With war with England looming, colonist John Corbin made the difficult decision to join the Continental Army in 1775. His young wife Margaret was, unfortunately, confronted with two less than desirable choices. She could stay behind and face any number of hardships on the western frontier of Pennsylvania, or, like so many other wives and children of colonial soldiers, she could follow the Army.

A Navy brat, Joellen Drag Oslund lived all over the world growing up. A few years here and there – Illinois, Maryland, Puerto Rico and the Philippines – was an accepted way of life as a kid. Finally, after settling down in California’s Castro Valley as a teenager, she decided to attend college close to home at Cal State Hayward graduating in 1972 with a degree in political science. 

The eventual disengagement of American military forces in South Vietnam began shortly after Richard Nixon’s election to the presidency in 1968 with a determination to preserve South Vietnam’s sovereignty without a combat commitment. This endeavor required building Saigon’s military in a “Vietnamization” process while dividing support among Hanoi’s communist allies of China and the Soviet Union.

USS Midway Museum volunteers continue to be the life’s blood of the ship. They are often the first encounter museum guests have once they come on board, and the last one as they are going ashore. Comments by guests on Tripadvisor repeatedly praise Midway volunteers as the reason behind their 5-star visit.