Did U Know?

Did You Know? Museum Trivia:
   Sonny Eliot, the legendary Detroit weatherman whose career in   
   television and radio spanned over 60 years was a Prisoner of War during World War II. Eliot enlisted after Pearl Harbor and became a B-24 bomber pilot assigned to the 8th Air Force, 577th Squadron, based in Norwich, England. On February 24, 1943 Eliot’s B-24 was shot down during a bombing raid of Berlin. Landing in a field Eliot was quickly captured and was ultimately interred at Stalagluft 1, in Barth, Germany, where he was for the remainder of the war.
  Jackson, MI native Al Worden is the only Michigan astronaut to fly
  to the Moon. Worden was the command module pilot for the Apollo 15 lunar mission in 1971. He is one of only 24 people to have flown to the Moon. You can find Worden’s display in the Space exhibit in the museum.

  Medal of Honor recipient and
  Grand Rapids, MI, native Private First Class Dirk Vlug, U.S. Army, singlehandedly destroyed five enemy tanks saving his squad members and helping to accomplish his battalion’s mission during the battle of Leyte, Philippines.

  First Sergeant George
  Comstock, from Detroit, MI was awarded the nation’s second highest medal for bravery, the Distinguished Service Cross, in action in Kadish, Russia, during the Russian Revolution in 1918. Comstock disregarded his personal safety and ran 200 yards in advance of the front lines to guide back a man who had been blinded by shellfire. On two other occasions he went forward in advance of the front lines, exposing himself to heavy enemy fire, and returned with a wounded man.

  Grand Rapids, MI native
  Duane Dewey received the Medal of Honor from President Dwight D. Eisenhower during a White House ceremony on March 12, 1953. Dewey received the honor for “His indomitable courage, outstanding initiative and valiant efforts in behalf of others in the face of almost certain death.” President Eisenhower, after reading the citation describing Dewey’s heroic actions, quipped that Dewey was be made of steel.   

  Colonel Michael
  Bloomfield, a Lake Fenton native, flew three space shuttle missions. Bloomfield piloted space shuttle Atlantis on STS-86 and space shuttle Endeavor on STS-97, and commanded space shuttle Atlantis on STS-110.