Tanks for your service, Michigan men and women

Every day is Veteran’s Day at Michigan’s Own Military and Space Museum in Frankenmuth. This tribute to the men and women who have served in the U.S. armed forces and space program is the vision and almost single-handed effort of Stanley Bozich, a retired Royal Oak firefighter and founder of the offbeat attraction located off the beaten “Little Bavaria” path.

 

Stan Bozich, left, conducts tours of the museum he founded

“I’m the executive director, curator and janitor,” says the mustachioed Stan during a break in greeting the steady stream of museum visitors. He meets every guest at the door, collects the admission fee, and launches into an orientation before setting them on a self-guided course through the exhibits. Then he makes himself available for questions about the only museum in the U.S. that is devoted to the military men and women of a single state.

To be honest, this museum was never at the top of my To See list. I didn’t understand the assemblage of stuff: an army tank, a plane, a giant stuffed Polar Bear, and something to do with NASA? Finally, curiosity won out and on my summertime trip to Frankenmuth I paid a visit.

The first gallery honors the 5 Michigan Governors who served in the military, beginning with Spanish-American War General Fred W. Green. Then I saw the prosthetic legs of Michigan Governor John B. Swainson, who had lost his below the knees in World War II. ”He was a good friend,” says Stan. (How good? Well, you don’t trust your prosthetic legs to just any museum collector.)

The other galleries are arranged by conflict—WWI, WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War, Gulf War, and the War on Terrorism—and are lined with glass-fronted showcases neatly filled with  trim uniforms, colorful ribbons and medals, personal effects, and photos of cocky young servicemen and determined women from each branch of the military.

Stories, photos, medals and other items tell of the accomplishments and sacrifices of the featured servicemen and women

With a precious limit to museum space Stan has to be selective in the items and individuals he accepts into the museum. “I don’t just collect uniforms,” he explains. “It’s got to be someone with a story to tell: the first, the last, or only.” He’s been entrusted with the artifacts of around 600 people, and to showcase everyone he rotates the exhibits quarterly. On my visit they included the stories of:

-Captain C. Robert Arvin, Ypsilanti High School Valedictorian and West Point wrestling captain who was ambushed by the Vietcong; he is buried at West Point, where the gym is named for him.

-Virginia Krum of Southfield, a WWII Women’s Auxiliary Service Pilot assigned to Lubbock, Texas who logged almost 370 flight hours in training, engineering test flying, administrative and utility flying.

-USMC Captain Ernie Braces of Redford,whose confinement in Laos and North Vietnam totaled 7 years, 10 months, and 7 days; his sandals and striped, salmon-colored pajamas from the Hanoi Hilton were displayed.

Stan’s fascination with military items and those who serve predate his 1951 enlistment in the Navy, a day shy of his 17th birthday. “I started in 1945 when I was 12, and have been collecting ever since,” he says. He opened the museum 29 years ago, and has occupied the Frankenmuth site for 19 years. Although he has occasional help from some local veterans and his wife, it’s largely a one-man operation.

The amount of stuff under this roof is mind boggling: more Medals of Honor than anywhere in the U.S. (including the Smithsonian Medal of Honor Museum), several boats by master model ship builder Charles E. Smith, an assortment of quarter scale airplanes, weapons such as a 1918 Maxim German machine gun, and a gallery dedicated to the 13 Michigan astronauts who have served in the U.S. space program.

Home of the Polar Bears

And that stuffed Polar Bear greeter at the entrance? This museum has the largest number of artifacts from the “Polar Bears” soldiers who fought in Russia through the winter of 1918-19. A majority of those WWI soldiers were from Michigan, and as a young man Stan befriended some of them, who trusted him with the mementoes of their Arctic war experiences. (The story of the Polar Bears is told in the recently produced film, “Voices of a Never Ending Dawn” now being shown on PBS.)

Chaos reigns in only one showcase

Every exhibit throughout the museum is orderly except one: a tall showcase filled with grisly photos, weapons, flags, and other artifacts from wartime Japan and Nazi Germany. “We intentionally display it like junk,” Stan points to the comparatively chaotic display and heap of items on the floor of the case. “If it’s neat it looks like a tribute. As we get (a donation) we just toss it in there.” He warns parents with kids in tow of the graphic content while adding, “We want young people to understand why we fought these two governments.”

Young or old, the visitors that day were moved and impressed. I can’t recall a museum visit where there was so much interaction between strangers. A woman, her voice catching, felt compelled to read one of the stories aloud to me. A model airplane triggered the memory of a gent who was a lad during WWII, and he shared a funny story related to the actual plane.

A 13-year old boy summed up his impression of the museum: “I thought it was so cool,” he said. Agreed.

NOTE: Michigan’s Own Military and Space Museum is closed in January and February.

 

The hand painted leather jacket of USAAF Tech Sgt. Herbert F. Beyerlein of Frankenmuth, next to his portrait

 

 

We enjoy these pumpkin pancakes for brunch or supper

A while ago I mentioned how much I like pumpkin and promised to share recipes. Here’s one for fluffy, not-too-sweet pumpkin pecan pancakes; this Sunday we brunched on them, but they’re also good for supper on a fall or winter evening.

The recipe comes from Mrs. Rowe’s Restaurant in the Shenandoah Valley. The Rowe family has been serving daily specials since 1947, and the younger generation has expanded the operation beyond the original restaurant and bakery in Saunton, Virginia.

We ate at Mrs. Rowe’s on our return trip from Williamsburg several years ago and liked these hot cakes (as they’re listed on the menu) so much that I bought her cookbook so we could enjoy them at home. The only Great Lakes connection is the canned pumpkin from Libby’s, which was founded in Chicago. By the way, this year marks the 80th anniversary of Libby’s canned pumpkin.

This recipe serves four generously.

Mrs. Rowe’s Pumpkin Pecan Pancakes

Serves 4

2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. ground nutmeg
¼ tsp. ground allspice
¾ cup sugar
1-1/2 cups solid pack pumpkin
3 eggs
1 cup milk
¾ cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 oz. chopped pecans

Sift dry ingredients and set aside. Using a large bowl, combine pumpkin, eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and stir until blended; stir in pecans just before ready to cook.

A hot greased griddle is best for cooking pancakes. Pour ¼ cup batter onto griddle and cook until bubbles form and bottom is brown. Turn and brown the other side. Serve with warm pure Maple syrup.

If preferred, omit the pecans from the batter and add to the syrup. Heat and pour over pancakes.

Musician, historian, continental glaciologist. Folk-singer Lee Murdock, geology degree in one hand and guitar in the other, preserves and performs songs of the Great Lakes—the bodies of water created by the glaciers he studied in college.

The ore carrier Saginaw carries on a tradition worth singing about

He didn’t plan the merger of his interests. A singer of blues and pop music in the 1970’s, Lee, a native of the Chicago area says, “I started to develop more than just a passing interest in folk music from the region, especially by sailors on the Great Lakes about the Great Lakes.” Now, he realizes, “There’s a resonance to my music. I was on a path all along.”

Lee writes original tunes and has found valuable, historical material in archives at the University of Michigan. He arranges Great Lakes ballads, sea chanteys and work songs dating to the 1800’s to appeal to contemporary audiences, while maintaining the integrity of the music. Sometimes he discovers just the words and stories, and writes melodies to fit.

Lee Murdock at Whitefish Point (provided photo)

“My mission is to find those songs that might interest the general public…to make people aware of the Great Lakes heritage by presenting the songs in the best way I know.”

With 13 recordings and about 150 concerts a year Lee knows there’s an audience—of all ages—appreciative of the region’s maritime history.

We discovered Lee’s recordings many years ago at the Inland Seas Maritime Museum in Vermilion, Ohio. The kids were quite young, but enjoyed the tunes on the drive home; Paige chose May Day as her favorite, and Graham said that Lee’s pairing of Red Iron Ore/Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald was, in his view, “more haunting and eerie than the other guy’s version.” The other guy, of course, is Canadian folksinger Gordon Lightfoot, whose ballad about the freighter lost in Lake Superior off Whitefish Point is probably the most famous song about the Great Lakes.

As mentioned in my post about the Edmund Fitzgerald, Lee will participate in the ceremony at Detroit’s Dossin Great Lakes Museum on Tuesday, November 10. He’ll also perform in the Benefit Concert for the Fort Gratiot Light in Port Huron on Friday, November 13. Lee’s 18th annual Christmas Ship Concert is Saturday, November 28 in Lombard, Illinois; I’ll talk more about the Michigan connection behind this tale in a holiday season post.

In the meantime, check out Lee Murdock’s Web site to listen to clips of his music, order online or download tunes, and learn more about the Great Lakes through his songs.

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” Anne Frank

Mural, Bay City

A model of the Edmund Fitzgerald at the Dossin Museum. The ore carrier, broken in two, rests 530 feet beneath the surface of Lake Superior

I don’t know about elsewhere in the universe, but here in Michigan when we turn the radio on in the coming days we can count on hearing Gordon Lightfoot’s ballad, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”

Tuesday, November 10 marks the 34th anniversary of the tragic sinking of the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald with captain and crew—29 men—lost. The ore carrier went down in Lake Superior during a violent storm 17 miles off Whitefish Point in the Upper Peninsula. It’s a day marked with solemn services at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point, and on the Detroit River at the Dossin Great Lakes Museum on Belle Isle.

The memorial service at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point in the UP begins at 7 p.m., Tuesday, November 10, and will include the ringing of the bell recovered from the Fitzgerald and performances by Michigan musicians Carl Behrend and Dan Hall. Free.

The annual tribute to lost mariners at the Dossin Great Lakes Museum on Belle Isle in Detroit begins with a 6 p.m. lantern ceremony at the anchor from the Fitzgerald, followed by a program that includes music by Great Lakes balladeer Lee Murdock and laying of a memorial wreath in the Detroit River. This year’s ceremony recognizes the loss of the Marquette & Bessemer No. 2 and its crew of 32, which went down in a Lake Erie storm on December 8, 1909. Admission charged.

(Click here to see my earlier post about the Dossin Museum.)

In addition, at 11 a.m., Sunday, November 8, Mariners’ Church in Detroit holds its annual Great Lakes Memorial Service honoring all lives lost on the inland seas. It was Fr. Richard W. Ingalls, Jr., Rector of the “House of Prayer for All People,” who rang the church bell 29 times the day after the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald. His act is memorialized in Lightfoot’s words, “In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed, in the Maritime Sailor’s Cathedral. The church bell chimed ’til it rang 29 times for each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald.”

NOTE:
Please check the comments below for another program and open house on Tuesday, November 10 in River Rouge, where the Edmund Fitzgerald was built.  Very cool happenings. Thank you, readers for the info!

Todd Sneed of Mt. Morris, Michigan designed the winning entry in the logo contest for the annual gourmet Mac & Cheese event

With all that’s going on in the world today, comfort food sounds really good right now.

And what’s more comforting and dependable than macaroni and cheese?

Gourmet mac & cheese, of course. With wine.

The Wineries of the Old Mission Peninsula (WOMP) combine them in an annual event known as The Great Macaroni & Cheese Bake-Off, held on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Definitely on my “to do someday” list.

 

Will Black Star Farms' award-winning Raclette and Pinot Gris make it into the November 28 event?

At the 9th annual event, set for 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, November 28, the 7 WOMP wineries and 14 local restaurants will pair up to create winning combinations of their wines and the inventiveness of their chefs.

On that date, ticket-holding gourmands will roam the Little Finger wine region to sip and to sample creamy creations at the 7 wineries: 2 Lads Winery, Black Star Farms, Bowers Harbor Vineyards, Brys Estate Vineyards & Winery, Chateau Chantal, Chateau Grand Traverse, and Peninsula Cellars.

Everyone votes on the Most Unique, Cheesiest, Best With White Wine, and People’s Choice entries from the participating restaurants, which include The Boathouse of Bower’s Harbor (you may have read about my wonderful Dining on the Fly experience), Grand Traverse Resort’s Aerie, and Poppycock’s (Paige’s favorite in Traverse City). Past recipes have included gorgonzola, lobster, ale, brie, walnuts, goat cheese—nothing humble or blue-box about these culinary takes on the dish that American households have turned to since President Thomas Jefferson served it in the White House in 1802.

The $20 ticket includes a souvenir glass and tastings of the pasta creations and fruit of the vine, and ”only” 1,400 tickets are sold; it’s highly recommended that you reserve your spot in advance from the 7 WOMP wineries or online at Chateau Chantal.

For information on visiting the area, check with the Traverse City Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Cheese & Cheers!

The residents of Roperti’s Turkey Farm seem oblivious to the traffic whizzing by on busy Five Mile Road, and the suburban Detroit homes that surround their 5-acre piece of the past.

Some of the 4,500 Wilford White turkeys headed to holiday dinner tables fresh from the Roperti farm in Livonia

Since August I’ve periodically checked on the gobblers as the 9-week old arrivals have grown into the holiday birds that will grace some 4,000 Thanksgiving tables and 500 Christmas dinners. Although the turkeys are transients the Roperti family has lived on this Livonia farm for more than 6 decades, raising grain-fed, free range birds each holiday season since 1948.

A 5-acre piece of country in the city

Two years ago we decided to ditch the Butterball and pop for one of Roperti’s turkeys, which are understandably a little more expensive than the shrink wrapped birds I traditionally retrieve from the grocery store cooler. I placed the order and arranged a pick-up time—necessary because Roperti’s turkeys are killed and dressed on site no more than 24 hours before you show up. That’s fresh.

I arrived at the appointed hour and joined the orderly line of regulars anticipating their annual feast. “You’ll never go back to those other turkeys,” one customer assured me, describing how juicy and tender Roperti’s birds are and (this is key) how they don’t take as long to cook as the store-bought kind.

To be fair, our oven wasn’t working properly that Thanksgiving and I did, indeed, slightly overcook the centerpiece of the meal.

Still, it was a tasty turkey and I’m not sure why we fell back on the standard-issue version last year, especially since we’ve been trying overall to eat better foods.

Once I started looking into it, I found lots of small, family-run farms that raise food and free-range animals without chemicals and by-products. For starters, check out Hartland Farms, Eatwild, Local Harvest, and Certified Naturally Grown.

Who knew there was such a wide selection of turkeys out there? (No jokes about the dating scene, please.)

It must have something to do with my Finnish roots, but I like rutabaga. The homely looking relative of turnip and cabbage is a staple in Finland, while here in the U.S. it doesn’t have the widespread appeal of say, Brussels sprouts.

Rutabaga: food or fuel? (Background art is a stool splatter painted by TJ)

Ownership of the humble rutabaga is—like language, cross-country skiing, and hockey—a source of rivaly between Finland and Sweden. Some insist that it originated in Finland, yet its name comes from the Swedish word rotabagge, and in many parts of the world it is known as a Swedish turnip or Swede.

Rutabaga by any name or ethnicity is an acquired taste—one that I acquired as a kid eating it mashed and in pasties, that Upper Peninsula take on the Cornish meat and vegetable pie. This is a favor I’ve passed along to our kids (and yes, Paige and Graham like rutabaga, too).

But because it is not the most popular crop on the farm it’s looking mighty attractive to some folks in East Lansing, where Michigan State University researchers are experimenting with the rutabaga as a source of biofuel. If it’s not being eaten it might as well power those trips to the market for the vegetable du jour, right?

I just don’t know if I can get used to paying for rutabaga by the gallon.

In the meantime we’ll continue to enjoy the root vegetable browned, in soups and pasties, and, as we did tonight:

Mashed Rutabaga

Peel and dice a rutabaga
Cover with cold water and cook until fork-tender
Drain, add to taste (amounts depend on size of rutabaga):
-a couple of tablespoons of butter
-a few tablespoons of Maple syrup
-coarse salt and pepper to taste

Mash and enjoy.
If you don’t enjoy, add more syrup, butter, or both.

They paint giant chicken heads, stitch dragon tails, wrestle school bus-sized helium balloons and serve as Equestrian Escorts—a fancy name for the “super-pooper-scoopers” who follow the horse units and keep the street clean for America’s Thanksgiving Parade through downtown Detroit.

Parade volunteer Showey touches up the paint on one of the giant heads that another volunteer will don to strut in Detroit's annual Thanksgiving Day event

They are among the 2,500 volunteers who donate their time to keep alive the city’s annual Turkey Day extravaganza, a holiday tradition since 1924.

Judy has been a dedicated parade volunteer for nearly 2 decades

One of those dedicated souls is Judy, who 19 years ago fulfilled her long-held desire to be a part of the parade. For nearly 2 decades she says she has helped with “sewing costumes, float construction, carving styrofoam, painting…all those good things.”

Now, with failing eyesight, she is still able to serve as a guide on public tours of the Parade Company studio and warehouse in Detroit, where the colorful floats and costumes are created, maintained, and stored. Two questions kids commonly ask during the tours: whether they can climb on the floats (no) and, “Is Santa Claus real?” to which Judy always answers, “Of course he is!”

Showey didn’t intend to become involved with the parade, but when a friend who is a volunteer suggested she meet him at the studio, she was hooked. Now she looks forward to spending time surrounded by oversized creatures, clowns, and storybook characters. ”It’s such a fantasy; everyone’s so happy!” she says as she dabs paint on one of the giant heads that will make its way along the parade route on Thanksgiving morning.

Two volunteers clown around as they guard the new float sponsored by Art Van Furniture, under wraps behind them at The Parade Company studio

Until November 14 volunteers can sign up to help on this year’s parade; the Web site has details on tasks ranging from carrying a banner to helping with costumes for the civic-minded folks who pay to march in the Distinguished Clown Corps and the Big Head Corps.

The parade steps off at 9:20 a.m., Thursday, November 26 and makes its way about two miles down Woodward Avenue. American Idol contestant Danny Gokey will appear on the CBS-FM Radio float; he’ll will also perform at the black-tie Hob Nobble Gobble fundraiser on the Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving.

But the real star of the show, as he has been for each of the parade’s 83 years, is Santa.

Plus, of course, the volunteers who make the whole shebang happen.

Holidays on Parade:
Visit The Parade Company Studio at a fun family event from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, November 28; see the floats, enjoy entertainment and food, and chat with Santa. Click here to print out a dollar off admission coupon.

America’s Thanksgiving Parade is broadcast live on Detroit’s WDIV-TV and the first hour of it on a number of stations nationwide.

Wizard of Oz, one of several parade floats veteran volunteer Judy helped create

 

 

UP Farm

 

“Worldly ups and downs should be treated as lightly as clouds gathering and breaking up.”

Ann Onymous