Maine Memory Network

Portland in the 1940s
by Carol Norton Hall

As a young woman in Portland during WWII, the presence of servicemen was life changing.

Hope
by Buddy Bieler

Buddy reflects on the experience of being incarcerated over the last sixteen years.

The Equal Freedom to Marry
by Mary L Bonauto

Marriage Equality, Maine, and the U.S. Supreme Court

2020 Sheltering in Place Random Notes During COVID-19
by Phyllis Merriam, LCSW

Sheltering-in-Place personal experiences in mid-coast Maine (Rockland) during March and April 2020

From Chinese Laundress to Mother of the Year
by Dr. Andrea Louie

Toy Len Goon's granddaughter recounts her immigration to the US and becoming Mother of the Year.

Hooch Mum and my Vietnam service
by Jim Barrows

A poem about being a medic, saving Vietnamese people and babies. Sometimes we trusted too much.

How I broke the mold for women to serve in the military
by Mary D. McGuirk

My life and career as a USAF Nurse

Hurt People Hurt People
by Nicole Lund

Lund describes experience volunteering at Maine State Prison and befriending an incarcerated person.

An Asian American Account
by Zabrina

An account from a Chinese American teen during the COVID-19 pandemic.

My father, Earle Ahlquist, served during World War II
by Earlene Chadbourne

Earle Ahlquist used his Maine common sense during his Marine service and to survive Iwo Jima

A Case for Restorative Justice
by anonymous

The writer reflects on the impacts of incarceration on their father and their friend.

The Wall
by Michael Uhl

What it means to have beaten the odds

John Coyne from Waterville Enlists as a Railroad Man in WWI
by Mary D. Coyne

Description of conditions railroad men endured and family background on John Coyne.

Monument Square 1967
by C. Michael Lewis

The background story and research behind a commissioned painting of Monument Square.

A Maine Family's story of being Prisoners of War in Manila
by Nicki Griffin

As a child, born after the war, I would hear these stories - glad they were finally written down

Vietnam Memoirs
by David Chessey

MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCES AND MY OBSERVATION OF NATIONWIDE OPINIONS CONCERNING THE “VIET NAM" WAR

History of Forest Gardens
by Gary Libby

This is a history of one of Portland's oldest local bars