Local Heroes
U.S. Army Captain Daniel Snowdall
Captain Daniel Snowdall participated in Operation: Iraqi freedom during his first tour of duty from March 2003 to July 2003. Captain Snowdall was a part of the Combined Joint Task Force, Special Operation, 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment "Golden Dragons" forces north.
Captain Snowdall began his second tour of duty in June 2004. He was deployed to Iraq as a Company Commander of Bravo Company, 10th Signal Bushmaster's. Captain Snowdall and his company were in charge of communications for theater of operation of Bagdad. It was on this tour of duty Captain Snowdall was awarded a Bronze Star for his service. His service uniform is on display at the museum.
U.S. Marine Lance Corporal
Thomas Malotte
Information and photograph coming soon.
U.S. Army (ret.) Brigadier General Mark Corson
Brigadier General Mark Corson began his military service in college after graduating from the University of San Francisco on a 4-year Army ROTC scholarship. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in Armor (tanks). His first assignment was as a tank platoon leader deployed in Germany during the Cold War in the 1980s.
Brig. Gen. Corson received orders to attend graduate school at the University of South Carolina, and he later taught at the United States Military Academy at West Point. From there, Brig. Gen. Corson left the active Army and went into the Army Reserve. This gave him time to earn his Ph.D. in geography, and he was hired has a faculty member at Northwest Missouri State University.
While in the Army Reserves, Brig. Gen. Corson transferred to a unit stationed out of Manhattan, Kansas. He was then deployed to Kosovo to conduct peacekeeping operations in the 1990s.
Brig. Gen. Mark Corson and his battalion were mobilized on February 10, 2003, to participate in American involvement in the Middle East. He was deployed from April 2003, and his tour ended in March 2004. In Iraq, Brig. Gen. Corson supplied the Marines who were responsible for the fighting.
Brig. Gen. Corson was deployed for a final tour from 2010 to 2011. This was during the transition from Operation: Iraqi Freedom to Operation: New Dawn. This led to a change in mission for the U.S. forces in Iraq. Brig. Gen. Corson and those under his command began the process of the strategic re-posturing of U.S. forces in the Middle East.
Brig. Gen. Mark Corson is now retired from the U.S. Army and is the chair of the Natural Sciences department at Northwest Missouri State University.
"Defending Freedom's frontiers from the Godless Communist menace."
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- Brig. Gen. Mark Corson joking about his service in Germany during the Cold War.
"After September 11th, 2001, we knew we were going to war at some point."
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- Brig. Gen. Mark Corson on being deployed to Iraq for the first time.
"I really am bothered when people talk about, 'well we went in to take their oil,' we most certainly did not."
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- Brig. Gen. Mark Corson when asked about reasons for the U.S. invading Iraq.
"That's the equivalent of moving every man, woman, and child, and all of their household goods, materials, and cars in St. Joseph, Missouri to the other side of the planet."
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- Brig. Gen. Mark Corson when describing the difficulty of the strategic re-posturing of U.S. forces in Iraq.