Earl Wickman graduated from Alma High School’s class of 1940. By 1943, he was serving in the U.S. Army’s Pacific theater of WWII. His active duty in New Guinea and the Philippines left him with thrilling tales and fascinating artifacts. Earl built the model of a P-38 pictured here, from Japanese bullets! The base is the bottom of a 40mm anti-aircraft shell. Earl has also loaned the museum a Japanese hand grenade, which he took off a Jap who had just tried to kill him. In fact, a tag with Japanese writing is still attached to the grenade – could anybody out there translate what it says? If you want to see the grenade or discover the prank Wickman used it for, visit the Gratiot County Historical Museum’s display, opening at the end of May, 2012.