Photo By Scott Sturkol | A scene of Equipment Park is shown with fall colors Oct. 1, 2020, at Fort McCoy, Wis....... read more read more
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As October began at Fort McCoy, the sight of leaving having changed from green to the vibrant colors of red, orange, and yellow could be seen throughout the Fort McCoy Commemorative Area and Equipment Park.
The Equipment Park was established in the mid-1990s to complement the Commemorative Area’s historical representation, said former Fort McCoy Public Affairs Officer Linda Fournier, who was responsible for the Commemorative Area from 1992 to 2015.
What began as an initial outdoor display of five pieces of equipment (“macro-artifacts”) increased over time to what is today a display of 70 different items of equipment and vehicles.
“All of the items on display in the Equipment Park specifically were selected in keeping with our Commemorative Area mission statement: to present pieces of military equipment that are representative of what was used here on Fort McCoy,” Fournier said in 2015.
Fournier also said that the most-recent park acquisitions were added in 2014, and the site has expansion capacity that can accommodate up to an additional 50 display items.
The Equipment Park is an outdoor display of historic and present-day equipment representative of the types used on the installation. It has everything represented from a Sherman tank of World War II to a High-Mobility Multi-Wheeled Vehicle that was used in more recent years. The area also includes helicopters, howitzers, trucks, trailers, and more.
Public Affairs Specialist Theresa Fitzgerald, who has coordinated activity for the Commemorative Area and Equipment Park since 2015, said the park is traditionally open between May and September. For 2020, drive-in access will be available through the end of October.
“The area will be closed up for winter at the beginning of November,” Fitzgerald said.
Additionally, during October every year, the forested area in the backdrop of Equipment Park has offered a picturesque scene for visitors with fall colors. In addition to the Veterans Memorial Plaza, the Equipment Park has been the only open areas for visitors to the Commemorative Area since the pandemic began.
People with access to Fort McCoy’s cantonment area may visit the Equipment Park anytime through the rest of October. For more information, contact the Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office.
Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.
The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services each year since 1984.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” and on Twitter by searching “usagmccoy.”
| Date Taken: | 10.02.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 10.02.2020 16:45 |
| Story ID: | 380158 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WI, US |
| Web Views: | 59 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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