Pat Kinney

Pat is the Oral Historian for the Grout Museum District.

Blog posts by this Author:

• 'Sully sailor' gets story told at Grout before his passing

  We at the Grout Museum District were very saddened to hear of the passing Dec. 31 of USS The Sullivans sailor Robert Bielak of Merrillville, Ind. - less than two months after he was here for Veterans Day observances at the Grout Museum District and the Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum.

• Remember the Heroes of Bastogne

  It's a Dec. 25, 1944 photo of soldiers of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division celebrating Catholic Mass on Christmas Day at Bastogne, Belgium - even as they were surrounded by Nazi troops during the Battle of the Bulge. The battle began nine days earlier.

• USS The Sullivans Veteran Visits the SBIVM

  Monday's Veterans Day observance at the Grout Museum District's Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum was attended by U.S. Navy veteran Robert Bielak of Merrillville, Ind., near Chicago. He served on the now-decomissioned destroyer USS the Sullivans, DD-537, from 1956-60. It was the first of two ships named for the five Waterloo brothers who died together during World War II.

• Hellraiser in a Helldiver over Cedar Rapids

  WWII naval aviator's last flight was a doozy

• Waterloo crosstown rivals unite to honor vets

  'Military Appreciation Night' held at annual East-West high school football game

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