Voices of Valor Brings Manatee County’s Military History Home
Learning Specialist III Aaron Roberts poses with his Navy Working Uniform circa. 2008-2012
A brass medal, a field whistle, a soldier’s letter, and dog tags carry stories that timelines alone cannot tell. In Voices of Valor: A Legacy of Military Service in Manatee County, The Bishop Museum of Science and Nature examines how local residents have served across generations.
Created in-house by The Bishop’s Collections and Exhibits team, Voices of Valor arrives during the nation’s 250th anniversary year. The exhibition explores the roles Manatee County residents have played throughout American military history, focusing on people, families, and objects tied to this community. It asks visitors to consider service through personal choices, sacrifice, and lives changed long after combat ended.
The story begins before Florida became part of the United States. During the Revolutionary War, Florida remained under British control. By the Civil War, the region supplied cattle, salt, and other provisions, while local mariners and vessels engaged in blockade-running along the Gulf Coast.
Members of the Curry family worked as shipbuilders, cattle traders, and mariners. Captain John Curry served as a blockade runner. The Curry family’s legacy of military service continued through Captain John Curry’s grandson, Brigadier General William Curry Harllee. He served as a Marine Corps lieutenant during the Spanish–American War and was stationed at West Point before receiving an honorable discharge. The Curry descendants still call Manatee County home.
The exhibition connects this research to material from The Bishop’s collections. A commemorative flag marks Admiral George Dewey’s return from Manila after the Spanish-American War. A French souvenir pillow cover recalls a soldier’s voyage home after World War I. These objects give visitors direct contact with events that can otherwise feel remote.
“Working on Voices of Valor has been especially meaningful because it goes beyond presenting history—it creates connections between people, their community, and the stories that have shaped it,” states Tiffany La Britt, Director of Collections and Exhibitions at The Bishop. “One of the most rewarding parts of developing the exhibition was meeting and interviewing the friends and families of the service members featured throughout the gallery.”
La Britt continues, “Their openness in sharing deeply personal memories, often about difficult experiences, was both humbling and inspiring. We wanted to honor that trust by telling these stories with authenticity and care, ensuring visitors leave not only with a greater understanding of history, but with a deeper appreciation for those who lived it.”
One of the exhibition’s central stories is that of Army Lieutenant Kirby Pelot Stewart, one of the more than 900 men from Manatee County who volunteered or were drafted during World War I. Stewart was cited for bravery in France and died in combat in 1918 at age 27. He received the Distinguished Service Cross posthumously. The Bishop holds several objects connected to Stewart, including his medal, a troop-movement whistle, a 1917 English-French handbook, and a letter written before his death. Together, they show the public and private sides of his service.
World War II introduces another group of local stories. Steve Lewis, raised in Palmetto, entered the Army in 1943 and served with the 9th Cavalry Regiment, one of the units known as the Buffalo Soldiers. He later joined the Army Transportation Corps in Casablanca and helped move supplies to Allied forces. After returning home, Lewis spent more than 30 years teaching in Manatee County schools that he helped desegregate.
Later conflicts brought different forms of sacrifice. Richard “Dick” Caverly survived three years as a prisoner at the notorious Camp 3 under the North Korean commander known as “The Tiger” during the Korean War. Marine Sgt. John Holmes, a Holmes Beach native, suffered catastrophic wounds during the Tet Offensive in Vietnam and remained in a coma for 33 years. His name was added to Bradenton’s Vietnam War Honor Roll decades after he was wounded.
A family discovers the stories behind the objects in Voices of Valor during the members exclusive reception at The Bishop.
The exhibition continues through the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Army Specialist Justin B. Schmidt, raised in Manatee County, was killed in Iraq in 2004. Patrick Lay, a Braden River High School graduate, died in Afghanistan in 2011 at age 21. Their stories connect recent national history to schools, churches, neighborhoods, and families familiar to today’s visitors.
Objects from later conflicts bring the exhibition’s story into The Bishop’s own community.
Vietnam-era identification tags belonging to Col. Fraley, a former member of The Bishop’s Board of Trustees, still carry the tape used to keep them from jingling in the field.
The exhibition also features a Navy Working Uniform with a Type I camouflage pattern, loaned by Seaman Roberts, a Learning Specialist at The Bishop. Roberts served in the Navy from 2008 to 2012.
Hunter Windham, another Learning Specialist at The Bishop, also helped share his family’s military history. His family provided photographs of his grandfather, Staff Sgt. Windham, who served during the Korean War, for inclusion in the exhibition video.
Together, these personal objects, photographs, and stories connect military history to people who have also served The Bishop and its community.
“In such an important year in American history, there is never a better time than now to reflect on the service and sacrifice made by Manatee County residents in the nation’s past,” says Andrew Sandall, Chief Executive Officer of The Bishop. “I am particularly proud that we have been able to include the stories of so many people tied closely to The Bishop who, before coming to the Museum, served in our military branches. It is indeed an honor for them to allow us to tell their stories.”
Voices of Valor presents military history as a community record rather than a list of wars and dates. It honors courage while making room for divided loyalties, delayed recognition, and the lasting effects of service on veterans and their families.
As the country marks 250 years, the exhibition offers visitors a local space to reflect on the people who brought national events into their own lives. Voices of Valor: A Legacy of Military Service in Manatee County is a bilingual exhibition organized by The Bishop Museum of Science and Nature and is included with Museum admission. The exhibit ends on December 6, 2026.