Admiral Marc A. Mitscher WI79
Admiral Marc A. Mitscher, U.S. Navy, pioneer in naval aviation and commander of Naval Air Task Force 58, famed for its destruction of Japanese sea power in World War II, was born in Hillsboro, January 26, 1887. A 1910 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and the Naval Flying School, he served with dedicated purpose and distinguished achievement in a career that proved the effectiveness of naval aircraft carriers. As the result of his brilliant leadership, his indomitable fighting spirit, and his many conspicuous firsts in naval aviation, he was awarded many high decorations by the U.S. and foreign governments. Admiral Mitscher died Feb. 3, 1947, and lies in the hallowed ground of Arlington National Cemetery, always remembered and highly respected by all men of naval aviation.

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Castle Rock WI16
You are standing on what was once the bottom of a glacial lake in which Castle Rock, the formation rising before you, was an island. Thousands of years of erosion by water, ice and wind created the surface features you see in this area. The wayside where Castle Rock stands is part of Camp Williams, the Wisconsin State Military Reservation acquired in 1900. It is the birthplace of the famous 32nd "Red Arrow" Division which was organized in 1917 and originally composed of National Guardsmen from Wisconsin and Michigan. Fighting men of the 32nd who trained here were named "Les Terribles" by the French for their action in World War I. In World War II a succeeding generation carried on the Division's reputation for dogged persistence and valor in battling the Japanese from New Guinea to the Philippines.

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Lottie Moon (1840-1912) SM2
Lottie Moon, a native of Charlottesville, was appointed by the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board as a missionary to China in 1873 where she served for forty years. She died on her trip home in Kobe, Japan, on Christmas Eve, 1912, and her ashes were buried in her brother’s plot in the Crewe Cemetery in 1913. The Lottie Moon Christmas offering is the largest mission offering taken during the year in all Southern Baptist churches.

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World War II WI301

More than 330,000 Wisconsin residents, including 9,000 women, served in the armed forces between December 7, 1941, and the surrender of Japan on September 2, 1945. They participated in every theater of war and in virtually every major campaign; from Wake Island to New Guinea, from France and Romania to Burma and Okinawa. Approximately 8,000 perished. Another 13,000 were wounded in combat. Fifteen earned the nation's highest award for valor, the Medal of Honor.

On the home front, Wisconsin contributed its share and more to Allied victory. Despite shortages of feed, fertilizer, new machinery, and labor, state farmers delivered record amounts of agricultural products. Wisconsin's industries responded similarly, producing automotive components, marine engines, ammunition, aircraft parts, uniforms, footgear, even ocean-going vessels such as frigates, minesweepers, cargo ships, and submarines. And on farms and in factories throughout the state, women and schoolchildren took the place of men in uniform.

World War II was truly a "people's war."

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Janesville Tank Company WI298

During the 1930s, the Janesville National Guard armory was headquarters for the 32nd Tank Company, a unit of Wisconsin's famed 32nd Division, which had been reorganized after world War I and equipped with light tanks. In November 1940, as part of the mobilization ordered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the unit was melded with three other Midwestern National Guard units and redesignated Company A of the 192nd Tank Battalion. Within a year, the Janesville tank company had been trained and dispatched to the Philippine Islands.

Following the outbreak of war on December 7, 1941, members of Company A became the first of 330,000 Wisconsin residents to engage the enemy. During a harrowing four-month defense of the Bataan Peninsula, short of supplies and devoid of air cover, the Janesville tank unit fought bravely alongside other American and Filipino forces until surrendering on April 9, 1942. As prisoners of war, the Janesville men participated in the infamous Bataan Death March. Of the original ninety-nine members of the unit, only thirty-five survived imprisonment by the Japanese.

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Thirty-second Division Memorial Highway WI82
The 32nd Division was organized in 1917. Originally it was made up of National Guardsmen from Wisconsin and Michigan. World War I: Fought in Alsace, Aisne-Marne, Oise-Aisne and Meuse-Argonne Offensives. Vanquished 23 German Divisions. Served in the Army of Occupation in Germany. Deactivated in 1919. World War II: One of the first to be called. Fought offensively in the Buna- Sanananda Operations. Saidor, Aitape, Morotai, Biak, Leyte and Luzon campaigns. 654 days in action in the Pacific Theater. Served in the Army of Occupation in Japan. Deactivated in 1946. THIS HIGHWAY IS DEDICATED TO THE GALLANT MEN OF THE THIRTY-SECOND RED ARROW DIVISION WHO MADE THE SUPREME SACRIFICE IN BOTH WARS.

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Prisoners of War WI295
Prior to World War II, few Americans had ever been held as prisoners of war on foreign soil. But the surrender of U.S. forces in the Phillippines in the spring of 1942 suddenly swelled the number of POWs into the thousands, and soon a network of support groups was formed in the U>S> to exchange information about loved ones held captive. At the war's end, the Bataan Relief Organization absorbed similar 'barbed - wire clubs' and in 1949 became the American Ex - Prisoners of War. A Wisconsin Department was established in 1977, and Stanley G. Sommers of Marshfield, a sailor captured at Corriegidor, became National Commander in 1980. Sommers was instrumental in compiling data regarding the effects of incarceration on ex-POWs, some of which informed the congressional debate over passage of the Former Prisoners of War Benefit Act of 1981. A total of 142,227 Americans were captured and held as prisoners of war during both World Wars, Korea, and Vietnam, including 1,929 Wisconsinites. Some 15,190 U.S. service personnel died in captivity, almost three-quarters of them in Japanese hands during World War II.

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Thirty-second Division Memorial Highway WI71

The 32nd Division was organized in 1917. Originally it was made up of National Guardsmen from Wisconsin and Michigan.

World War I: Fought in Alsace, Aisne- Marne, Oise-Aisne and Meuse-Argonne offensives. Vanquished 23 German divisions, served in the Army of Occupation in Germany. Deactivated in 1919.

World War II: One of the first to be called. Fought offensively in the Buna-Sanananda operations. Saider, Aitape, Morotai, Biak, Leyte and Luzon campaigns. 654 days in action in the Pacific theater. Served in the Army of Occupation in japan. Deactivated in 1946.

THIS HIGHWAYIS DEDICATED TO THE GALLANTMEN OF THE THIRTY-SECOND RED ARROW DMSION WHO MADE THE SUPREME SACRIFICE IN BOTH WARS.

Erected 1957

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Manitowoc Submarines WI285

At the outbreak of World War II in 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt called upon America to rearm. Increasing the number of submarines became a goal. Because existing shipbuilders could not meet production schedules, the U.S. Navy approached Charles C. West, president of the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company, and requested that his firm build submarines.

Government contracts led to the expansion and modernization of the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company facilities. Workers and engineers rapidly developed innovative construction methods, including side-launching of submarines. Ultimately, the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company employed some 7,000 workers in three shifts, seven days a week.

U.S.S. Peto, launched in 1942, became the first of twenty eight fleet submarines built at Manitowoc. The submarines were towed to New Orleans via the Illinois-Mississippi Waterway using a special floating dry dock. U.S.S. Rasher, a Manitowoc submarine, sank 99,901 tons of Japanese shipping, the second highest total for an American submarine. Four Manitowoc submarines, Golet, Kete, Lagato, and Robalo, along with 336 officers and enlisted men, were lost during the war.

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Doolittle'S 1922 Record Flight FL91

Florida's mild climate made it attractive to aviation pioneers. This area, known until 1925 as Pablo Beach, served as takeoff or terminal point for several early coast-to-coast flights, the first of which occurred in 1912 and required 115 days to reach Pablo Beach from Pasadena, California. On September 4, 1922, Army Lieutenant James H. ("Jimmy") Doolittle piloted a DeHavilland DH-4 biplane from Pablo Beach to San Diego in an elapsed time of 22 hours and 35 minutes. He made one stop during his flight for fuel, at Kelly Field in San Antonio, Texas. Doolittle's feat established a new speed record and helped demonstrate the practicality of transcontinental flight. Jimmy Doolittle remained active in aviation. During World War II, he led the first American bombing raid against the Japanese home islands, a daring stroke which provided a psychological lift to the nation's war effort.

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