Code Talkers, “Our Fathers, Our Grandfathers, Our Heroes…the Navajo Code Talkers of World War II,” opening November 3, 2008.

WNMU Museum hours are Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The Museum is closed on University holidays and admission is free. For more information, contact the Museum at 575-538-6386, or email cavep@wnmu.edu or museuminfo@wnmu.edu.

Located in Silver City, New Mexico, Western New Mexico University has served the people of the state of New Mexico and its surrounding areas as a comprehensive, regional, rural, public coeducational university since 1893 and caters to a student body diverse in age, culture, language and ethnic background.

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