Marysville Museum Honors Veterans With 50,000 Piece Collection, Takes Visitors Through History

MARYSVILLE (CBS13) - The Museum of Forgotten Warriors in Marysville is hoping to share the history of local veterans, and it's more than just stories of war.

Obie Wickersham is 88 years old, and remembers the day he was drafted.

"I think I signed up on my birthday, and two weeks later I was in the service. It was that quick," he said.

He fought in World War II and the Korean War.

"I got the Bronze Star in Korea, and all the battle stars," said Wickersham.

He also received three Purple Hearts and the Silver Star.

As a prisoner of war, he once swam 450 yards, not sure if he would make it.

"I came home Sept. 20, 1953. Got home, had 30 day leave, and got discharged, I had enough by that time," said Wickersham.

Now it's all here on display at the Museum of Forgotten Warriors.

"For these two little towns to have something like this, I just want more people to come out here," said Wickersham.

Don Schrader went to Vietnam 47 years ago. For him, the museum is part of the healing process.

"It's away that you can come out here and see just not what the wars were about but what the people were about," he said.

The collection of items spans all wars, with more than 50,000 pieces of history.

"There's little containers of sand and dirt from battlefields. I've been out here 10 years and I go through these cases and see things I've never seen before," said Schrader.

With Veterans Day Monday, Schrader hopes people will take the time to visit and remember.

"You finally understand there's a whole lot of people like you. So to come out here and share stories and see memorabilia is a healing process, and I think it's something a lot of us need," he said.

The museum has memorabilia dating back to the Civil War.