(click to enlarge)
Joseph Lawlor display exhibit
(click to enlarge)
Joseph Lawlor display exhibit
This exhibit depicts the career of Joseph P. Lawlor (1893-1982) using photographs, artifacts, and textual captions mounted in a portable, hinged, wooden case. Artifacts include: WWI - uniform and helmet, first aid field dressing and pouch, woolen leg wrappings, cartridge belt, and field compass; WW II - blue service coat with campaign ribbons, khaki overseas cap with Navy crest pin, SeaBee postcard; Civilian - General Filter plaque and mechanical pencil, mayor of Ames badge, American Society of Civil Engineers necktie clip, and wife's rosary. Reproductions include: nine photographs, video tape package cover from the film The Fighting SeaBees, resume, and headline from Ames Daily Tribune dated January 4, 1954.
Joseph Lawlor pistol display created by Leo Lawlor
In August of 2008, Iowa Senator Harkin presented
a display
of World War II medals earned by Joseph Lawlor.
(click to enlarge)
| U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin
once roomed with the Conrad Lawlor family "back when I was at Iowa State
University from 1958 through 1962," he said Saturday during an appearance
at the Ames Historical Society. So when Conrad and his brother, Leo,
of Ames, asked if he would help obtain medals honoring the military record
of their father, the late Joseph Lawlor, Harkin said he was only too happy
to help.
In a ceremony attended by friends and family members, Harkin presented the Lawlors with a World War I Victory Button, World War I Victory Medal, World War II Victory Medal, the American and Asiatic Pacific campaign medals for World War II. According to Conrad Lawlor, Joseph Lawlor (1893-1982) was a U.S. Army veteran during World War I and helped with the Pancho Villa campaign along the U.S. Mexican border, joined the Navy during World War II and served as a commander of the Navy Seabees (construction battalion) on Tinian Island. "He was also one of the Seabees who was chosen to be part of the motion picture, 'The Fighting Seabees,'" Conrad Lawlor said before the ceremony began. The motion picture was filmed at Camp Pendelton, Calif., where Conrad, then a 13-year-old, got to meet actor (and Iowa native) John Wayne, who starred in the movie. Joseph Lawlor was part of a Seabee project to build what was then the world's largest manmade harbor at Tinian, Conrad said. The USS Indianapolis, which carried the first atomic bomb from the U.S. to Tinian, docked at the harbor his father helped to build, he added. Leo Lawlor made wood cabinets and displays honoring the life of his father, who founded General Filter Company and served as Ames' mayor from 1954 through '57. Harkin said that because so many constituents asked about military honors for their family members, he saw to it that additional money and jobs were added to a program that expedites background checks and the awarding of medals. Ames Tribune article
by Bob Zientara published August 3, 2008
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