Exhibit at Omaha’s Durham Museum pictures World War I through the eyes of a soldier

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – Today is the 11th day of the 11th month.

The United States first recognized this day as Armistice Day. This day was intended to commemorate the end of World War I on November 11, 1918.

Now, it‘s the national holiday we call Veteran’s Day.

The Durham Museum has an exhibit on display that gives us a look, through one man’s eyes, some of the things he saw beyond World War I.

Just by chance, Molly Anderson made a bid on a box at an auction, not knowing what was really inside.

What she found were negatives that developed into pictures, pictures from World War I.

“She was intrigued, not only by the photos, but also the man behind the lens, Doc Cook, and she decided that she was curious,” Durham Museum Communications Director Dawn Myron said. “So, she did a lot of research on him, along with a close friend of hers, and that curiosity turned into a passion, a passion for learning about the history of the people that were depicted in these photos.”

Those pictures make up the Durham’s “Beyond Combat” exhibit, pictures seen through the eyes of “Doc” Cook.

Cook was from Minnesota. He enlisted to join the war effort, training at Camp Dodge in Iowa, eventually, joining the 88th Infantry, Division 313 Engineers, and he took his camera with him.

“He looked for the positive moments of the experience, obviously this was a very hard experience, and your life is just being completely changed, your daily routine as you become a soldier, but he looked for the camaraderie, he looked for the moments that these soldiers were going to look back on and have fond memories of for the smiles, he looked for the rebuilding, he looked for the work that they were doing to be proud of.” Myron said.

Cook didn’t concentrate on images of fighting, but there are pictures that tell us that this is war.

“Gas masks, since we just have the introduction of chemical warfare, bayonet combat is still around, even though not the most commonly used one,” Museum Curator Chelsea Olmstead said.

An exhibit also displays a poem written by Canadian Lieutenant John McCrae, pointing out poppies weren’t the only thing that brought this bright red color to these fields.

“He wrote the poem entitled ‘In Flanders Field’,” Olmstead said. “He references the Poppy growing in this field where battle had taken place and death had happened.”

So many pictures, so many memories of what was regarded as the war to end all wars, all coming from this box.

“This type of exhibit can help us have an appreciation for what it was that those men did and the significance and the impact that war had on us even today,” Olmstead said.

The red poppy has become the memorial flower of veterans of foreign war in the United States.

The exhibit, “Beyond Combat: World War I” runs through January 12 at the Durham Museum.

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