The museum founding committee (members of the San Luis Obispo Marine Corps League Detachment 680 and American Legion Post 66) had developed a vision of why the museum, its purpose, and near/ long term objectives:

Veterans in the San Luis Obispo region have for many years have been Keepers of the Flame working to remind the public that freedom is not free.  From providing a military ceremony for funerals and presenting a flag to the City Hall for the front entry, to teaching Girl Scout troops respect for the American flag, local veteran groups have never ceased being civics mentors.

This museum is the capstone project to unite all the organizations under one roof for the purpose of honoring military service and insuring that past sacrifices made by the US military will not be forgotten.  In addition, the museum will educate and prepare coming generations to take leadership roles in all facets of American life, helping to illustrate that if they donšt know where the country has been, they will have no idea of where to take it in the future.

One of the valuable lessons to come out of the tragedy of 9-11 was that while a global economy brings prosperity to American shores from afar, it also provides avenues for destruction of an unprecedented magnitude. The subsequent surge in patriotism across the US indicated to Central Coast region veterans that the generations expected to lead this Country into a brave new world largely lacks the historical knowledge to do it well.

Military veterans in concert with museum docents will illustrate to patrons that peace is not merely the absence of war and military history is a vital part of a national consensus. The museum will be a repository of patriotism, where the principles of honor, courage and duty are illustrated in memorabilia as lessons of the past are not to be forgotten.

To that end, the museum will be connected with educational and library sites around the region and across the country. Educators will have the opportunity to help students expand their perceptions of the part military preparedness plays in the unique place Americans have established in the last quarter of a millennium as a nation.

Interactive and instructional, the museum presents a variety of hands-on exhibits in addition to illustrations, keepsakes taken in battle, the rigors of defending the country, and the extraordinary heroism that is all too commonplace in American service men and women.  The museum is to promote the ideal that service above self is freely given to preserve the nation, and the Declaration of Independence and US Constitution define us as a people. It will also demonstrate that military service is an honorable calling.

Displays are both static and interactive, with the interactive ones designed to provide additional and explanatory information presented in the static.  Subjects will cover the development of weapons, history and courtesy of the Nationšs flag, the evolution of battle tactics through time. For example, a map of the world can have changeable points which will be explained by video tapes of battles which took place at each of the points. In addition, the information could direct the observer to uniforms worn and weapons used at the time, both of which would be displayed in another part of the museum

We intend the museum to be:

        An educational experience for students and their teachers

        A research facility for anyone studying the military history of the USA

        A receptacle for the collection of memorabilia of the area's veterans

        A gathering place for the aging veterans of the area where they may have their stories recorded


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
News Article Printed in The Tribune:

  Posted on Sun, Dec. 26, 2004

Veterans' tales live on in SLO museum


The Central Coast Veterans' Memorial Museum wants soldiers to record their battle stories for future generations

Ryan Huff
The Tribune

Docent John Wolcott walked around the Central Coast Veterans' Memorial Museum and pointed to a map of the Battle of Peleliu. Then his eyes lit up.  As a 19-year-old Marine during World War II, he can remember jumping off a boat, storming the island and dodging machine gun fire from Japanese soldiers.  "The idea was to run as fast as you can, as far as you can and take cover," said Wolcott, now a 79-year-old San Luis Obispo resident.

These are the stories that personify the World War II generation.

And they are fading away.

Of the 16.1 million Americans who served in the war, fewer than 4 million are still living. The elderly men who are left die at a rate of 1,100 a day, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Now more than ever, museum officials said, it's important for World War II veterans to tell their battle stories to future generations. The San Luis Obispo museum is ready to videotape veterans' stories and preserve them in its library. Soon, a copy of these accounts will be sent to the Library of Congress, too.

"That age bracket for World War II is leaving us quickly," said museum director Harry Hoover, 67. "We want to get them in here before they're left behind."

Old age has also affected the museum's docent staff, now down to five active volunteers. A handful of docents -- mostly World War II vets -- are no longer able to work at the museum after suffering heart attacks and other medical complications.

Hoover, a retired Marine Corps staff sergeant from Arroyo Grande, said the museum needs more docents in order to stay open. After going through the museum's training program, docents can work at least one two-hour weekly shift.  The positions are open to all adults, and "if they are a veteran, that's a plus," Hoover said.

The museum opened about two years ago in the county-owned San Luis Obispo Veterans Memorial Building near Cal Poly. The facility focuses primarily on Central Coast soldiers' experiences from World War I through Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The displays range chronologically from a 1700s-era cannon to a recent photo of a local soldier holding a Cal Poly sign in front of a defaced Saddam Hussein monument. Most of these items are donated by local residents.

"This museum is not about war -- it's about the history of local soldiers who fought wars," said Wolcott, the World War II vet.  Battle maps line the museum's walls, as do various military patches and uniforms. Another section lists the local soldiers who died in the Vietnam War.

As the museum evolves, organizers have grander plans -- including a flame-thrower exhibit and historic gun display.

"We're just cranking this thing up," Hoover said. "Give us a couple months and some more docents and we'll be going real good. We hope that rather than school kids seeing these (artifacts) in a book, they can come down here and see it for real."

And if that happens, the legacies of World War II veterans will live on, long after the veterans are gone.

Staff writer Ryan Huff can be reached at 781-7909 or rhuff@thetribunenews.com.

 

.