A bit of history

New Camp Breckinridge museum a tribute to World War II, Union County
By Donna Stinnett

The main hall of the James D. Veatch Camp Breckinridge Museum and Arts Center, seen in photo below, was created by remodeling the old base's Officers' Club. Walls are decorated with murals painted by German and Italian POWs during World War II.

Larry Strehle, pictured in photo within story, a New Jersey native who was stationed at Camp Breckinridge during World War II and has lived in Union County for most of the years since, says the museum is still looking for exhibits.

(Gleaner photos by Mike Lawrence)

By Donna B. Stinnett
Features editor

She doesn't speak one word of English and she's making a journey she probably never expected to make.

But tonight Martha Bolg will arrive in Evansville from Germany to reconnect with an important piece of her family history.

Mrs. Bolg is the daughter of Daniel Mayer, the German prisoner-of-war who was the principal artist on the historic murals that are the showcase of the James D. Veatch Camp Breckinridge Museum and Arts Center in Morganfield, which is set to open April 16 with a dedication ceremony.

Mayer painted or supervised the painting of many of the building's 40 works, and created numerous others in prisoners' quarters that were bulldozed long ago when the World War II training camp closed.

Mrs. Bolg was probably about 9 when her 35-year-old father died at the camp in 1945, said Dr. Donald S. Wolfe, an Evansville professor who has been studying and researching the murals.

She never saw him again after he was captured along with many others in German Gen. Erwin Rommel's corps in Tunisia.

"I think she's really, really going to be touched," said Wolfe, who will serve as host and interpreter for Mrs. Bolg's visit and who will escort her and her husband this weekend to visit Mayer's Fort Knox grave.

Mrs. Bolg will be the special guest for the dedication of the museum, which has undergone a $1.3 million transformation from an aging former officer's club to a historic landmark.

Wolfe, who has studied letters that Mayer wrote in an effort to learn more about the murals, is convinced that the young prisoner-of-war died of a broken heart.

"He worried so much about his family," Wolfe said. "He wondered if they had enough wood to make it through the winter. Why did he work so hard (to create the paintings)? I really believe he wanted the Americans to see Germans as something other than prisoners, as human beings who share certain universal values."

Mayer's longing for his homeland shows in the soft colors and pastoral scenes that line the lower walls and the balcony of the new museum.

He painted them in an 18-month period on plain, plywood boards using a specific kind of paint that was purchased in Evansville, Wolfe said.

"He was a very, very prolific painter," he added.

The large central room, with its polished wooden floor, new lighting to highlight the artwork and new historically correct windows, absolutely glows because of Mayer's work.

Visitors to the museum, which will initially be open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, will also be able to see exhibits of the Union County Historical Society.

Larry Strehle (pictured left), a New Jersey native who was stationed at Camp Breckinridge during World War II and has lived in Union County for most of the years since, said the museum has military items in one section and local history in another.

The collection is still growing, said Strehle, a volunteer with the Historical Society.

"We receive items almost every day," he said, adding that they're expecting to inherit more Camp Breckinridge artifacts from a collector in Ohio. They welcome anything that people might be willing to donate.

"We're hoping that as time goes on, if people do have things from out here they'll return them, or at least let us exhibit them if they don't want to give them to us," echoed Vicki O'Nan, president of the new museum's board of directors.

O'Nan said a number of dignitaries will be on hand at the dedication, including officials from Veterans Affairs and Military Affairs and German military liaisons.

Wolfe will be the keynote speaker at the 2 p.m. dedication and will share his knowledge about the now solved mural mystery.

For many years, it was not known for sure who the artist really was.

But finally the right person asked the right question at the right time and Wolfe was put in contact with Erick Zychowski, who now lives in Warren, Mich., and who was in charge of the officer's club building when the murals were painted.

He identified Mayer as the primary artist.

O'Nan said that when Zychowski's supervisor saw the murals, he was reprimanded.

"Who gave these men authority to paint here?" his superior barked.

"I did," Zychowski replied.

"Well, why weren't they done on canvas so they could be moved?" came the next question.

"I don't want them moved," Zychowski answered. "I want them to stay here forever."

"And that's what's happened," said O'Nan, proudly surveying the building that will be rented for wedding receptions, used for theatrical performances and art exhibits, host to community events and home to the Union County Arts Council and the Historical Society's collections.

Wolfe said it's a fitting end to a touching story about one man's self-expression and its historical significance decades later.

"I'm sure Mayer would have been really pleased had he known what his work was going to become," Wolfe said.

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