Page 10 - April 2025 newsletter_Neat

War Memorial & Lunch At Andres Family Restaurant

By Mary Bunzel
On Thursday, March 27, 2025, six CTCW club
members had the privilege of experiencing an in
depth tour of the Wisconsin War Memorial,
hosted by Sean Clark, the Executive Director of
the facility. Sean’s background is rooted in
service: enlisting, serving as a medic in multiple
nd
th
theaters of war, post military teacher of 2 and 4
graders, and now passionate promoter of one of the
most impressive monuments to the service of our
heroes, fallen, missing and returned.
As you would expect from a born teacher, we received our assignments at the beginning
of the tour. Sean was diligent in helping us understand the importance of each of the four
floors of the facility.
We first reviewed the “Lest We Forget” wall, all the Medal of Honor recipients, where
we were invited to reflect and share our personal connections to the stories of the many
heros featured on the wall. Each story filled with accounts of sacrifice and unbelievable
courage. People like Gary Wetzel, who after having his arm blown off by enemy fire,
ripped off his belt to apply a tourniquet on what was left, then proceeded to pick up his
weapon and hold back enemy fire, enough to save 7 of his fellow troops. Even Hollywood
couldn’t imagine these stories and yet, there’s a rich tapestry of them, right here on Lower
Level 2.
We tapped out our names using the same code prisoners did to communicate at the
Hanoi Hilton Prison cell. We learned about the fact that 533 boats, 20 tenders and 80 land
bases were considered expendable during WWII. The current Veteran of the year is
George Banda. And that Camp Randall, the site of the current Madison stadium was once
a Wisconsin POW camp that housed German soldiers that were captured. These WI POWs
served the community by working on farms and building things Some of them chose to stay
after the war.
We saw the Dog Tag Chandelier, 5298 tags representing each of the missing soldiers from
the Civil War to the present. We were able to walk out on the balcony in front of the mural
spelling out the years beginning with the Civil War to the end of WWII. These Roman
Numerals are interwoven into an illustrious pattern of mosaic tile. Seeing them up close
was a real treat.
We were invited to watch the “The Six Triple Eight” movie just released on Netflix. The
story of 855 women who joined the fight to fix a 3 year backlog of mail. They accomplished
the task ahead of schedule.
Hearing all these stories of heroic acts on our behalf caused some quiet reflection as we
made our way to lunch at Andreas Family Restaurant in Cudahy. We were well taken care
of by Mary, our waitress. The food was quick, the service impeccable, it was delicious and
reasonably priced.

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