SHOREWOOD — On top of a Shorewood dining table sits an entire naval armada.
“Aircraft carriers. We've got battleships and heavy cruisers. We've got destroyers," Bob Klein said.
Klein has about 60 wooden warship replicas of the Pacific Fleet that sailed during World War II. There are large aircraft carriers that are a few inches long and smaller ships that are less than an inch.
They were carved by his father, Robert Klein Sr., in the early 1940s. Not long after carving these ships, and while World War II was still being fought, Robert Klein Sr. enlisted in the army.
What's so significant about these ships is the attention to detail that a teenager in 1941 or 1942 took to create these replicas of the Pacific Fleet. Some of the guns on the ship are thinner than a toothpick.
“The effort that he put into it, the care that he put into it, and obviously the patriotism, quite frankly, it all deserved to be respected," Klein said.
Originally, the ships served as a way to honor the Pacific Fleet and its sailors. Klein followed in his dad's footsteps. He kept the boats in shipshape as a way to say thank you to veterans across the country.
“Not because it was my dad, but because somebody took the effort, right?” Klein said.
Watch the story on Bob Klein's wooden ships here...
It also serves as a memorial for the veterans in Klein's life. His aunt received a bronze star during World War II, and his grandfather fought in Europe during World War I. Eventually, these ships will be passed on to Klein's kids one day.
“This memento that their grandfather worked on laboriously and intricately and with a lot of care, I think that is really important," he said.
These ships mean more than just what a teenager was doing in 1941 or 1942. It means more than what Klein was doing to keep them preserved. They are about preserving stories, memories, and legacies of veterans.
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