Pritzker Military Museum opens D-Day exhibit on 75th anniversary of invasion

Curator James Brundago prepares the upcoming D-Day exhibit at the Pritzker Military Museum & Library last week. | James Foster/For the Sun-Times

A new exhibit on D-Day opens in Chicago on Thursday, the 75th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Europe during World War II.

Medal of Honor recipient Walter Ehlers is among six D-Day veterans whose stories are included in video and audio recordings at the exhibit at the Pritzker Military Museum & Library.

The June 6, 1944 invasion is considered the largest amphibious assault in history. Allied forces, massed in England, boarded ships and crossed the English Channel to reach Nazi-occupied France, landing on the beaches of Normandy under heavy machine gun and artillery fire.

Part of the exhibit focuses on a deception campaign intended to give the Allies an edge by masking the true target of the invasion.

“It clearly worked in deceiving the Germans,” said James Brundage, curator at the museum, 104 S. Michigan Ave.

Last week, as Brundage put finishing touches on the 1,000 square foot exhibit, he pointed to patches in a display case. They were worn by various military units that saw action on D-Day — and one that never existed.

It’s a patch with a red numeral “1” and it was key to that deception campaign. There was no such unit; some American troops wore the patch while they were in Britain in the weeks leading up to the attack, hoping to mislead Nazi spies.

These patches all were worn by Allied forces — but the red “1” patch was part of a campaign to fool Nazi spies, and it worked.

The misdirection worked, with Hitler and his command staff to believing the landing in Normandy was just a decoy, with the real invasion, involving the fake U.S. unit, coming later, in Calais.

Two of the six veterans recorded for the exhibit will speak at a private preview Wednesday night for museum members and staff.

Ray Wagner, who grew up in Chicago, was an Army private on D-Day and among the first wave to hit Omaha beach, one of two areas assaulted by U.S. troops.

His memories remain vivid. His knee, injured by shrapnel, is a constant reminder.

“I visualize it all a lot but it doesn’t affect me any longer,” he said, adding that he has been reluctant to share his story until recently, with a friend’s encouragement.

Richard Rung of Carol Stream was a Navy machinist recorded for the exhibit. On D-Day, he was in the engine room of the LCT-539, one of the smaller landing ships built to carry tanks to the beach.

Rung said he never turns down an invitation to speak about his experience because war is a costly lesson. “I want people to realize that after 75 years, it doesn’t go away. It calms down but something happens and it comes up again.”

Olivia Button, the museum’s digital collections coordinator, said the veterans’ recordings are crucial to the exhibit.

“By hearing these stories you understand not just what it means to serve but the consequences of war itself,” Button said.

The exhibit runs for six months and includes photos, artifacts, videos, and maps, most owned by the museum. Some were borrowed from the National Archives and the National WWII Museum in New Orleans.

“The cardinal sin of poor history is to try to interpret the past in terms of the present,” said Rob Havers, president and CEO of the museum and library. “However, when you have people who experienced it, admittedly memories dim with time, but they experienced it first hand and that is irreplaceable.”

The museum is open Monday, Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Tuesday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 4 p.m.

Admission is $5, or free for museum members and visitors with an active military ID. There is no extra charge for the D-Day exhibit.

Pritzker War Museum & Library President and CEO Rob Havers at the museum’s new D-Day exhibit, which opens Thursday, the 75th anniversary of the invasion.