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For the past 60 years, the museum, located at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, has told the history of enlisted Airmen. Maj. Gen. Mark Brown, Air Education and Training Command vice commander, said the museum also has a bright future ahead of it.
“Our enlisted Airmen are the backbone of the United States Air Force, and that is a story that we must continue to tell,” Brown said. “Every individual that comes through the gates at Lackland needs to hear the story of what the first enlisted Airman did.”
Telling that story, however, has required the Airman Heritage Museum to continually expand over the decades. Founded in 1956 as the Air Force History and Traditions Museum, the institution first began as an independent, satellite organization, run separately from larger chains of national service museums in Washington, D.C. As its collection of artifacts grew over the decades, the museum eventually became designated as the Airman Heritage Museum in 2010.
While the current museum plays host to thousands of visitors each year, longstanding plans to erect a larger, 85,000 square foot facility are still in the works, said retired Chief Master Sgt. Timmothy Dickens, Airman Heritage Foundation president.
The end goal, Dickens explained, is to develop the new location into a state-of-the-art facility that gives museum goers a better platform to experience the enlisted story. Dickens’ team has already started a capital campaign for the project and has laid down a “definitive” set of fundraising milestones for the next five years, Dickens said.
“We want to broaden our ability to speak to the ... history of the Air Force,” Dickens said. “Building a new location for the museum will give us the ability to tell a more complete and comprehensive story.”
Brown served as a one-man exhibit for that story, sounding off several tales of airborne service members from the Civil War, World War I and II, and beyond – all from memory.
“These are stories from the past, but the enlisted backbone of our Air Force is still strong today,” Brown continued. “Every Airman that puts on a uniform … should know the great story, the great heritage …that this museum provides.”
After Brown’s speech, attendees got a visual look at some Air Force history, too.
Senior Airmen Kaleb Hatfield, 59th Dental Squadron dental assistant, and Kayla Holbrook, 959th Clinical Support Squadron histology personnel, were among a handful of service members dressed in enlisted Air Force uniforms from different periods in history.
Hatfield who was dressed as a Tuskegee Airman – the Army Air Corps’ first black fighter group, said the museum helps tell a common story that links all enlisted Air Force Personnel.
“To be here at this event, this is historic,” Hatfield said. “Lackland is where basic training starts for all enlisted members of the Air Force. We all come through here … so the museum shows that.”
Holbrook, dressed as a Woman Air Force Service Pilot, or WASP sergeant, echoed Hatfield’s sentiments.
“I feel honored to be here, dressed in a World War II uniform,” Holbrook explained. “My dad was in the Army in Vietnam, so to wear a uniform from the U.S. Army Air Corps … is just humbling.”
Rudy Purificato, Air Education and Training Command curator, served as master of ceremonies for the anniversary event.
The living history show was an innovative way to bring the past to life, Purificato said.
As the celebration wound down and the normal flow of visitors continued streaming into the museum, Purificato expressed high hopes for the institution’s next 60 years.
“Enlisted Airmen, their parents, civilians, and all others have an ability to gain a deeper understanding because of what (the museum) does,” Purificato said. “I and the rest of the Air Force are bubbling over in anticipation … of the (museum) continuing to preserve our history.”
| Date Taken: | 01.26.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 02.01.2017 10:01 |
| Story ID: | 221705 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND , TX, US |
| Web Views: | 26 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, 60 years later, museum continues telling the Airman story, by SSgt Krystal England, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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