Eugene Arsenault, one of the original donors of the Veterans Memorial Museum, fought for the U.S. Navy in World War II on the USS Miami. He poses here in 2015 with his uniform  and a piece of the deck his ships planking that he loaned to the museum in 2016, where it remains on view to this day. The USS Miami was engaged with key battles at Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Guam, the invasion of Saipan. She escorted the carriers that struck Japanese positions on Peleliu and Anguar in the Palau Islands on 7 September to prepare for the invasion of Peleliu. The fleet thereafter shifted its attention to Japanese airfields in the Philippines from 12 to 15 September; during this period, on the 14th, Miami picked up the pilot of an F6F Hellcat that had been shot down. The ship steamed to Saipan on 28 September to replenish ammunition and stores.