Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Mary Junell | Sgt. Gary Spencer, the North Carolina National Guard Museum Curator, explains an...... read more read more
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As people filtered through the main gallery of the North Carolina National Guard Museum, a group of veterans gathered around a large screen.
They were there to support their friend, Chad Stephens, a former NC Guardsman and 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team veteran who was awarded the Silver Star for his actions in the Battle of Baqubah in Iraq on June 24, 2004. The museum featured a small exhibit talking about Stephens and his award.
Footage from the 30th's participation in the battle moved across the screen while the veterans began pointing out other Soldiers by name who had been part of the 2004 battle in Iraq.
Then the room went silent when one said, "oh wait, that's me."
The 30th veterans joined community leaders, current North Carolina Guardsmen, and friends of the museum on April 7, 2022, to celebrate what many called the grand unveiling.
"We are really unveiling this facility and letting the community and the organization know that this building that once belonged to the department of agriculture now belongs to the North Carolina National Guard and will be the future site of a complete North Carolina National Guard Museum," said Capt. Kory Dearie, who serves as the full-time museum director.
The museum has been ten years in the making, and although not yet open to the public, Dearie said the building was one of the most significant hurdles.
"We were building up a network of veterans, volunteers, and artifacts," he said. "The network continues to grow and grow. We had so much stuff that we ran out of space for it, but now we have this new building."
The building will one day display the more than 4,800 artifacts the museum has been collecting and cataloging in a warehouse.
"Some artifacts are tiny little things like a badge, a button, or a ribbon, and some are big like the tank or a helicopter," Dearie said. "When we talk 359 years of history, we have content for days. What people saw today was a handful of physical artifacts that belonged to someone or tell a story from a certain era, but then you also saw these banners that we put together and an interactive display that will help highlight the history that we don't have artifacts for."
Even though this project started ten years ago, the grand unveiling is just the beginning. Dearie said they are now building their plan for the future, which includes a complete renovation of the building.
"It's exciting and nerve-wracking because now the secret's out. Now people know about the museum and want to visit it, volunteer, or donate more items, which is great, but there is still so much that needs to be finished to get to that point."
In addition to Stephens being featured in and attending the museum that day, Kristen Ohliger, a former NCNG Soldier and the first female Apache pilot in the National Guard, was there to see an exhibit featuring her flight suit.
Dearie said seeing Ohliger's two young children get excited about seeing their mom's face in a museum exhibit was one of the event's highlights.
"That's the pinnacle of what you want to see; you want to see our veterans, people who served this organization, people who are featured in this museum, coming by with their families and teaching them about their service and getting them excited about it," he said. "That's as good as it gets.”
For now, the museum is only open for tours by appointment, but they are accepting volunteers and artifacts that will help tell the legacy of the North Carolina National Guard.
| Date Taken: | 04.11.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 04.15.2022 08:25 |
| Story ID: | 418293 |
| Location: | RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 204 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, NCNG Museum Brings the Past Into the Present, by SFC Mary Junell, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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