About This Exhibit

EXPLORING THE HONOR GALLERY

THE WISCONSIN MEDAL OF HONOR EXHIBIT

WELCOME TO THE HONOR GALLERY

The 64 men whose names are inscribed here and whose stories we tell have received our nation’s highest military decoration. The Medal of Honor. These heroes embody those five words that welcome you to our exhibit:

PATRIOTISM. SACRIFICE. COURAGE. CITIZENSHIP. INTEGRITY.

EXPLORING THIS
EXHIBIT

The 64 plaques mounted on the main wall, surrounding the video monitors, display the names of recipients, their branch of service, the place of their Medal of Honor action, and the Wisconsin location accredited to them. These plaques are mounted chronologically across the wall, left to right, top to bottom, starting with the first Wisconsin recipient in the top row on the left, and ending with the most recent recipient on the bottom row, far right.

EMBLEMS
& FLAGS

Hanging above the Honor Gallery are the six emblems of the branches of the United States armed forces: from left to right – U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Space Force, and the U.S. Coast Guard.

Displayed on the wall above the plaques are replicas of the Medal of Honor Flag and the Regimental Flag of the 14th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment from the Civil War. (The actual battle flag is in the Wisconsin Veterans Museum.) The 14th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment was a volunteer infantry regiment that served in the Union Army. Four of its members received the Medal of Honor for service in the Second Battle of Corinth, October 3 and 4, 1862; among them the Color-Sergeant Denis Murphy (Green Bay), Wisconsin’s first recipient, who, though wounded 3 times, continued bearing the colors throughout the battle.

The Medal of Honor Flags bear 13 white stars on a light blue field in a configuration as on the Medal of Honor ribbon. The flag commemorates the sacrifice and blood shed for our freedoms and gives emphasis to the Medal of Honor being the highest award for valor by an individual serving in the Armed Forces of the United States. The Medal of Honor is flag presented to those who have been bestowed the US decoration of the same name.

THE HUB OF THE HONOR GALLERY

The focal point of this exhibit is the video wall. From the kiosk in the center of the Gallery, you can choose from a touchscreen menu the programs you’d like to view. These include descriptions of the recipients’ Medal of Honor actions; the involvement of Wisconsin service people in conflicts from the Civil War through the Vietnam War, as well as videos of recipients, and background on the War Memorial Center.

The Honor Gallery is a permanent exhibit that supports the mission of the War Memorial Center “To Honor The Dead. Serve The Living.” The exhibit itself is a living memorial that will continue to evolve with rotating displays and new items to feature.