July 5, 2011

Bob Burns of Van Buren (Crawford County), well-known radio and film personality of the 1930s and 1940s, is shown here with his signature homemade musical instrument, called a bazooka. The instrument, made of gas fittings and a funnel, was said to make a sound similar to a “wounded moose.” Due to its slight similarity to a World War II anti-tank device and Burns’s popularity with the troops, the weapon was subsequently named after the instrument.