
By Brenda Erdahl
Maple Lake has found itself in the spotlight thanks to local collector Al Muller, whose WWII memorabilia has attracted the attention of KSTP Channel 5.
Host of “So Minnesota” Joe Mazan was in town last week interviewing Muller who is said to have one of the best WWII collections in the world.
Mazan said he got word of the collection from Randal Dietrich, the executive director of the Minnesota Military Museum in Little Falls where Muller plans to donate his life’s work.
Muller said Mazan called him up a couple days before the interview and said he wanted to take a look at his collection. He arrived with a single cameraman and after 20 or so minutes of conversation at Muller’s kitchen table, they got what they came for, a tour of Muller’s collection.
Muller’s collection consists of 10,000 books and 6,000 autographs including 350 from Medal of Honor recipients, 900 from aviation aces, US presidents including John Kennedy, Harry Truman and FDR and almost all the generals and admirals, he said. He has 250 prints and 87 cassette tapes filled with war stories straight from the mouths of the soldiers who served.