Michigan's Own, Inc.   Military and Space Museum   exists to nurture the memories of people from Michigan farms, offices and factories who heeded the summons to military service during America's six foreign wars; from the Spanish-American War to the Gulf War. Michigan's Own is unique in the United States in that it is the only repository devoted to the wartime experiences of one state's people.

However,   it is not a museum of war,  nor an archive dedicated to the strategies or the killing machinery of battle. It is instead, a shrine to ordinary lives caught up in - sometimes ended by - the extraordinary experience of war. It is also an eloquent statement about the passing of time, and the debt subsequent generations owe to those who preceded them to preserve our Freedoms.

The museum, located in Frankenmuth, Michigan, holds over 400 exhibits, each devoted to a Michigan soldier, sailor, or airman. Youthful faces peer at a visitor from photographs on the walls and display cases, some accompanied by pictures of the frail old men the young soldiers became. Other faces - of those who fell - are frozen exclusively and forever in young manhood.

A powerful sensation of bygone times, distant places and desperate struggles clings to the fabric of the old uniforms on display. The garments, the sundry accessories of brass and leather the soldiers used, the battle souvenirs and citations they received - all leave visitors pondering the men and women more than the war. The artifacts communicate a sense of connection to the soldier: that our present freedom and well being are attributable to these men and women.

Visitors wonder if the soldiers were able to do what they did because somewhere in their souls they understood they were doing it for future generations.

The displays at Michigan's Own reflect American military adventures and tragedies of the last century through the personal histories of people who, in the inexorable press of day-to-day life, might have otherwise been forgotten.

Michigan's Own focuses not just on the past or on combat, however. The museum honors the peacetime bravery of Michigan astronauts, including Commander Roger Chaffee of Grand Rapids, who died in the Apollo 1 launch-pad fire of January 27, 1967.

Most of the artifacts were diligently researched and acquired by museum director Stanley Bozich. They are weighty with the emotion of those who contributed them. Many a widow saddened to think the remnants of her husband's military service might end up ignored in an attic after her death, have entrusted them to Michigan's Own, confident they would be preserved and honored. The museum's collection is rooted in the cherished memories of hundreds of Michigan families.

In 1985, eight months before his death at 93, Henry Duff of Troy, Michigan, was reminiscing about his experiences in northern Russia as one of the 'Polar Bears.' The troop movements and outcomes of battles nearly 70 years in the past flickered in his memory, while the faces of the men he fought alongside still burned brightly. Mr. Duff said, "More than the deed, I remember the people." His words could stand as a motto for Michigan's Own.