Washington Remembers WWII: Their Sacrifice. Our Freedom.

Before they liberated concentration camps or freed countries from tyranny, men and women in uniform fought enemy forces everywhere — in factories on the Washington home front and on beaches abroad. They braved the unknown, lived through the unthinkable, and changed who we are.

“I’ve had a wonderful life. … I would go through it again to keep our freedom, really. … I know I could be angry for what I had to go through, but it made life worth living.”

— Capt. Joseph F. Moser, U.S. Army Air Forces, shot down over north-central France in 1944, POW held at Buchenwald concentration camp, resident of Whatcom County.

This is just one of the emotion-packed stories documenting the personal experiences of men and women who fought for freedom on the battlefield and on the home-front in the exhibit Washington Remembers WWII: Their Sacrifice. Our Freedom.

The Legacy Washington exhibit was created through the Office of the Secretary of State to honor the tens of thousands of Washingtonians who served in the war. “The profiles allow World War II veterans a chance to share stories that haven’t been told. The time to hear their stories is now. Every three minutes in this country, we lose a World War II veteran. These heroes offer first-hand accounts of the war, a personal perspective to history, that we can’t afford to lose,” said Secretary of State Kim Wyman.

In addition to the Legacy stories, the exhibit will highlight a variety of WWII artifacts, documents, and historic photographs from the Whatcom Museum’s collection.