Museum Archives
The National Medal of Honor Museum archives hold eleven Medals of Honor and more than 25,000 artifacts displayed at a 1000 square foot museum and stored in a 1500 square foot climate controlled warehouse. Due to limited museum exhibit space, we will be featuring samples of the collections stored at the archives on this page.
Featured Archive Collection
War Comics
Comic books, perhaps the central staple of the U.S. youth culture, have been fundamental in both shaping and reflecting the country's political, social, and ethical values ever since Superman made his first appearance on the cover of Action Comics in 1938. Superman's first enemies were corrupt politicians and slum lords aligned against the New Deal; 40s books reflected anti-NAZI and anti-Japanese themes; 50s books reflected national anticommunist hysteria as well as mixed messages about the Korean War; Iron Man in the 1960s found his earlier anticommunist politics shaken by the war in Vietnam. Even todays comic books reflect the 'Fight Against Terror.' The following comic books are part of our collection of WAR COMICS.
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Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor comic series was a five issue comic book limited series published by Dark Horse Comics from October 1994 through January 1995. Written by Doug Murray, each issue featured the stories of several United States soldiers who earned the Medal of Honor. In addition to the four numbered issues ( #5 never published), the series was preceded by an unnumbered issue Medal of Honor: Special in April 1994. All of the stories were based on the real-life experiences and were fully approved by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. Medal of Honor (2 of 5), published by Darkhorse Comics, November 1994 This issue features two stories:
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Blazing Battle Tales Sgt. Hawk was the lead feature in this one shot comic book series. The story was set WWII and was intended to be a long-run serial similar to other war story comics of the time. Atlas/ Seaboard Comics only survived ten months and went out-of business shortly after publishing this one issue of Blazing Battle Tales. Blazing Battle Tales featuring SGT. Hawk, Volume 1 No. 1, published by Atlas Comics, July 1975 This comic book provided three stories:
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The Lonely War of Capt. Willy Schultz Created by writer Will Franz, the Willie Schultz character starred in the feature "The Lonely War of Willy Schultz", which debuted in Charlton Comics' Fightin' Army #76 (Oct. 1967) and was serialized through issue #92 (July 1970). Selected stories were reprinted many times thereafter. The stories were collected as late as 1999 and 2000. The Willy Schultz storyline was a departure from most other combat features of this time, with its conflicted hero caught between loyalties. Writer Will Franz opposed the American war in Vietnam, and the Schultz character reflected the divisiveness of the era. Captain Willy Schultz was a fictional comic-book soldier, a German-American U.S. Army captain during World War II, who after being falsely accused and convicted of murder, escaped and blended into the German Army while seeking a way to clear his name and retain his Allied allegiance. Despite an initial inclination to kill Schultz at the end of the war, the series concluded with Schultz marrying the daughter of a German general to start a new life. Capt. Willy Schultz, Vol.3, No.77, published by Charlton Publications, INC., January, 1986 This issue contains two stories.
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Blackhawk Blackhawk was a long running comic book series that was later adapted into a film, radio show and a novel. This comic series followed a team of World War II ace pilots of various nationalities, mostly European. The comic was first published by "Quality Comics" in August 1941 then later published by "National Periodical Publications", later "DC Comics". The Blackhawks as a concept were heavily tied to World War II, and as the years passed by it became more and more difficult to sell the comic books. This prompted a series of efforts to update the comics: at first, the team started to fight more and more supervillain-like adversaries and became super heroes themselves [New Blackhawk Era (#228-241)]. Sales faltered forcing a temporary cancellation of the series. In 1980, the series was revived (#251-273) with the title character as a Pole rather than an American. Since then, only modern hints of the team have appeared. Changes, Blackhawk 269, published by DC Comics, April 1984 In this episode, Walter Schoener (aka Blackhawk) is on the run after a failed attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler. The Killer Shark (aka General Haifisch) leads a German group to seize the town of La Resistance. While seizing the town, all of Blackhawk’s men are captured. Here is where the story ends leaving the reader to purchase the next issue to determine the fate of Blackhawk, Blackhawk’s men, and the people of La Resistance. |
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The 'Nam was a war comic book series detailing the U.S. War in Vietnam from the perspective of active-duty soldiers involved in the conflict. It was published by Marvel Comics for seven years beginning in 1986. It was originally intended to roughly parallel the analogous events of the period of major American military involvement in Vietnam from 1966 to 1972. When initially announced, it was described as a "twelve year limited series. The first edition started with fictional soldier, Private First Class Edward Marks as he experienced real events that occurred during the conflict. The events depicted were sometimes famous ones, such as the Tet Offensive of 1968, and sometimes more personal ones, depicting the interaction between soldiers or between soldiers and the local populace of Vietnam, or between soldiers and their families, friends and others in the United States. After the first twelve issues, Edward Marks rotated home as most Vietnam tours were twelve months in length. The next twelve issues were to depict another soldier’s rotation into the Vietnam theatre; however, a change in editorial policies changed the original format by eliminating a continuing character and only focusing on the year’s key events.
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