Caedyn Huston, of Wellman, talks about the World War II soldier's life in a presentation Saturday at Mulberry Center Church, Wilson Brewer Park, Webster City.

Tall and confident, Caedyn Huston, a teenager from Wellman, Iowa, opened the Mulberry Center Church’s summer speaker series by sharing his unvarnished passion for war history. His focus, which is primarily on World War II, has prompted him to participate in a number of local re-enactments, and research many of the items that were used by soldiers. As he opened his program, Huston looked around the room, and thanked everyone for coming to hear his program.

He admitted it was the largest group he had ever addressed.

Huston, who is 15, dressed in an M1937 wool uniform and talked about the daily life of a WWII soldier. His interest stems from his own family history, which included a great-great uncle who was killed during WWII. He has collected many pieces of clothing and equipment from the era and explained the reasons why certain pieces were preferred by the soldiers.

One of the pieces of equipment he brought to illustrate his talk was an M1 helmet. He told the packed church that in addition to being worn for protection, GIs would fill the M1’s outer shell with water so that they could shave, heat up their rations or, in an emergency, use it as a toilet.

He also displayed M41 and M43 field jackets, various bags, and bandeliers that would carry ammunition, personal items such as cigarettes, razor, mess kit and clothing. He pointed out that it was recommended that GIs carry at least 10 pairs of socks as it was essential to keep their feet dry and prevent them from getting trench foot.

One of Huston’s accomplishments was to write a 150-page book on the 54 Washington County servicemen who died while serving their country during World War II. Huston, who is from Washington County, entered this project as his 4-H Citizenship and Civil Engagement project. This earned him a trip to the Iowa State Fair where it was named one of 10 “Future Discovery Awards,” which included a $500 scholarship to attend Iowa State University.

Huston has made this book available to interested parties as a PDF. If interested in reading his book, he can be contacted at caedynjh27@gmail.com.

A boisterous round of “Happy Birthday” was sung by the large turnout that filled the church when it was revealed that he will turn 16 on July 1.

— The second program in the Mulberry Center Church’s speaker series will be on July 19. “Gangster in Our Midst: The Untold Story,” will be presented by Betty (Brandt) Passick.

— On August 16, Tom Milligan will perform the one-act play “American Dreamer: The Life and Times of Henry A. Wallace.”

–“Rosie the Riveters of Iowa” will be presented by Linda (Betsinger) McCann on September 13.

— Peter Grady will perform the one-act play “Unconditional Surrender: A Visit with Ulysses S. Grant” on September 27.

— “Iowa’s One-Room Schools” will wrap up the speaker series on October 18.

All speaker series presentations begin at 1 p.m.