Author and blogger Scott L. Mingus, Sr. stands in front of one of dozen or so World War II and World War I tanks that on the grounds of the First Division Museum at Cantigny, a fascinating free museum in Wheaton, Illinois.
I am in Chicago on business this week while visiting suppliers and customers and speaking at the Specialty Papers Conference 2009. I took an afternoon to meet with my good friend and long-time wargame scenario book publisher Ivor Janci and his charming wife Frani. Ivor and I toured the First Division Museum, which is on the grounds of the estate of millionaire newspaper baron Robert R. McCormick, who owned the Chicago Tribune and became known prior to World War II for his isolationist ideals. During the first world war, he served in the 1st Battery, 5th Field Artillery Regiment, with the First Infantry Division and served in several battles, including Cantigny in northern France. He later named his sprawling estate for the battle and the grounds now house the wonderful First Division Museum.
The museum boasts several excellent walk-through dioramas featuring “The Big Red One” in action in World War I in the trenches, in World War II at D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge, in the jungles of Vietnam, and in Desert Storm.
CHARGE! Civil War miniature wargaming and dioramas