Thank You to All Our Veterans

November 11, 2010

As we honor our veterans today, I think of some of the amazing stories we have in our collection of Hoosiers serving our country. I think of Irven Armstrong of Westfield, who left his teaching position at IPS School #17 to serve overseas during World War I. He wrote letters back to his students describing his experiences and they returned with letters describing the homefront. I also think of his parents, Edward and Sarah Armstrong, who had all five sons serve in the war.

I think of Ted Krol of Hammond whose B-17 was shot down in France during World War II. With help from French Patriots and the French Underground he was able to escape capture. His oral history is one of the hundreds of interviews as part of the Doug Clanin World War II Oral History Collection.

I think of Karen Mundell of Frankfort who was the first woman in the Army Nurse Corps from Indiana to ask for direct assignment to Vietnam, where she served for one year from 1966 to 1967. Her collection of letters written to her family describe her daily activities as a nurse at the intensive care recovery ward at the base hospital at Bien Hoa Air Base.

Thank you to all the Hoosier men and women that have served our country.

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Suzanne Hahn is director of reference services for the IHS Collections and Library. She loves helping people find the information they seek and is perhaps the only librarian ever to get shushed for laughing too loud in a library.

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